Himachal confidential

No 8216;jootha8217; for IAS officers

After the government appointed non-IAS or state cadre officers for posts of heads of department, PSUs, commissioner of Shimla Municipal Corporation and deputy commissioners, in some districts, the IAS officers have refused to accept these posts. According to them the dignity of the posts has been lowered by posting state cadre officers. In best of his wits one of the IAS officers said, 8220;hum jootha nahin khayenge.8221;

Who is better?

After Dr Pankaj Khullar retired in October from the post of Principal Chief Conservator of Forests PCCF, the government gave the additional charge to Vinay Tando,a even though IFS officer A K Gupta approached the CAT claiming his seniority over Tandon. Though Tandon stands a greater chance of being appointed by the government, the question remains whether it is a war between seniority and choice.

Solidarity with Assamese

Director of Indian Institute of Advanced Studies, Shimla, Professor Peter Ronald DeSouza chose a peculiar way to express his solidarity with the victims of blasts in Assam last week. During one of the workshops at the IIAS he sported an Assamese gamocha around his neck and said, 8220;Today I feel the pain of people who lost their loved ones in blasts. This gamocha represents that I am as much a part of Assam as I am of any other place.8221;