Jishnu Barua has been appointed as the new Chief Secretary of Assam. Baura, who belongs to a 1988 batch IAS officer, will assume the charge on October 31, 2020. 

In the last round there were only two contenders for the post of CIC Yashwardhan Kumar Sinha and Neeraj Gupta. Finally the former IFS officer  Sinha won the battle. As many as 139 people had applied for the post of CIC.

Only two ,former IA&AS officer Saroj Punhani and Veteran Journalist Uday Mahurkar were selected for the post of Information Commission in the Central Information Commission. Altogether 355 persons had applied for the posts of Information Commissioners.

Gujarat Journalist Uday Mahurkar will now be Central Information Commissioner. He is presently with the India Today.

The tenure of Madhu S Nair as the Chairman and Managing Director of Cochin Shipyard Limited has been extended for a further period of five years with effect from January 1, 2021. Nair, who joined on January 1, 2016, completed his first tenure on December 31, 2020. He will continue until December 31, 2025.

(We said this on Dec 5, 2017, Jan 14, 2020)

Rajesh Khullar is joining as Executive Director, World Bank, in Washington for a term of five years, beginning November 1. He is 1988 batch IAS officer of Haryana cadre.

K K Sharma, Advisor to Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha has resigned from his post and  has been appointed as the State Election Commissioner.  He is former 1983 batch IAS officer of UT cadre.

Anurag Prasad has been appointed as CIT(OSD) in the office of Principal CCIT, Delhi Region. He is an IRS-IT officer.

The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) has issued posting orders of four Under Secretaries after their repatriation from deputation. Accordingly, Prasanta Kumar Dutta has been posted to Ministry of Corporate Affairs, while P Ravi Kumar was posted to Ministry of  Development of North Eastern Region (DONER), N Sanatomba Singh in Ministry of Information & Broadcasting and Narendra Kumar was posted to Department of Science & Technology.

The Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB) has sought applications for the post of Director (Finance) in North Eastern Electric Power Corporation (NEEPCO) Limited.

The extended tenure of B K Ravi as Advisor (Security) in Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL), is coming to an end  in November this year. He is a 1989 batch IPS officer of Tamil Nadu cadre. 

The Department of Food & Public Distribution, under the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution, is seeking applications from officers for filling up one post of Senior Scientific Officer (Design) at National Sugar Institute, Kanpur, by deputation.

Aloke Singh has been appointed as Chief Executive Officer, Air India Express Limited (AIXL) on contractual basis for a period of three years.

Deepak Khullar has been appointed as Chief Executive Officer, Hotel Corporation of India (HCI) on contractual basis.

The tenure of Captain Ashvini Sharma, the current CEO, AIASL has been extended for a period of three months on contract basis.

For the first time a woman Mrs Harpreet A De Singh, Executive Director, has been assigned the charge of CEO Alliance Air Aviation Limited.

Captain Nivedita Bhasin, GM Flight Safety, has been assigned the charge of ED, Flight Safety, Air India Limited, while  Arun Kumar Bansal, ED, Engineering Air India Limited, was signed the charge of CEO, AI Engineering Services Limited and S Senthilkumar, ED Engineering, AI Engineering Services Limited will be ED-Engineering, Air India Limited and will take over charge from Bansal.

Lt. Cdr. Ranjit Lahiri, IN (Retd.), former Chairman and Managing Director of Hooghly Dock and Port Engineers Ltd., a 200 year old shipyard in Howrah, latterly a Government of India enterprise, passed away suddenly in Siliguri at the age of 64. He was a specialist, with decades of extensive experience, in the maintenance and operations of India’s maritime assets. He was commissioned in 1980 in the Indian Navy, and had numerous posting with the Indian Navy and with Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers Ltd.

In view of bumper production of sugarcane, the Maharashtra has decided to use the surplus production for sugarcane based raw materials under the Ethanol Blended Petrol (EBP) Programme for the forthcoming sugar season 2020-21 during Ethanol Supply Year (ESY) 2020-21 from December 1, 2020 to November 30, 2021. 

Om Prakash Lohia has been reappointed Chairman and Managing Director of Indo Rama Synthetics (India) Limited. Meanwhile, Hemant Balkrishna Bal has been appointed as Additional Director. Besides, MN Sudhindra Rao has resigned as Whole-time Director designated as Executive Director of the company.  

