Short of officers, Centre mulls special exam to fill IPS posts

New Delhi: Concerned by the acute shortage of IPS officers at a time of mounting challenges on the internal security front, Union Home ministry is mulling the option of holding limited competitive examination exclusively to recruit IPS officers a route that was taken immediately after Independence to fill huge vacancies that had accumulated through the War years and because of the departure of many police officers to UK and Pakistan. The exam will be open only for existing government servants mainly from armed services, paramilitary and state police and will be held for the specific purpose of recruiting nearly 650 IPS officers.

Special secretary (internal security ) in the Home ministry, U K Bansal, confirmed the move. It is still at a preliminary stage of discussion . Once finalised, the proposal will go to the Cabinet for approval, he told TOI. There are currently 196 vacancies , while government has estimated that it will need an additional 450 officers to tackle threats from terrorists, Left extremists as well as criminal syndicates that, helped among other things by lack of adequate police personnel of all ranks, have proliferated across the country . Bansal said UPSC would conduct the separate examination. It would, however, not affect recruitment of IPS officers through the annual Civil Services Examination (CSE), he added. The shortfall of 196 officers was mainly created during 1999-2002 when the induction of IPS per year dropped to 36 against the annual average of 85. Exam will be open only for existing govt servants, mainly from armed, paramilitary and state police forces To be held for a few years to recruit nearly 450 IPS officers, besides meeting existing shortfall of 196 Will not affect recruitment of IPS officers through annual Civil Services Exam Similar exams were held post-1947 to fill vacancies caused due to exodus of cops to UK and Pakistan
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STAFF CRUNCH - 450 additional IPS officers needed
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New Delhi: The lack of an adequate number of Indian Police Service officers, which is forcing the Union home ministry to even consider an examination independent of the CSE, was mainly created during 1999-2002. The induction of IPS per year during that period dropped to 36 against the annual average of 85, resulting in a shortfall of 196 officers. Recently, the government accepted the home ministrys proposal to increase the annual intake of IPS officers through CSE from 130 to 150 and UPSC accordingly increased the number of seats to be filled through this years CSE. However, the ministry recogises that at the rate of 20 more recruits per year, it will take several years before the strength of officer corps reaches the required level .

It has already held a few rounds of discussions over the recommendation of the oneman committee headed by retired IPS officer Kamal Kumar on Recruitment Plan (2009-2020 ). The discussions have, so far, focused on the eligibility criteria age and equalification for government servants who would be allowed to take the limited competitive examination. Besides recommending increase in the annual intake of IPS officers through CSE from 130 to 150, the Kamal Kumar committee in its report submitted on Oct.15, 2009 suggested holding limited test examination for at least seven years to recruit an additional 450 IPS officers.
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(SOURCE : TOI)

INDIAN REPUBLIC AT 60 AND GETTING STRONGER

Armed with legislation and a firm sense of resolve, India is determined to tackle its core issues like health, violence and negative voting. It requires a deeply-rooted sense of accountability and initiative to tackles core issues plaguing a state. India, for one, being a cauldron of mixed cultures and, concurrently, multifarious reasoning constantly emanating from a wide range of socio-economic factions, has huge unfulfilled tasks at hand. The trend to indulge in jingoism triggered by convenient channels can easily divert public memory and collective thinking from core issues that need to be addressed and instead numb the overall sentiment with a very transient exuberance.

On India's 60th Republic Day, it's time we shrug aside all the highbrow retrospection and cerebral introspection and take a hard look at issues involving legislation 'we , the people' carve out for ourselves through our elected representatives and those we conveniently tend to ignore for want of a mature equity. For a state to be developed in its true sense, it's important to develop its human resources as after all it's the citizenry that forms the most vital component of a state. It's for this very reason that the judiciary in its most active forms has made fervent attempts to widen the all-encompassing definition of the state as elaborated by Article 12 of the Indian Constitution which refuses to confine the 'State' to a Government department and the Legislature but extends it to any action - administrative(whether statutory or non-statutory ), judicial or quasi-judicial which can be brought within the fold of 'State action' being action which violates a fundamental right.

