Read PM’s Mind: IFS officers should enable release of resources from defence to development

RERRING to an increasingly inter-depending and uncertain world, Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh said Indian Foreign Service had an important role to play in steering the country. The Prime Minister noted that foreign policy should enable the release of resources from defence to achieve our development goals. He was talking to probationers of the 2009 batch of IFS on Wednesday.

In his remarks to the probationers, Singh highlighted issues of environmental security, the role of the international trading system and regional trading arrangements in overcoming the limitation of natural resources in the country. On national security, he said the country required special attention to relations with India’s neighbours and extended neighbourhood (South East Asia, Gulf and West Asia, Central Asia, Africa) and the importance of maintaining productive relations with the world’s major powers.

Action and Appointments

a) The ACC has approved the appointment of Desh Deepak Verma, a 1978 batch UP cadre IAS, presently in the cadre, as Director General, Sports Authority of India, in the rank and pay of additional secretary in place of Sayan Chatterjee, a 1976 batch Kerala cadre IAS.

b) Vivek Dewangan, a 1993 batch Manipur-Tripura cadre IAS, has been appointed as private secretary to the minister of corporate affairs Murli Deora at director level.

c) RK Mishra, a 1999 batch Indian Postal Service officer, has been appointed as Officer-on-Special Duty of coal minister Sriprakash Jaiswal at deputy secretary level.