Prime Minister Indira Gandhi has carried out a major reshuffle of secretaries in her government. At least three senior secretaries have been reverted to other states. Twelve other ministries will have new secretaries. The government has decided to appoint T N Chaturvedi as Home Secretary. He will succeed S M H Burney who will take over as Governor of Nagaland and Manipur. Chaturvedi is Education secretary at present. The new commerce secretary will be Abid Hussain now with the Asian Development Bank. The government will have IAS officers as secretaries for the first time. They will be Anna George Malhotra who will be education secretary and Sarla Grewal, the social welfare secretary.
World Bank Report
While praising India for making progress on food and some other fronts, the latest World Development Report of the World Bank is severely critical of India’s performance in infrastructure areas and its continued lag in exports compared to its potential. Figures given in the publication show India in a poor light with regard to overall growth rates as well. Perhaps for a country moving towards socialism, the strongest criticism is in the statistics. The top 10 per cent households have 33.6 per cent of household income.
Reagan approves bomb
The US President Ronald Reagan has authorised the building of the neutron bomb which kills with radiation but does not destroy property. Key US allies like France, West Germany and the UK have been apprised of the US decision. The plan according to the White House is to keep the bomb in the US and not deploy it elsewhere. The decision can lead to building stockpiles in six months. Meanwhile, the Soviet Union has said that the US decision smacks of “cannibalistic instincts” and Moscow has right to respond.
