Journey of former bureaucrats BK Chaturvedi, PR Dubhashi and Moosa Raza -- recipients of Padma Bhusan awards

AS India is celebrating 61^st Republic Day on Tuesday, four former civil servants who remained backroom boys for years in administration, have finally got government recognition. Whereas three IAS officers --- former cabinet secretary BK Chaturvedi, for secretary in PMO PR Dubhashi, former steel secretary Moosa Raza were selected for Padma Bhushan, a former IPS officer DR Karthikeyan who served as CBI director and handled Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, was given Padma Sri.

Here are the profiles of three bureaucrats who were selected for Padma Bhusan award on the eve of Republic Day, 2010.

BK Chaturvedi: An Allahabad professor’s rise in Raisina Hill

After becoming Prime Minister of India in May 2004, Dr Manmohan Singh, who had an earlier innings in bureaucracy, chose to go out of the way to select the best man for the cabinet secretary’s post. After going through the bio-data of about 10 secretaries and personally interviewing many of them, he picked up a 1966 batch UP cadre IAS, BK Chaturvedi as the top bureaucrat of the country. Mr Chaturvedi, who remained the most powerful bureaucrat in Raisina Hills for three years beginning June 14, 2004, was chosen despite he was the No 3 in merit-cum-seniority list as incumbent Kamal Pande’s tenure was to end only in November, 2004, and then commerce secretary Dipak Chatterjee who was to retire in June, 2004 was senior in the list. But it was the call of the Prime Minister who decided to handpick Mr Chaturvedi.

In June, 2007, he was made a Member, Planning Commission and was subsequently given additional charge as Member, Thirteenth Finance Commission (November, 2007). Masters in physics from Allahabad University with specialization in electronics, Mr Chaturvedi was an associate professor at the Motilal Nehru Regional Engineering College, Allahabad in 1962-65 before joining as an IAS. In 1978, he studied public administration from Manchester University, U.K.

Contact for BK Chaturvedi:

011-23096594 (Off)

Email: bkchaturvedi@nic.ic

PR Dubhashi: An administrator-turned author and trainer

He calls himself not just an administrator, but a trainer. Yes, PR Dubhashi, 1953 batch Karnataka cadre IAS, who rose to become a secretary in Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) later became an authority on public administration and penned a number of books on various facets of Indian civil service. He packaged his work and life as a bureaucrat in his book, “Pursuing Idealism Through Civil Service: Memories Of An Administrator And A Trainer” After being trained at Metcalfe House, he began his career as an SDO in Davangere and later became deputy commissioner in drought-prone Raichur in 1958-59. His memoir has an interesting chapter during his life in London School of Economics in 1962-63. He also held some key posts like Establishment Officer (1978-80), additional secretary in ministry of agriculture (1980-81) and director of Indian Institute of Public Administration (IIPA). His books included, “Administrative Reforms” (1986) and “Policy and Performance: Agricultural and Rural Development In Post-independence India”.

Moosa Raza: A journey from being a district collector to a book collector

In his Chennai home, Moosa Raza, a 1960 batch Gujarat cadre IAS, has developed a very impressive personal library with a collection of books in English, Arabic, Gujarati, Hindi, Persian, and Urdu. During the last 15 years after retiring from Indian Administrative Service, Mr Raza has spent a lot of time in his personal library spending time reading about various facets of life even though he has remained busy both in corporate and cultural work. He is also the chairman of the executive committee of Coastal Energen Private Ltd, a Rs 2000 crore integrated energy company based out of Chennai.

Know as an efficient bureaucrat, he became the principal secretary to the chief minister of Gujarat, and later got shifted to Jammu and Kashmir and served as the chief secretary of that state. He then became an advisor to the UP Governor. On cultural front, he is deeply involved in activities of New Delhi-based India Islamic Cultural Centre.

Tomorrow: Read profile of DR Karthikeyan, IPS, recipient of Padma Sri