Year End Special: Corridor’s 5 women newsmakers of 2014

Ruchira Kamboj

WHEN the preparation for Narendra Modi’s swearing-in as the 15th Prime Minister of India began, the ministry of external affairs directed one of its diplomats, Ruchira Kamboj, to take the first flight from Paris. Kamboj who had just joined as India’s permanent representative to UNESCO, was to oversee the protocol arrangements of the foreign dignitaries to be present during the oath-taking ceremony. Here are the five women bureaucrats who turned newsmakers in 2014:

Ruchira Kamboj, IFS
The topper of 1987 IFS batch, Kamboj was the chief of protocol, the first woman officer to hold that position, before getting shifted to Paris as India’s Permanent Representative to UNESCO. Before coming to India for her special job, she tweeted: "Yest'dy once more- Strapping my pair of old boots 2 assist with arrangements 4 swearing in ceremony of PM-designate@narendra modi on 26 May."
Read: Kamboj’s protocols

Merin Joseph, IPS
Indian Police Service officer trainee Merin Joseph’s photos went viral in social media network on September 11, as hundreds of men complimented her for her good looks and some claimed, they didn’t mind getting arrested by her. Someone wrote: “Has an arrest warrant? For your heart”. Said another: “Bharat Mata Ki Jail”. Many in Twitter alerted BoI about this unique development of a “pretty IPS” becoming a talking point in Facebook, WhatsApp etc., with one saying: “She (Merin) is a work of art by god!”
Read: Merin, the “pretty IPS”

B Chandrakala, IAS
Lakhs of Indians on December 18 watched a video where district magistrate of Bulandshahr in Uttar Pradesh B Chandrakala is seen shouting at officials and contractors for shoddy construction work. Excerpts of what she said:
Is this your work? You will go to jail for this!
This money belongs to the people, not you. Commission-khori ki bhi had hoti hai! (Even bribery has a limit!)
Chup! Galti aap logon ki hai
An FIR should be lodged against this kind of work. Otherwise, an FIR will be registered against all of you.
Have some shame. Morality has died in you.
Read: Chandrakala, and her viral video

Bandana Preyashi, IAS
In September, this 2003 batch IAS from Bihar was appointed as private secretary to minister Ravi Shankar Prasad in the department of legal affairs. Many still remember Preyashi as a hard taskmaster who as Barh sub-divisional officer locked the food-grain godown of don-turned-JD (U) MLA Anant Singh alias Chhote Sarkar.
In Siwan where she was the district magistrate, many called her “sir” rather than “madam”. “This chair (the DM's) is asexual. It does not matter if you are a man or a woman. Everyone here calls me Sir," Preyashi was quoted as saying in an April 2009 article.
Read: More about Bandana “Sir”

Anita Agnihotri, IAS
A woman officer becoming a GoI secretary is hardly a news. But this 1980 batch IAS of Odisha cadre is different. After all, Agnihotri, who took over as secretary in the ministry of housing and urban poverty alleviation (Hupa) earlier this year, is also writer and poet. She has written over 100 short stories capturing images of anger, hardship, love and compassion. Jara Bhalobesechhilo (Those Who Had Known Love) is a best-selling Bengali lyrical novel written by Agnihotri.
 Read: Govt's very own Mahasweta Devi