IRS officials to be posted in 8 more foreign places including New York, London, Tokyo, Paris and Dubai

IMAGINE IRS (Income-Tax) officials getting foreign postings in New York, London, Tokyo, Paris and Dubai just like an IFS? With finance minister Pranab Mukherjee announcing that Income Tax Overseas Units (ITOUs) would now be set in eight more locations, this would soon be a reality. In fact, IAS officers grab most of the key non-IFS foreign postings in UN, WTO, World Bank, IMF etc.

In fact, I-T Overseas Units, which have already been set up within Indian Missions in Singapore and Mauritius to facilitate exchange of information, would now be set up in eight more such units in USA, UK, Netherlands, Japan, Cyprus, Germany, France and UAE. “I am hopeful that these measures would result in seamless flow of tax related information from foreign tax jurisdictions and would strengthen our fight against menace of tax evasion using cross border transactions”, Mr Mukherjee said.

Also, income tax employees across the country will get major benefits after Mr Mukherjee operationalised a Rs 100 crore fund which has been under consideration for the last 12 years. He announced it in the annual conference of Chief Commissioners and Director Generals of Income Tax in New Delhi. Further, an advance mid-career training programme for IRS would be started during the current year.

Retired IAS-IPS combo for Jharkhand

Wilfred Lakara, a retired 1973 batch IAS officer of Chhattisgarh cadre and Rajiv Ranjan Prasad, a retired 1970 batch IPS officer of Jharkhand cadre have been appointed as advisors for Jharkhand. Mr Lakara, who had served as an advisor in the state of Jharkhand during the President’s Rule imposed on January 19, 2009, was also a Managing Director (equivalent to secretary) in TRIFED. He was also a secretary in Commission for Scheduled Tribes. Mr Prasad on the other hand retired as Director General of Police in May 2007. He was on Central deputation to the Intelligence Bureau during 1988-1994.

Secretaries In Action

a) Secretary of mines Ms Santha Sheela Nair and special secretary (mines) S Vijay Kumar addressed representatives of the mineral industry during the Federation of Indian Mineral Industries (FIMI) committees meeting. The provisions for sharing of profits from mining operations with local communities were also discussed in detail

b) Power secretary P Uma Shankar, Indian High Commissioner in Australia Ms Sujata Singh, CMD NTPC R S Sharma and Consulate General in Melbourne Ms Anita Nayar actively participated in an investors’ meet in Melbourne on Wednesday which was addressed by power minister Sushilkumar Shinde.