The central Government proposes 2-yr tenure for IAS, IPS, IFoS officers

According to new rules aimed at checking political interference, the central Government proposes minimum 2 year tenure for IAS,IPS and IFoS officers. However, they can be transferred by Civil Services Board to be constituted by states under the new rules circulated by Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) of the central government.

 

Officers of the three premier services IAS, IPS and IFoS will now spend a minimum of two years in each posting,

States have now been mandated to constitute a Civil Services Board, which is to be headed by the chief secretary. However, the competent authority may reject the recommendation of the Civil Services Board by recording the reasons for the same. For transfer and postings of Indian Administrative Service officers, the board will have the senior-most Additional Chief Secretary or Chairman, Board of Revenue or Financial Commissioner, or an officer of equivalent rank and status as member, and Principal Secretary or Secretary of the Department of Personnel in the state government, as member secretary. For the posting and transfer of Indian Police Service officers, the board will have two more members Principal Secretary or Secretary, Home, and the Director General of Police. For Indian Forest Service officers as well, the board is to have two additional members Principal Secretary or Secretary, Forest, and the state's Principal Chief Conservator of Forest. "All appointments of cadre officers shall be made on the recommendation of the Civil Services Board," state the rules, which were notified by the DoPT

Union cabinet gives green signal to changes in OBC list

Based on the recommendations of the National Commission for Backward Classes, the Union Cabinet gave its approval for making amendments in the Central List of OBCs in respect of 60 castes in 13 states by way of inclusion, correction, deletion of these castes and communities.

The amendments will notify 115 changes recommended by the NCBC, an official statement said on Thursday.

The states where these castes and communities belong to are Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Goa, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and West Bengal, and three Union Territories of Chandigarh, Delhi and Puducherry.

Vijay Bahuguna quits as Utterkhand CM

According the directions of the  the party high command, Vijay Bahuguna, the Chief Mininster of Utterkhand , submited his resignation to Governor Aziz Qureshi.

It is widely believed that Union Minister Harish Rawat has emerged as a strong contender to succeed him.

State Bank of India raises Rs 8,032 cr in country's biggest qualified institutional placement QIP issue

The State owned , largest bank of India, SBI has raised Rs 8,032 crore by selling shares through qualified institutional placement, making it the biggest ever equity sale by  this route.

B ank sold 5.13 crore shares at an average price Rs 1,565 per share.

 Price band, determined by the pricing formula of market regulator Sebi, was fixed at the upper band of Rs 1,629.35 -- around 2 percent premium on Tuesday's closing price of Rs 1,595.95 a apiece.

Army's Sikh Light Infantry bags best marching contingent award

Army's Sikh Light Infantry has been awarded the best marching contingent among the three Services at the Republic Day parade this year while the CRPF contingent bagged the honours in the paramilitary and auxiliary forces category.

Italian marines case may impact ties with India: EU

The president of the European Commission has said the issue of the Italian marines in India may have an “impact” on the European Union-India relations and “will be assessed carefully”.

Jose Manuel Barroso, the president of the European Commission, met Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta in Brussels Wednesday and discussed the case of the two Italian marines who are being held in India.

“A point that Prime Minister Letta has raised with me and on which we have been in close contact with the Italian authorities is the issue of the Italian marines in India. The European Union (EU) continues to follow the situation very closely,” Barroso told a joint press conference with Letta afer the meeting.

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LPG cap hiked to 12; no cash transfers

Aadhaar-linked LPG subsidy transfer put on hold

Acceding to Rahul Gandhi’s demand to raise the annual cap on subsidised LPG cylinders, the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs on Thursday raised the quota from nine to 12.

It also decided to put on hold the Direct Benefit Transfer for LPG (DBTL) under which consumers receive subsidy in cash. 

Every household will get one cylinder each in February and March in addition to the quota of nine. From April, they will be entitled to 12 cylinders, one a month at subsidised rates. 

At the All India Congress Committee session on January 17, Mr. Gandhi had appealed to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to increase the quota to 12 cylinders.

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