Dinesh Trivedi-Sujatha Rao saga rooted to a Rs 140-crore web project

THE spat between minister of state for health Dinesh Trivedi and health secretary K Sujatha Rao had its origin in a Rs 140-crore proposed project for creating a web portal. The Trinamool Congress leader announced creating such a vast project after consultations with national knowledge commission chief Sam Pitroda in November 2009, but he later found that the secretary was not clearing his project.

As it turned out later, such a project with huge financial implications can’t be sanctioned by the secretary, and it needed to be sent to the ministry of finance for approval. Mr Trivedi’s anger and frustration over the delay forced him to come out openly and criticize Ms Rao and other bureaucrats of red-tap. Mr Trivedi in a television interview termed Indian bureaucrats “ineffective” and suggested the need for secretary level officers to visit villages with Members of Parliament to have some sense of accountability.

Action and Appointments

Both the departments of higher education  and school education have created two posts at the level of additional secretary. In fact, Sunil Kumar, a 1979 batch Chandigarh cadre IAS has been appointed as additional secretary in the department of higher education whereas Ms Anita Kaul, a 1979 batch Karnataka cadre IAS has been appointed as additional secretary I the department of school education and literacy.