Dr Renu Swaroop. Secretary, Deptt of Biotechnology has been given extension for a period of one year till April 30, 2021.

The merger of Punjab National Bank, Canara Bank, Union Bank of India and Canara Bank with other banks is happening at a time when the entire country is under the grip of COVID-19 outbreak.

The Reserve Bank of India has extended the term of  R. K. Chhibber, Chairman and Managing Director of Jammu & Kashmir Bank, by a period of three months w.e.f. April 10, 2020.

 Deputy Governor of the RBI N S Vishwanathan has quit three months ahead of his extended term on March 31 on health grounds.

The Central Govt has appointed Krishnan S, Executive Director, Syndicate Bank as Executive Director of Canara Bank w.e.f. April 1, 2020 till October 31, 2020, or until further orders. He has assumed the charge on April 1, 2020.

The Central Govt has appointed Ajay K Khurana as Executive Director of Bank of Baroda. He has assumed charge on April 1, 2020.

Pankaj Singh has been posted as ADG, Eastern Command, BSF in Kolkata. He is a 1988 batch Rajasthan cadre IPS officer.

Dr  S L Thaosen has been posted as ADG at BHF hq’s. He is a 1988 batch Madhya Pradesh cadre IPS officer.

V. Senthilvasan has taken Voluntary Retirement w. e. f. April 4, 2020. The ITS officer is presently posted as PGM, Chennai Telephones, BSNL.

Dilip Kumar Patel has taken charge as Director (HR) of NTPC on Wednesday. He has been the HR Head in various NTPC projects like NSPCL Bhilai, Sipat, and Tanda for around 12 years. He was also the Regional Head of HR in the Eastern Region-2, before being appointed as the Director (HR).

Yamuna Kumar Chaubey has assumed the charge of Director (Technical) of NHPC Ltd w.e.f. April 1, 2020.

Syed Raffe has been designated as General Manager, Human Resources, in Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL) and will report to Director Finance.

The tenure of A K Choudhary as Chief Financial Officer of Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd ended on March 31, 2020. The new appointment could take time considering the restricted travelling by officers in the wake of COVID-19 outbreak.

The Central Government has appointed Nirlep Singh Rai as Director (Technical) on the Board of National Fertilizers Ltd  w.e.f. April 1, 2020.

Rajiv Malhotra has been declared as Head of Office (HOO) for Prasar Bharati Secretariat. He is presently posted as Dy Director (GA).

This year's raising day celebrations of CISF are likely to give a miss. However, sources maintain that final decision in this regard will be taken after the Lockdown is lifted. CISF raising day falls on March 10 but this time it was deferred to March 13 due to Holi. Coronavirus threat, however, again forced th authorities to defer the programme.

Two 1990 batch IAS officers of Jharkhand cadre - Mukhmeet Singh Bhatia and S K G Rahate - who are on central deputation have been given pro-forma promotion to the rank of ACS.

Corporation Bank MD & CEO P V Bharathi has been denied extension in service. She retired from service on March 31, 2020.There were speculations earlier that she may get six month's extension as Corporation Bank was merging with Union Bank of India on April 1, 2020 and her services might be required in some other capacity to formalize the merger process.

Armed forces are fully prepared to meet the situation arising out of CoronaVirus outbreak. Army has made more than 9,000 hospital beds available for Covid-19 cases and separate hospitals have been earmarked to exclusively deal with the CoronaVirus pandemic.

The armed forces are said to have earmarked 28 service hospitals for managing Covid-29 cases. Besides five hospitals of the armed forces equipped to carry out Covid-19 tests, six more are likely to come up soon.

Vishwajit Patra has been appointed as DG, CBCID, while Chandra Prakash will now be DG, Special Investigation and Brijraj is DG, PTC Moradabad. Besides, R K Vishwakarma has been assigned an additional charge of DG, Fire Service in Uttar Pradesh.

Faiz Ahmed Kidwai has been appointed as Commissioner, Health Services, while Pratik Hajela has been shifted as Principal Secretary, Secretariat in Madhya Pradesh. 

Embassy of India in Kuwait will be outsourcing processing of applications for the issuance of passport and visa applications but only Indian/Indian origin companies with or without a local partner either of Indian/Foreign origin are eligible to apply for the tender.

India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC), a public sector undertaking under the aegis of the Ministry of Tourism has geared up to provide up to 2000 cooked and packed meals every day during Lock Down Period for the health workers of government hospitals (AIIMS & RML)in the state capital as well as to other needy people through Local administration. Food is being cooked in the kitchen of ITDC’s Flagship Hotel “The Ashok”.

