British civil servants told to do Facebook under ‘totally mad’ plans

THE British civil servants will soon be encouraged to use social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter to engage with public and find out what people are thinking, a report published in London-based newspaper The Daily Mail said. It is an initiative of Sir Bob Kerslake, the new head of Britain’s civil service, under a plan titled ‘totally mad’, the report said.
This is a contrarian view of the use of social media sites by bureaucrats...
as civil servants in many countries are not allowed to air their views publicly. In India, Facebook and Twitter are being used by a section of officials but many of them find themselves at the crossroads of personal and official opinions. Some of them use a disclaimer in their status message saying that “views are personal”. Many offices including those in Britain use firewalls to stop officers from using those sites, but many employees find alternative ways like use of smart phones to get themselves engaged in Facebooking.
In Britain, the departments are now given time till September to adjust their computer firewalls to allow access to Facebook, the report further said. But the debate has already begun whether officers would use it for personal networking with friends leading to a huge wastage of taxpayers’ money in terms of man-hours lost.

Action and Appointments
a) Ms Vijaya Srivastava, a 1984 batch MP cadre IAS, has been appointed as joint secretary in the department of rural development in place of N Muruganandam, a 1991 batch Tamil Nadu cadre IAS who was appointed as joint secretary in the ministry of shipping on a lateral transfer.
b) Anil Kumar Ganeriwala, a 1986 batch Indian Forest Service officer of 1986 batch, presently in the cadre, has been appointed as joint secretary in the department of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy (AYUSH) in place of VS Gaur, a 1986 batch Jharkhand cadre IFS.
c) Salim Haque, a 1984 batch Indian Postal Service officer, has been appointed as additional secretary (joint secretary level) in the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC).
d) Manoj Kumar P, a 1998 batch Indian Statistical Service officer, has been appointed as director in rural development ministry.
e) Anurag Prasad, a 1991 batch IRS-IT officer, has been appointed as director in the department of commerce under the ministry of commerce and industry.