Sandesh Kumar Anand, who was serving as Independent Director of Deepak Nitrite Limited, has been re-designated as Non-Executive Non-Independent Director of the company.

The tenure of Madhu S Nair as the Chairman and Managing Director of Cochin Shipyard Limited has been extended for a further period of five years.

Ms. Malka Chainani has been appointed as Additional Non-Executive Director of Greycells Education Limited.

Three Additional Directors have been appointed in IFB Industries Limited. Partha Sen has been appointed as Managing Director & CEO, Rajshankar Ray as Managing Director & CEO (Home Appliance Division) and Amar Singh Negi as Executive Director - Service Business Head.

Kavin Dineshkumar Dave has been reappointed as Non-Executive Independent Director of IEL Limited.

The appointment of Tilak Raj as Non-Executive Independent Director of AMD Industries Limited has been regularised.  Subhash Chander Dua has been appointed as Non-Executive Non-Independent Director of the company.  Prabhat Krishna has ceased to be Non-Executive Independent Director as his tenure has come to an end.

Prakash H Parekh has been appointed as Managing Director of Gopala Polyplast Limited.

Ashutosh Gangal, who is serving as Part-Time Government Director of Container Corporation of India Limited (CONCOR), has ceased to hold the office of Director.

DEBATE (1)

IFS Ministers are far superior and graceful .Because of high profile ministries they are always in touch with the PM.

G Tiwari

DEBATE (2)

Jaishankar is still like a bureaucrat and not like a politician.

Mani Joshi

Farmers deserve remunerative prices of crops and honorable treatment

After the annexation of Punjab by the East India company in 1849,to engage the vanquished army of the Sikhs in agriculture,  the Britishers opened Upper Bari Doab Canal in 1859,and Sirhind canal in 1882.This led to colossal increase in the foodgrains production and massive financial gains for the Britishers in the international markets.  But the farmers were burdened with the enhanced land revenue and water rate, without vesting in them the proprietary rights of the lands they tilled. Their continued miseries gave rise to  the 'Pagrhi Sambhal Jatta' movement in 1907,led by S.Ajit singh, uncle of Shahid Bhagat Singh and Sufi Amba prasad.  The farmers continued to suffer till the advent of that messiah Sir Chhotu Ram on the scene.  He got enacted 2 Acts i.e. 'Punjab Relief of Indebtedness Act,1934',and 'Punjab Debtors' Act 1936,which freed them from the tyranny of debts.

The economic condition of farmers  in general in India and particularly in Punjab has been consistently bad except for major Malwa belt, where prosperity started in the 1960s.The fruits of consolidation of holdings and ushering in of green revolution eased the situation a bit till late 1980s.But since the mid 1990s, the distress of farmers started the alarming bells in the Malwa belt with sporadic reports of farmers committing suicides due to poor financial position.  This led  some universities to undertake the research on the subject to pin-point the predominant reasons of such tragedies. In the early 2000, farmer unions and social activists started serious action on the issue and went  on to the extent of filing PILs ,when government actions to ameliorate their plight did not measure upto their expectations. The government's seriousness followed with due deliberations at the senior level.  In order to file reply to the PILs ,Chief Secretary would regularly hold  meetings ,without serious discussions to find lasting solutions to some issues, which have been bane of the peasantry  for centuries particularly indebtedness and its impact,  and unavailability of adequate prices of the crops.