Minister of State for Tourism and Culture (IC) Prahlad Singh Patel said, “These are testing times which all of us are going through. As Prime Minister Narendra Modi calls for the nation to work hand in hand, ITDC in a humble move will provide upto 2000 meals per day to the healthcare professionals and other needy people as part of CSR activity. Everything we do today combats the massive challenge that we are facing as a nation and as a world.”

He further added that ITDC will continue to work with all the stake holders to aid the community at large. First batch of 500 cooked and packed meals was provided to Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital New Delhi on April 1, 2020.

South Eastern Coalfields Limited (SECL) retains its position as the single largest coal producing company in India. During FY 2019-20, SECL produced 150.545 Million Tonnes of Coal, thus making it the largest Coal producer amongst all subsidiaries of Coal India Limited. India is going through difficult times due to Covid 19. The country is under lockdown. In these tough times also, SECL miners had been relentlessly working to meet coal requirements of the Nation. Precautions are being taken but top priority was always 'The Nation.' It was this feeling in each Coal Miner that led to whole hearted contribution from each one. The dedication of our Miners is now overtly evident in the annual figures of coal production. Under the able leadership and guidance of SECL CMD, AP Panda, the company has contributed 25% to the total Coal production of Coal India Limited. The CMD congratulated Team-SECL and all its stake holders, attributed SECL's achievement to its culture of hard work, team spirit, commitment and ability of the organization to stick to job even during difficult times. CIL during financial year 2019-20 has produced 602.14 MT of coal, out of which SECL contributed 150.545 Million Tonnes. The second largest coal producing subsidiary of CIL is over 10 MT behind and the third is over 42 MT behind SECL. The production rally continued all year through in SECL and it crossed 150 MT coal production mark, the second time. SECL has crossed this benchmark of 150 MT coal production consecutively during last two financial years. No other subsidiary of CIL has been able to achieve this benchmark. Several coal production records were created and broken during this rally. The most remarkable being the Largest Single Day coal Production on 27.03.2020. SECL produced 1 Million Ton of Coal on this single day. This was unprecedented and was never achieved by any single Coal company ever. Towards the end of financial year, the production spree continued like never before and crossed 9 lakh Tonnes of single day coal production on 26th and 31st March. Likewise, SECL crossed 8 lakh Tonnes single day coal production on 23, 2014, 19th, 18th of March 2020. These single day coal production peaks immensely added to the pinnacle that SECL today stands on. Various Areas of SECL have also fared well during this period significantly adding up to the total tally. Gevra Area produced a total of 45 MT during this year and met its annual target. Kusmunda Area produced 42.331 MT of coal and crossed its annual target. Other areas have also made significant contribution. SECL has been a responsible PSU. It has not only been The Best in coal mining but also has been a huge support for its neighboring areas and the people residing therein. Recently, as a positive step to combat Covid 19, SECL has contributed 1.75 Crore Rupees i.e., Rs. 25 lakhs each to Bilapsur, Korba, Annuppur, Surajpur, Balrampur Ramanujganj, Umaria and Shahdol District administration. The financial support would from SECL would strengthen battle against Covid 19 in respective districts. To tackle any untoward situation arising out of Covid 19, SECL has made total of 132 Quarantine/Isolation beds available at Shahdol, Anuppur, Korea, Umaria, Surajpur and Korea. SECL took to Sanitization of offices & townships, social distancing and work with minimum workforce, wherever possible. Even during the days of complete Lockdown, Coal Production being an essential service, SECL continued working. The hard work seems to have delivered. SECL is again the Nation's single largest Coal company.

IAS officer Narendra Bhushan, CEO of Greater NOIDA, has been nominated as in-charge officer to oversee  COVID-19 related work in Gautam Budh Nagar (Noida) district. All related agencies staff will work under him.

The UP govt has initiated a departmental Enquiry (DE) against B M Singh , ex- DM, Noida. He is a 2009 batch IAS officer and has been attached with Revenue Board. According to information Alok Tandon, IAS officer, will do investigation against him.

The Central Govt has appointed Sanjay Kumar as Executive Director of Punjab National Bank. 

The Central Govt has appointed Vijay Dube as Executive Director of Punjab National Bank.

The Central Govt has appointed Birupaksha Mishra, erstwhile Executive Director, Corporation Bank as the Executive Director of Union Bank of India w.e.f. April 1, 2020 till the date of his superannuation i.e. January 31, 2021.

Anil Mukim, Chief Secretary, Govt of Gujarat has been appointed as Chairman of Gujarat Gas Limited. He is an IAS officer of Gujarat cadre of 1985 batch.

