Foreign academic scheme under DBT

In an instance of bureaucrat ic oversight, a scheme meant for overseas Indian students has been included under the domestic money transfer platform — Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT).

In an instance of bureaucrat ic oversight, a scheme meant for overseas Indian students has been included under the domestic money transfer platform — Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT).

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Three months after finance minister P Chidambaram announced that there would be 26 schemes under Direct Benefit Transfer, the government discovered that National Overseas Scholarship for Scheduled Caste students was also under the DBT platform.

The new mechanism is only applicable within the country and not outside. The realisation came when the Planning Commission found zero response for digitisation of beneficiary data under this scheme. Reason — the money was getting transferred into the accounts of foreign educational institutions so far not under DBT.

Babus cannot shirk election duty anymore
Election duty for senior bureaucrats will not be a paid holiday. To ensure babus sent as observers from central and state governments work, the Election Commission has asked them to file daily reports on the areas visited and their observations.

They have also been asked to hold daily meetings with sub-divisional election officers in election bound Karnataka.

They will also have to videotape their visits to keep an electronic record as a fallback option in case of any untoward incident or a complaint about their not being on duty.

VK Singh’s daughter to tie the knot
Former army chief Gen VK Singh’s (retd) daughter is getting married to Southern Army commander Lieutenant General Ashok Singh’s son on April 29.

The ceremony will take place at the official bungalow allotted to General VK Singh in Delhi Cantonment by the government after he retired last May.

Tourism minister particular about dept’s media publicity
Tourism minister Cheeranjivi seems to be less than pleased with the level of publicity his ministry is getting in the media.

Recently, the former actor turned minister summoned the press information officer for tourism and gave him a long lecture on how the activities and events of the ministry should be highlighted.

He also specifically asked the Information Service (IIS) officer to meet him regularly for a detailed briefing. Meanwhile, he has also appointed a professional consultant to advise him on media issues.