In one such meeting the deliberations followed thus: Chief Secretary is addressing the senior officers, ''CM sahib has taken a very serious view of the increasing number of the farmers' suicides,so we have to address the issue to stop this and think of ways and means to rehabilitate suitably the affected families.''He looked towards the Financial Commissioner Revenue,but before she could start, a very computer savvy young Principal Secretary Medical Education said,''Sir, before coming for the meeting,i had checked the position in Australia,Canada,Japan ,Brazil and USA.There the number of such suicides have been much more.It is happening the world over.''He intended to continue ,but CS cut him short by asking,''What were the reasons and what those governments were doing to address the issue''?Frown was visible on his face.''I will find out ,sir,''was the answer given by the officer.CS further asked him to depute doctors from the Medical colleges to specifically find out the psychological reasons,if drug addiction has any role to play in these tragedies.''Sir there is shortage of psychiatrists in the hospitals, but i will do it ,''replied the officer.FCR(Financial Commissioner Revenue). who was waiting for her turn said,''Sir i have found out that Moneylenders Act is not being implemented and the commission agents were charging exorbitant rates of interest.The farmers are unable to repay the loans which result in the farmers selling the lands in distress.I have studied the The Punjab Relief of Agriculture Indebtedness Act, which lays down the constitution of Debt Reconciliation Tribunals.I suggest divisional commissioners may be designated as such to speedily decide the cases''.''But will the farmers have to travel hundreds of miles to divisional head-quarters  for their cases,which are expected to be in large numbers?When i was a divisional commissioner, i had 5000 court cases ,so the commissioners are already very busy.And why not Tehsildars and Naib Tehsildars do this work?'' Chief Secretary remarked.FCR was quick to answer,''The commissioners presently have the pendency of cases ranging between 800 to 1400,Furthermore if the work is entrusted to  the local officers, they may succumb to political pressure.'' CS said ,'' ok ,we will hold a  separate meeting on this issue'.I am also inquiring about as to why Crop Insurance issue has not been materializing for the last more than half a century,so we will also discuss it in the next meeting '.Secretary Health informed that statewide campaign had been launched to nab  Chemists selling intoxicating drugs He read out the statistics of drugs seized and number of FIRs registered.Financial commissioner Cooperation said,''We are taking up with the NABARD to lower the rate of interest for farm credit.We have achieved the credit targets and our recovery..........''.He was cut short.''What you should look at is that the credit advanced to farmers is hassle-free and timely and the amount of recovery is accounted for ,o yes! Why stamp duty is being charged on Agriculture loans  ?CS asked.Financial Commissioner Development briefly informed that he had already taken up the issue with the FCR.FCR nodded, assuring early solution.CS also asked the FCD to ensure timely supply of fertilizers and subsidized seeds .He also recapitulated his tenure as deputy commissioner,  to stress the need to regularly check spurious insecticides and weedicides dealers, as large number of complaints had been pouring in.Although Principal Secretary Home was also present, DGP informed about number of cases filed against the drug peddlers. Secretary Social security said,''Sir, ostentatious living, breaking of joint family system and reduction in the sizes of land holdings may also be the cause of this tragedy, ''CS fixed the next date of meeting in which Advocate general would also be present for finalizing the reply to be filed in the court.

The ritual of such meetings continued since mid 2000  and the Bill was ready in early two thousand ten. The lobby of the commission agents weighed more than the emaciated farmers' unions and so it remained dormant under the carpet. Some farmers' leaders were rewarded with top posts in the govt, for their co-operation in perpetuating the misery of their clan.  However with the eye on the 2017 Assembly poll, the regime passed the Bill   to make it Punjab settlement of Agricultural Indebtedness Act 2016 on 21 March 2016.Again series of meetings were held to implement the Act, but without any visible success rendering the Act as only a glorified waste paper. The plight of the farmers continued to deteriorate.  The Assembly elections 2017 gave opportunity to the more political parties to make more promises,  even to the extent of filling up the forms of debt relief,  to entice the farmers. The debt has only been partially waived off. Since long, the farmers have become irrelevant as vote bank as the parties merge them in  agenda of  appealing mainly to caste and religion factors . This rudderless and leaderless stage may continue for substantial time ahead as the leaders prefer to become office bearers of BCCI rather than becoming ministers at the Centre and CMs in the states.The dynastic politics remains aloof from the ground realities and is guided more by the CBI's,E.D's, attitude and preferences.

Farmers are presently politically orphans.There is no leader of the stature of Chowdhary Charan singh and Devi lal to help the farmers.Farmers' main demand since long has been the implementation of Swaminathan commission's report,which mainly assures remunerative prices for the crops ,so that better financial position takes care of their honorable lives. Instead of implementing the report, the regime has been ranting since 2016 that the income of the farmers would be doubled in 2022,which slogan has remained incomprehensible to all.  And now,  three Acts have been brought forth by the regime,  which have totally devastated the very moderate dreams of the farmers. Instead of asking for anything else, they are now mainly asking for the repeal of 3 new Acts and assurance on msp, meaning thereby that they will be back in that suicide zone again. But the regime is adamant and not ready to listen to genuine demands of the farmers.  The state is in one of its worst periods since 1947,and let us hope better sense will prevail on the regime to address the farmers' issues,  rather than promising them moon and looking the other way..

Surinderjit Singh Sandhu ,Amritsar

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