Against the backdrop of the apathy towards public health, the National Health Bill 2009 was introduced. It outlined the setting up of a National Public Health Board, as well as similar state-level bodies involving active citizens to lay down standards for public and private hospitals, review the standards as well as health policies every five years and to carry out mandatory audits of the health system from time to time. Violence as normally perceived , and quite lopsidedly too, solely as a behavioural anomaly, has now transgressed in meaning for India's people and its elected legislature which has learnt to lend support to a cause ignored for over decades - that of gays and rights stubbed by an all-Victorian British regime. So, the Indian Penal Code's Section 377 that made same sex illegal as against the order of nature to impose an archaic British view on a people against their wishes was finally quashed thus making justice for all a reality .

With Gujarat having led the way with regard to negative voting by passing the Gujarat Local Authority Laws Amendment Bill 2009, the rest of the nation's all set to register changes in the near future . The bill, incidentally, makes voting in polls of seven civic bodies, 26 district panchayats, 223 taluka panchayats and 13,706 village panchayats mandatory and provides people the right to record a negative ballot against a candidate/party. The much awaited negative voting should well be on the priority list of other states who, in the steps of Gujarat , are expected to make necessary state law amendments to empower the citizenry the right to desist from exercising their franchise ... armed with the same element of privacy as guaranteed to their other voting counterparts.
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Republic Of Hope - Lets transform the country in the next 20 years
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Six decades ago, many wrote our fledgling republic off as a post-colonial upstart with constitutional pretensions. Yet here we are, as committed to democratic, secular and egalitarian principles as in 1950. Down the years, Indians have not only elected their leaders but, when let down, also kicked them out. And, once so food-insecure that it lived ship to mouth, Indias now a growth story drawing global whistles. Yet, on a day that equally recalls the unfinished tasks of hard-won freedom, India cant rest on its laurels. For one thing, were yet to defeat divisive forces or eradicate socio-economic disparities. For another, megalopolis or rural hinterland, Indias news-hungry , cellphone-wielding citizens are more clued in than ever before. Our very successes the telecom revolution, for instance have created an aspirational society marked by an expanding entrepreneurial middle class. Also, the growing ranks of a young and productive population our famed demographic advantage mandates an enabling environment in which they can flower. Such a society is a tough tiger to ride for those wielding power in its name.

If the tiger isnt to run away with us, inclusive growth must keep lifting living standards. But while NREGS-style affirmative action serves social justice, its no surrogate for equality of opportunity. Thats why the coming years must wean away disadvantaged groups from government largesse. That means delivery on a war footing of education, healthcare and economic opportunities. To alleviate poverty and distress, lets think beyond food subsidy and loan waivers. Lets create manufacturing jobs on a mass scale to stem casualisation of work and absorb rural labour. 21century India can no longer delay labour reform, modernisation of agriculture or the trimming of wasteful subsidies. Equally, it needs better infrastructure roads, power, communications to sustain high growth.

New India needs government as enabler, not patron. Let government get out of running hotels, airlines and coalmines. Let it focus on attracting investment and facilitating business by, say, creating that common market we keep talking of. Let it think of citizens rights, not group-specific loyalties wrested by political paternalism. To be fair, with RTI or right to education, this policymaking shift is visible. Also, social schemes driven by economic criteria are weakening a caste-based quota regime thats past its sell-by date. Today, Nitish Kumar talks of empowering the poor across the social board. Mayawati backs promotion of English as key to socio-economic uplift. Impressive growth in many laggard states suggests increasing political responsiveness to public demand for good governance and development.

