IPL Season: A month long cricket camp for bureaucrats’ children now

Ex-IAS Raghu Menon

IN THIS season of IPL and cricketing fever, the children of the Central government employees are being wooed to a formal cricket coaching camp. The summer vacation is beginning soon, and the children will have a chance to stay fit. And you never know, there could be a future Tendulkar, Dhoni or Kohli out of them.

If the child is between eight and sixteen years old...

he can join the cricket coaching camp in New Delhi’s Vinay Marg Sports complex beginning May 15. The camp, organized by Central Civil Services Cultural and Sports Board, will continue for one month. They will be trained between 7 am to 10 am. The fees? Just Rs 300 which is to be paid in cash. One needs to apply on or before May 11, 2012.

There are about 3.5 million Central government employees, but most of them happen to be from the Indian Railways. After all, every third Central government employee is actually a Rail man. The ministries such as defence, IT and Communications and home are the other few Central government ministries having large number of employees.

Ministers’ discretionary power to be in public domain

Want to know what are the discretionary powers of a Union minister? The bureaucrats of various departments have begun to list out such powers being enjoyed by the ministers as they are directed to place those in public domain. The direction came as a DoPT Office Memorandum dated April 16, 2012. A Group of Ministers has been examining how to reduce such discretionary powers of the ministers which at times turn out to be the roots of corruption.