NTPC Ltd, India’s largest power producer, contributed INR 257.5 Crore to the PM CARES Fund to support the government in the fight against COVID-19. While INR 250 crore have been given by the company, NTPC employees have also contributed INR 7.5 crore towards the PM CARES Fund as their one day salary.  NTPC feels honoured to be a part of the contribution from the Public Sector undertakings of the Ministry of Power which has contributed INR 925 Cr to the PM CARES Fund. INR 11 crore is being spent additionally by NTPC for protective measures at various locations as on 31st March 2020 towards awareness and health camps for people in the vicinity. NTPC has also committed INR 25 lakhs to the District Administration of Kawas (Gujrat), Solapur (Maharashtra), Anta (Rajasthan), Mauda (Maharashtra) and Jhanor (Gujarat) to fight the pandemic. Moreover, NTPC is working towards creating extensive awareness drive hoardings, banners in its operational areas along with encouraging the people to stay safe and be at home through announcements on loudspeakers. Further, one Wing of the Sundargarh (Odisha) Medical College & Hospital, consisting of 200 bed has been handed over to the District Administration on March 30, 2020. At various plant locations NTPC has made arrangements for food and medical facilities along with distribution of sanitisers and soaps for contract labourers, workers and to locals. Food packets, daily essentials groceries, milk and vegetables are regularly being supplied at many locations for the family members of workers. Further, NTPC has taken several initiatives to contain the spread of the virus and setting up dedicated Covid-19 units at its hospitals. This has been done utilizing 45 hospitals/health units with 140 beds to make isolation facilities. Along with it, a total of 8 ventilators are being procured at Hazaribagh (Jharkhand) for district administration.

There was a significant presence of Rajnath Singh,Defence Minister, in the Video Conferncing with CMs of different states on Thursday in Delhi. The other minister who was present- Amit Shah, Home Minister. Apart from these two ministers senior officers were also present. 

Bhaskar Katamneni has been appointed as new Commissioner, Health & Family Welfare in Andhra Pradesh. He is a 2004 batch IAS officer.

Welspun Enterprises Limited has appointed Ved Mani Tiwari as Chief Executive Officer of the company w.e.f. April 1, 2020.

Bata India Limited has appointed Md. Jamshed Alam as Company Secretary of the company.

Ms. Renu Sud Karnad has quit as Independent Director of Maruti Suzuki India.

Mrs. Radhika Haribhakti has quit as Independent Director of Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone.

Honda Siel Power Products Ltd has appointed Ravi Prakash Mehrotra as Non-Executive Independent Director of the company.

Trahi Trahi Chahuore (Helplessness every where)

It is trahi trahi already from East to West China, Korea, Japan, many other states faced the fury of COVID-19 before many could assess the full impact of the virus. Till Italy shook Europe, Iran other nations, the virus reached America and England. The daily rise in the numbers of the sick sudden deaths rising from single digit to two in the early days and three later shocked the world community instantly casting a pall of gloom throwing normal life in to lockdown everywhere jolting The smugly 6 billion world community Gasping at numbers of the dead & sick The tragic irony of super powers killing millions like flies in wanton nuclear war Devastating and destroying in minutes The whole world at the press of a button Ignoring signals of Benevolent Nature The only Super Power in the universe Nature’s annoyance is too apparent to Ignore or its power to punish the guilty Unless human conduct changes fast it Will invite the wrath of the Benevolent Going into a panic mode is not enough Trahi trahi- the individual cry of alarm Knowing not when it will abate, subside The remedy though lies in human mind Pray to the Mighty the Benevolent: say Trahimaam, trahimaam O! Benevolent Save me, protect me, forgive me Mother Community of nations in solemn unison.

M L Gupta

Appoint them

If facts quoted by Arun Sharma are correct, then Government should appoint all these qualified MBBS persons on contract basis for Two years. They can be considered for regular appointment there after.

S Gopal

Possibility of unrest amongst unions

The appellant alleged that there were irregularities in the dividend distributed to the beneficiaries by the ITI Colony Welfare Committee (Gas Agency) and sought information about the dividend distribution. The PIO submitted that the information sought by the appellant cannot be given as the disclosure of the information sought may cause a breach of commercial confidence. He further submitted that the dividends are paid as per the decision of IOC and there is possibility of unrest among different unions if this information is made public. The CIC ruled that disclosure would not breach commercial confidence of respondents and the third parties.

Comments

Any process should be transparent to ensure fairness in the system. It is the responsibility of the public authorities to pro-actively disclose information to ensure faith of the citizens in the system.

Citation: Ramkaran Singh v. CPIO ITI Limited in Decision no.: CIC/ITILT/A/2018/146255/02498, Date of Decision: 02/01/2020

Dr. Anuradha Verma (dranuradhaverma@yahoo.co.in) is an expert on RTI matters and has co-authored the books RIGHT TO INFORMATION - LAW AND PRACTICE and PIO’s guide to RTI. Apart from her weekly article here, her other articles can be read at the website of RTI Foundation of India at the link: www.rtifoundationofindia.com

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