Lets strengthen these currents by getting tougher on corruption and criminalisation of politics that sap the vitality of our democratic institutions from within. Finally, these institutions themselves need to focus on actual delivery of public services. With its track record of democratic practice and growing economic clout, India can play a leading role on the 21century global stage. For that, it not only can make the next 20 years or so even more transformative than the past 60, it must do so. Lets get cracking today.
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(SOURCE : TOI)

GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY FOR REHABILITATION FOR RETIRED DEFENCE OFFICERS

       The e-mail received from Maj (Dr) TC Rao (Retd), is posted for the benefit of information of all concerned veteran brothers:-
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NATIONAL PRODUCTIVITY COUNCIL,

UTPADAKTA BHAVAN, 5-6,

INSTITUTIONAL AREA,

LODHI ROAD, NEW DELHI-110003
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EPABX LINES: -
24690331, 24690332, 24390333, 24625447, 24694156
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Contact Person: N K Changi
Mob: 9891177728
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VACANCY ON CONTRACTUAL BASIS

NUMBER OF VACANCIES : 150
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CRITERIA FOR QUALIFICATION:-

AGE : 52 – 65 YEARS

RANK : MAJOR AND ABOVE
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REMUNERATION:-

RS. 1500/- PER DAY + TA
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For more details you are requested to Contact above Address.

Thanking you.

Sincerely yours,

Maj (Dr) T C Rao
Chairman
Ex-Servicemen Department
Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee
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Case Filed for Pension of Majors and equivalent- Pre 2006

        The following is posted for the benefit of information of concerned veteran brothers:-

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From: avtar singh
Date: 2010/1/20
Subject: RE: [indianveterans] Pension of Majors & equivalent- Pre 2006

To: ravi warsha

Dear Cdr Pathak,

Case is already filed. First hearing took place on 19 Jan 2010.

Respopndents have been asked to file reply on 16 March 2010.

Through you I wish to inform all vetarns Majors, Sqn Ldre, and LTCdrs that they can join me as petitioner befor the rejoinder is filed. Thereafter they would be at their own to reap the benefits .

Regards

Avtar Singh
Lt Cdr
20-1-2010
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(source : IESM)

OUR HARMED FORCES

Over the past two weeks I have had to field several calls from Pakistani TV channels seeking a comment on what they see as “provocative” statements made by the army chief, General Deepak Kapoor. I give them all one short answer: this is an Indian general thinking aloud, expressing personal views at a semi-academic discussion. The problem is, you are responding as Pakistanis listening to a general. You forget that he is an Indian general, not Pakistani.

The implication is, in one fundamental sense we do not take our generals as seriously as the Pakistanis do because, howsoever radical their views, we know that they do not control larger strategic policy. But, in another fundamental sense, while we do not at all fear our generals, we respect and love them more — and that is also partly because we have no concerns over their indulging in extra-constitutional adventurism or mischief, ever. That is something India and its armed forces are so proud of. And that is why the current spectacle of the army chief answering a hall full of sceptical journalists’ questions not so much about soldiering or strategy as about sleaze and scandal is so unfortunate. In fact it is doubly unfortunate that it had to happen in his Army Day-eve press conference, and India woke up to headlines of a land ‘scam’ at the top in the army just when it was displaying its best in ceremonial parades around the country.

I know too little about the so-called land scam in Sukna cantonment (near 33 Corps HQ) in Siliguri to have a view on it. But what I can say without any hesitation is that our system’s — the army and political leadership’s — inability to come clear on this early enough has caused enormous damage to the fair name of what still is our finest national institution.

You never want to see your military brass on the defensive, whether facing the enemy, or your own media. But that’s how they have been now for several years. Either on the defensive, or complaining, even whining. Sadly, so un-soldierlike. When was the last time you saw a general — and I use the words “army” and “general” generically, including all three forces and their commanding ranks — talk either grand strategy, modernisation, or unveil a vision for the military? You could go right back to the mid-’80s and may discover that the last time you heard such genuinely military talk was when General Sundarji took over and, by a happy coincidence we had already, in Admiral Tahiliani, a visionary chief of the navy. The air force then had many combat veterans of the 1965-71 vintage at top levels and together the three forces inducted new weapon systems, wrote new doctrines and built confidence, morale and, above all, the sense of dash, adventure and excitement that attracts the finest young people to join the forces.

