Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pet Swachch Bharat campaign has been bolstered by the induction of Meerut district magistrate B. Chandrakala Niru in the “dream team” tasked with ensuring the success of the campaign. Ms Niru is the youngest member of the team and has been appointed director of the Swachch Bharat Abhiyan in the rank of undersecretary in the ministry of drinking water and sanitation.
In 2014, Ms Niru, the 2008-batch Uttar Pradesh cadre IAS officer, became famous in the social media after she publicly pulled up civic officials and contractors for sub-standard road construction. The IAS officer has worked extensively for “Clean India” campaign while she was discharging her duties as the DM of Bulandshahr, Bijnor and Meerut. The Centre had applauded her efforts to make Bijnor an “open defecation free” (ODF) district.
Sources say her honesty at work has earned her this reward, and a big fillip to her career in the civil service.
Wait gets longer
The financial year just ended without Central babus getting a clue on when they will receive the higher allowances under the Seventh Pay Commission. The panel on higher allowances headed by finance secretary Ashok Lavasa has been forced to delay wrapping up its deliberations as representatives of the Central government’s 4.7 million employees have sought clarity on 14 additional allowances that the pay panel did not include in its report.
This will lead to the late submission of observations by the Lavasa panel to finance minister Arun Jaitley, which in turn will cause a delay in the Union Cabinet’s and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s decision. Already, the Lavasa panel has missed the deadline of October last year. Now the concerned ministries have been asked for suggestions on the allowances, and sources say, in all likelihood there will be another meeting before the panel comes up with its final report. The babus will just have to wait a little longer.
Nervous times
Rail babus have a reason to be nervous. First it was the jitters of having the Railway Budget merged into the general Budget, which led to some friction between the railway ministry babus and their counterparts in the finance ministry. But more changes are afoot in Rail Bhavan. To get rid of “dead wood” the Railways has begun compulsorily retiring employees based on their performance review.
Sources say that a beginning was made recently when two senior officers were compulsorily retired, and many such employees are likely to be asked to go as this review process continues.
The Railways’ move is part of the Modi sarkar’s drive to enforce accountability in the administration and show the doors to those who were found to be wanting.
Besides performance, lack of indiscipline and integrity are also other factors taken into account for deciding the issue. There are also a few cases involving conviction in various courts, and such babus will be asked to go.
