Accounting officers back merger of all their five services
Days after the Modi government unified eight services of the Railways, there is a growing clamour within the government to unify another group of services — the accounting services. Currently, there are five accounting services — the Indian P&T Accounts & Finance Service, Indian Audit and Accounts Service, Indian Defence Accounts Service, Indian Civil Accounts Service and Indian Railway Accounts Service.
According to officers from these services, they go through similar training and develop similar expertise on the job, and, therefore, unifying them makes logical sense. Associations of these services could, in fact, soon make a presentation to the government in this regard. There is another reason for this proposal too. If all the accounting services are merged, the officers of the unified finance and accounting service can land important postings that are related to finance in all ministries, and hence challenge the IAS hegemony. This demand comes at a time when railway officers are still concerned and upset about the merger of their services by the Modi government.
No end to IPS, CAPF officers’ tussle
The bad blood between IPS officers serving with the CAPFs (Central Armed Police Forces) and the CAPF officers recently spilt onto the virtual world. Ahead of Sunday’s farewell dinner for outgoing CRPF DG, R.R. Bhatnagar, an IPS officer, #WhyDGCPF FarewellParade began trending on Twitter. Many slammed the officer for holding a lavish farewell in a year when many CRPF jawans died in Pulwama. Speculation is that it was someone from the “CAPF camp” behind the tweets against the officer to “ruin his exit”.
It is an extension of the tussle between the CAPF and IPS officers over the latter securing all the top positions — the DG post in all CAPFs is reserved for IPS officers. In addition, a certain percentage of other senior posts like ADG (Additional Director General) and IG (Inspector General) too are reserved for the IPS cadre. The CAPF officers have been running an aggressive social media campaign to end the IPS deputation to their forces.
The hashtag began trending after one person tweeted saying “Why DGCRPF Farewell Parade is trending should make DG crpfindia contemplate what he is intending to ask from his troops. He would rather reconsider his validity, considering his very authority is not accepted by his troops.” Many also started posting pictures of CRPF personnel posted outside the farewell dinner. “For DGs dinner and parade, the CRPF personnel are posted out in the cold,” one tweeted. Another source alleged that the CAPF hired a paid twitter agency to stall the DG’s farewell parade. “They are tweeting in hundreds tagging HMO and the PMO to stall it by putting pressure,” he said. “Most likely the handiwork of people against whom action initiated by DG CRPF.”
The V-C with the home minister’s backing
If one were to go by the buzz in the corridors of power, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) Vice-Chancellor M. Jagadesh Kumar has managed to survive a string of controversies on the campus, thanks to Home Minister Amit Shah’s backing. It is believed that Shah is taking crucial calls in JNU’s affairs. According to official sources, both HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ and Higher Education Secretary R. Subrahmanyam were of the opinion that the fee-hike in JNU should be rolled back and the V-C be held accountable for the ruckus in the university. Subrahmanyam has been transferred to another ministry and Pokhriyal, according to insiders, has received a dressing down from Shah for interfering in JNU matters. Shah has asked the HRD minister to let the university function as an autonomous body.
(Contributors: Sanya Dhingra, Ananya Bhardwaj and Kritika Sharma)