Raghu Menon’s India on a global journey; clinches first chairmanship of IPDC

RAGHU Menon, secretary, ministry of Information & Broadcasting, was elected as chairman of the Inter-Governmental Council of the International Programme for Development of Communication (IPDC) defeating Switzerland . This is for the first time in the history of IPDC that a developing country will be in the chair of the Inter-Governmental Council of the IPDC, a government of India release said.

Significantly, Mr Menon, a 1974 batch Nagaland cadre IAS, is one of the rare officers to have a graduation degree in journalism.

In fact, the candidature of the India, endorsed by Asia Pacific Regional Group and supported by countries from Africa, Arab and Lain American Region, won the election with 23 out of 37 votes against Switzerland’s 14 votes.

The Inter-Governmental Council of the IPDC, which was established in 1980, implements national, regional and inter-regional projects in the areas of promotion of freedom of expression and media pluralism, development of community media, capacity building and promotion of international partnership.

Mr Menon, a 1974 batch Nagaland cadre IAS, thanked the members of the Inter-Governmental Council for reposing faith in his leadership and assured his full commitment for strengthening programme implementation under IPDC’s mandates.

West Bengal has a shortage of 59 IAS

West Bengal government has urged the Centre to meet shortage of IAS officers in the state. Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee in a statement said on Thursday that Bengal a shortage of 59 IAS officials out of the total need of 296 IAS officers. In fact, shortage of officers at the state level has been a concern in many other states too. Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) has already set up a committee to look into the shortage of officers at states.

Police Complaints Authority at UT Level

The ministry of home affairs (MHA) is setting up Police Complaints Authority at the Union Territory level. The Police Complaints Authorities of Daman and Diu, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Lakshdweep will be a single member Authority, and in the case of Puducherry, A and N Islands and Chandigarh, there will be chairperson and two members and in the case of Delhi, chairperson plus three members.

The Authorities will be to inquire into allegations of “serious misconduct”, like death in police custody, grievous hurt, rape or attempt to commit rape, arrest or detention without due process of law, extortion, land or house grabbing etc.

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Action and Appointments

a) Justice Venkategowda Gopalagowda, Judge of the Karnataka High Court has been appointed as the Chief Justice of the Orissa High Court.

b) Justics PV Reddi, a former Judge of the Supreme Court of India, has taken over as Chairman, 19th Law Commission of India on Thursday. He was also the Chairperson, Authority for Advance Rulings.