CORRIDORS TREND 2017, PART 3: Five things you can’t afford to miss out

Young IAS officers participating in a fashion show

WHETHER it is the end of the red beacon era or the Prime Minister's repeated appeal to the bureaucrats to remain anonymous just like the "invisible" 4th lion of Ashoka Emblem, the corridors witnessed dozens of new trends and approaches. BoI here picks out 5 such interesting trends that you must not miss out:

1. The use of red beacons that symbolised powers and a sense of entitlements in the corridors came to an end since May 1 this year. But is it enough to end the VVIP culture? What about the usage of “Sir”, “His Excellency” and many more?

2. Gujarat and Karnataka got their first women police chiefs this year. In April, Geetha Johari, a 1982 batch IPS officer, became the first woman to take charge as Gujarat top cop. And then in November, Karnataka got its first woman police chief when 57-year-old Neelamani N Raju -- a 1983 batch IPS officer -- took over as the Director General of Police.

3. There was an unease in the corridors, particularly among the IAS officers, after former coal secretary and 1971 batch former IAS HC Gupta was convicted and sent to jail in coal scam. Gupta is considered non-corrupt, with his batchmate and former chief election commissioner Dr SY Quraishi calling him the honest officer who lived his life like a sadhu.

4. Prime Minister Narendra Modi reminded the bureaucrats, at least on two major occasions during the year, that anonymity is one of the greatest strengths of civil services. PM said this first on the Civil Services Day (April 21) and then  repeated the same when he addressed a gathering of officer trainees at LBSNAA, Mussoorie, in October. PM compared the civil services to the fourth lion of the Ashoka Emblem, saying how the emblem remains invisible, yet it makes its presence felt at all time.

5. And the last but the not the least is the young IAS officers of 2015 batch making history by walking on the ramp in New Delhi in September this year, to promote Northeast handlooms. The officers who were then working in various Central government ministries as assistant secretaries, participated in the fashion show, thereby possibly becoming the first IAS officers to walk on a ramp in a public function.