In recent years, on the other hand, you have seen the top brass complaining in public about pay commission injustices — which were mostly justified complaints — or about other assorted un-soldierlike inanities or, now, land scams. Frankly, the last time I saw an Indian soldier talk like a soldier was when General Padmanabhan talked to the media at the peak of tension during Operation Parakram.

If, over these past two decades, the armed forces have begun to look — and sound — like just any other “department” of the government, the fault lies with their own leadership, the civil servants who “control” them, and mostly with the politicians who lead them. Grievances over the pay commission should never have been allowed to fester and the political leadership should not have waited till the brass — led by the then navy chief, Admiral Sureesh Mehta — had begun washing that dirty linen in public. If you ask them, they will tell you they had good reason to do so, and if they hadn’t, obvious, hurtful injustices would not have been reversed. I disagreed with their method, but in substance they are mostly right.

But why did the political leadership let it drift? The last thing you want to do is distract your soldiers by open, bureaucratic-style spats, or force them to take their grievances public, like any other exploited section of our society. Nobody moved in time to comfort them, to even give them cover when ex-servicemen took the grievances public. The generals, not clever enough — and not expected to be so — to fight a war through the media, were hung out to dry by the political leadership while the bureaucracy quietly sniggered on the sidelines.

This is exactly what is happening now with the Sukna “scandal”. This is just the kind of situation where the defence minister, secretary, somebody should have taken charge and convinced the nation that its army and its defence ministry had the institutional strength, ethos and a strong enough ethical foundation to deal with the issue rather than, once again, leaving it to the chief himself. India has had a healthy tradition of keeping the institution of the chief above public controversy. Even when problems arose, these were sorted out internally, without making an ugly public spectacle, except in the Krishna Menon phase of skulduggery which lost us the 1962 war. We have forgotten that. But the larger state of our armed forces has begun to resemble 1962.

Of course, some of the more garrulous recent chiefs have not helped. But where is the political leadership? Missing in action? I am sorry if that sounds like a cheap shot. But what is one to say when this country has had such uninspiring political leadership for its armed forces for so long, starting with George Fernandes who saw himself as more a senapati by himself and Siachen Glacier as his only charge — and a permanent photo-op. Or now A.K. Antony under whose leadership the brass has got caught in ugly public situations twice already, over the pay commission and Sukna. Or, under whom almost all major acquisitions have got delayed by half to a full decade.

And these are things we need desperately, desperately: new guns for an artillery which has not ordered one since 1987, air-defence missiles without which the navy’s newest, finest capital assets are left naked to air attacks, new fighters for an air force which is down to 32 squadrons from 45. The defence minister’s, and probably even the UPA’s, primary objective is to complete yet another tenure without any arms purchase scandal. That is why the tiniest whiff of a controversy leads to cancellation of trials and even tenders. If you are as old as I am, or a pucca cricket enthusiast, you will know Bapu Nadkarni, an all-rounder who became famous setting a record with his gentle left-arm spin that will now never be broken: 29 overs, 26 maidens, and no wickets for three runs. Even when he batted, he scored at a somewhat similar pace. Perhaps in the spirit of those times for Indian cricket, he always played for a draw. Antony has now become the Bapu Nadkarni of Indian politics, and certainly so in his tenure as Raksha Mantri. It is causing a drift, jeopardising India’s military strength and, institutionally, undermining the armed forces.

Our serving generals will never question the political leadership. But deep down when they see their leaders waffle, play safe and distant, it feeds right into their soldiers’ disdain for the lazy, cowardly civilian. And then they begin to make mistakes. We still have one of the finest, most loyal, disciplined armies in the world, willing to follow its orders and, most important of all, take casualties. They deserve better leadership, both from within, and definitely from the political class.

(Sekhar gupta, indian express)