Miffed senior Bihar IAS officer offers to quit
Patna: A senior Bihar IAS officer Sudhir Kumar Rakesh has offered to resign reportedly miffed over transgression of his seniority due to structural changes in the bureaucratic set-up and growing ‘interference’ from several quarters in the functioning of departments. Rakesh, a 1983 batch IAS officer, met Chief Secretary Anjani Kumar Singh late last evening and offered to resign. Asked about this, Rakesh, however, told reporters on Friday outside the legislative assembly main gate, “I have offered to resign on personal health ground.” The IAS officer was seen with the Chief Secretary outside the Assembly and the two left without talking much over the subject. Asked about the missive, the Chief Secretary merely said the state government would look into the matter. Rakesh is the Principal Secretary of Panchayati Raj department. He had earlier served as Chief Electoral Officer and recently during Bihar poll he was made the Home Secretary by the Election Commission of India. Rakesh is due to retire in August 2017. The officer is reportedly unhappy over bureaucratic changes effected by the state government recently. Appointment of a junior officer as the Director of the Bihar Vikas Mission, the nodal agency to execute “seven resolves” of the CM in next five year has angered many senior IAS officers in Bihar. Senior officers of many a department will have to work under the mission which will be looked after by election strategist Prashant Kishor. (PTI)
Senior officer, wife killed in road accident in J&K’s Doda
Jammu: A senior officer of the Jammu and Kashmir government and his wife were killed on Friday in a road accident in Doda district of Jammu region. “Kalyan Singh, additional secretary in the roads and buildings department, and his wife were killed on-the-spot in an accident at Khilani on the Batote-Doda road,” a senior police officer told IANS. The accident occurred when the car the couple was travelling in went off the road and plunged into a gorge. Three other persons injured in the accident were admitted in a hospital. The Jammu and Kashmir Administrative Service officer was on way to his native place for the cremation of his father who expired on Thursday. (IANS)
BJP National Executive meeting next month
New Delhi: The BJP’s National Executive is set to meet next month ahead of assembly elections in five states and at a time when the Modi government is facing flak from the opposition over issues like “crushing” dissent and its “poor” handling of economy. Official sources said the meeting is likely to be held on March 19-20, days after the first leg of the Budget Session ends, in the national capital. Before the meeting, party chief Amit Shah, who was re-elected to the post last month, will reconstitute the executive and the other national bodies of party, a move that will shed light on the internal dynamics within the saffron outfit. The two-day National Executive will set the tone for the party’s approach to the political challenges facing it, more so as it comes at a time when the ruling party is being seen at its lowest ebb since storming to power at the Centre. It suffered a drubbing in Bihar and some of its state governments, like in Gujarat and Haryana, are perceived to have lost a bit of political capital during the quota stir.
JNU row and the controversy over the suicide of a Dalit scholar in the Hyderabad Central University have been used by the opposition and the party’s key office bearers will deliberate over it, sources said. “It will be during the session. So obviously the burning issues will be deliberated. We expect that the meeting will re-energise the cadre ahead of state elections. We are seeing an increasingly hostile and united opposition against BJP,” sources said. The last meeting of the National Executive was held in Bengaluru in April last year. (PTI)
Raj govt covers 9,500 children under first phase of CMAM
Jaipur: A total of 9,500 children of 13 districts have been covered by the Rajasthan government under the first phase of Community-based Management of Acute Malnutrition (CMAM) programme. As part of the six-month long first phase of CMAM, 9,500 children were selected from 41 blocks in 13 out of total 33 districts in the state, Health Minister Rajendra Rathore said, noting that the programme delivered encouraging results with 80 per cent of the screened children showing improvement. After the completion of the first phase on February 28, the children will be monitored and made free from acute malnutrition in the second phase, he said. As part of the CMAM programme, a survey of around 2.25 lakh children was conducted in the districts with poor health parameters. The minister noted that under the programme, volunteers treat children with acute malnutrition before they become seriously ill. Caregivers provide treatment to the affected children in their homes using energy dense nutritional supplements and routine medical care, the minister said in a statement. Rathore said in the first phase, care was given to children and their parents were made aware and in the next phase, monitoring of the children will be conducted on weekly basis. (PTI)
