Dilip Cherian | Bihar IAS body’s silence on release of ‘murderer’ MP irks some babus

Many IAS officers are upset with the Bihar IAS Officers’ Association’s silence at the state government’s proposal to release former MP Anand Mohan from jail. Mr Mohan is serving a life term for the murder of the former district magistrate of Gopalganj G. Krishnaiah.

Sources say that the Nitish Kumar-led government has recently been dropping several hints that it is trying to seek the release of Anand Mohan, a prominent Rajput leader, due to political compulsions (read alliance partner RJD). Mr Anand was initially handed out a death sentence by a local court, but it was later commuted to life imprisonment by the high court. Although no member of the IAS association has come forward to speak on the issue, their silence has not gone down well among the babus.

The secretary of the association, Dipak Kumar Singh, however, has said that this is a government decision, and the association has no comment on it. But a former IPS officer Amitabh Kumar Das has strongly criticised the state IAS association for keeping mum on this sensitive matter and even called for it to be dissolved if it does not take up the issues of its members. Mr Anand’s release from jail would be an insult to the murdered IAS officer, he said. For now, it seems, that politics may end up trumping propriety in Bihar.

 

Punjab police becomes top heavy

The top tier of Punjab’s police establishment is becoming increasingly crowded. The state may have the most officers in the rank of directors general of police (DGPs) in the country, after the Bhagwant Mann government promoted seven ADGPS to the rank of DGP, bringing the total to 13.

The state has also got its first women officers elevated to DGP rank. Gurpreet Deo, a 1993-batch IPS officer and the first woman IPS officer in Punjab Police, is also the senior-most among those promoted. Another woman IPS officer Shashi Prabha Dwivedi has also been promoted to DGP rank. Ms Deo was earlier holding the charge of additional director general of police, community affairs division and women affairs while Ms Dwivedi was posted as additional DGP, Railway.

Others who have been promoted to the rank of DGPs are chief director, vigilance bureau, Varinder Kumar, ADGP, human resource development, Ishwar Singh, ADGP, Punjab State Power Corporation Ltd, Jitendra Kumar Jain, ADGP, Police and Rules, S.K. Asthana and ADGP, internal security, R.N. Dhoke.

IPS officers have a vertical tenure-based promotion system in accordance with IPS cadre rules. Cadre management, however, varies from state to state. Anyone who has served 30, 25 and 18 years in service is eligible to become a DGP, ADGP and IG, respectively. Further, in Punjab, promotions are done promptly after a batch becomes eligible for a higher rank, whereas some states with stricter cadre management promote officers only when a vacancy arises in the cadre posts.

Sources have informed DKB that while adding more DGPs to the police, the state government has yet to recruit adequate personnel in the lower ranks, creating a top-heavy force and a peculiar imbalance affecting its functioning.

 

Yogi’s babus woo UK investors

Uttar Pradesh’s senior bureaucrats led by the state’s finance minister and minister for parliamentary affairs, Suresh Kumar Khanna, visited the United Kingdom recently to woo global investors for the state’s Global Investors Summit to be held shortly.  

Sources have informed DKB that Mr Khanna and his core team along with India’s consul general in Birmingham, Dr Shashank Vikram, have identified a roadmap and strategies to be followed to enhance trade and economic ties between the UK and UP.

Mr Khanna is ambitious with his plans as UP’s vision is to become a $1 trillion economy. Towards this objective, the state government has provided a single window clearance for 25 sectors it has opened up for global investors. With the Yogi Adityanath government enjoying its second term in UP, there is political stability. But the moot point is will these roadshows in the UK following the US earlier, encourage global entrepreneurs to UP?

The answer to this holds the key to the Yogi’s political ambitions. The audacious goal of a trillion-dollar economy is seen as the blueprint for how Yogi can turn around UP's fortunes, and all ministers and babus are working hard to achieve it.