Bureaucratic reshuffle: P Amudha appointed joint secretary in PMO

Keshav Chandra has been appointed as the Director of Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO).

Senior bureaucrat P Amudha has been appointed as Joint Secretary in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) and Keshav Chandra as the Director of Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO), as part of a senior-level bureaucratic reshuffle effected on Monday by the Centre.

Amudha, a 1994 batch IAS officer of Tamil Nadu cadre, is currently serving as Professor, Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA), Mussoorie.

Chandra, a 1995 batch IAS officer of Arunachal Pradesh-Goa-Mizoram and Union Territories or AGMUT cadre, has been appointed as the Director, SFIO, Ministry of Corporate Affairs up to December 17, 2022, an order issued by Personnel Ministry said.

His batchmate Varsha Joshi has been appointed as Joint Secretary, Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying for a tenure of five years.

Joshi was in May this year transferred from the post of Commissioner, North Delhi Municipal Corporation.

Sudhir Kumar, a 1999 batch IAS officer of AGMUT cadre, will be Additional Secretary, Central Vigilance Commission (CVC), the order said.

Senior bureaucrat Saurav Ray will be Custodian of Enemy Property for India, New Delhi, Ministry of Home Affairs, for a tenure of five years.

A total of 16 officers have been appointed as joint secretaries or equivalent posts in different central government departments.

IAS officer Sajjan S Yadav will be Joint Secretary, Department of Expenditure.

Nidhi Pandey and Vinayak Garg have been appointed as Commissioner, Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan, Department of School Education & Literacy. Pandey is a 1991 batch IAS officer of the Indian Information Service.

Farmer who sent earnings to PMO in protest asked to make online transfer

Sanjay Sathe from Nashik, Maharashtra sent Rs 1,064 earned after selling 750 kg onions at a huge loss, had sent it through a money order to Prime Minister's Relief Fund.

Sanjay Sathe, a farmer in Maharashtra earned only Rs 1,064 after selling 750 kg onions and sent his earnings through a money order to the Prime Minister's Relief Fund. In an usual turn of events, the PMO returned his money order, reported Dainik Bhaskar today.

The farmer was surprised when instead of getting some relief, the PMO suggested that he transfer the money using online banking.

The PMO replied that they don't accept money orders. Sathe told Dainik Bhaskar that he hoped the money he sent would help farmers in some way.

Earlier, Sathe had taken a tractor load of around 750 kg onion to the Niphad Agriculture Produce Market Committee wholesale market last week and was shocked to get just Rs 1.41/kg, or Rs 1,064 for the entire lot of 7.5 quintals.

This is because of the steep downward trend in onion prices in the wholesale market due to a variety of factors, prompting farmers to offload their stocks at virtually throwaway rates.

Piqued by the unexpectedly low price he secured, which failed to cover his cultivation costs, Sathe decided to register his grievance by donating the entire amount online to the PMRF, for which he shelled out an additional Rs 54 as money transfer fee.

Anticipating a poor response, he had carried a placard on his tractor proclaiming he had no ulterior political motives, but intended to donate the full onion sale proceeds to the PMRF only to highlight the onion farmers' plight to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Business Standard