Safe Landing: IAS hires his junior with a Rs 3 crore annual pay package

IMAGINE you are a powerful IAS officer but find your immediate junior earning whopping 25 times more than you earn! It’s not a tale to tell, but a real-life case in India’s national carrier Air India.

Yes, you have guessed it right by now. Air India’s new chief operating officer (COO) Gustav Baldauf will earn a fixed salary of Rs 16.5 lakh per month with a variable component of Rs 9.5 lakh per month. He will report to Air India CMD Arvind Jadhav, who happens to be a Karnataka cadre IAS officer of 1978 batch. According to media report, CMD in Air India receives a monthly salary of Rs 1.2 lakh to 1.4 lakh, meaning that Mr Baldauf’s fixed salary itself will be about 15 times more than that of Mr Jadhav, and about 25 times more if Mr Baldauf enables to get the full variable package by achieving all targets set jointly by COO and CMD before they are approved by AI Board.

Mr Jadhav, who has received flaks for not being able to effectively run the show properly, may not however mind his junior getting much more salary as Mr Baldauf who was in Jet Airways as vice-president some years ago, is expected to play a crucial role in Air India’s turnaround saga. For Mr Jadhav, it seems, negotiating air pockets and ensuring a safe landing hold the key for his future journey.

Gujarat cadre IAS probationary officers meet Narendra Modi

Six new Gujarat cadre IAS probationary officers on Wednesday called on Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi at his office in Gandhinagar. These IAS trainee officers of year 2009-11 batch are Ratankunvar Gadhvi Charan, Vijaykumar Lalubhai Kharadi, Kuldeep Arya, Nagarajan M, Pravina DK, and Sonali Giri. They are now serving in Dahod, Tapi, Kutch, Banaskantha, Patan and Narmada districts respectively.

Commanding officer killed in operations

The Commanding Officer of 18 Rashtriya Rifles Colonel Neeraj Sood was killed while carrying out counter insurgency operations at Kuligam in Kupwara district in J&K on Tuesday night. A first divisioner from Kendriya Vidyalaya Andrew Ganj, the officer is a resident of Delhi. Colonel Neeraj Sood was commissioned into 8 Rajputana Rifles, in December 1992, and is an alumni of National Defence Academy. A keen sportsman, the officer had extensive counter insurgency experience. The officer is survived by his wife, Priti, a home maker and an 11-year-old daughter Mishika, who is studying in class V.