New Delhi (24.12.2020): All India Service (AIS) officers of the West Bengal Cadre may seem to believe that a BJP victory in the West Bengal Assembly Elections may presage well for their career advancement in the sense that they may get a greater and better opportunity for central deputation.
Ever since the arrival of Mamata Banerjee at Nabanna, AIS officers have been increasingly denied the opportunity to be deputed to the Center because of the huge suspicion of the CM fed and fueled by BJP's legitimate politics to pull her down from the 14th floor of Nabanna and pack her off to her Kalibari residence.
Mamta's rising suspicion, reflected in her general approach, has perpetuated her belief that if she let her officers go on deputation to the Center, the NDA government may manipulate them to undermine her authority in the state.
It is worth underlining that at present only nine IAS officers from West Bengal Cadre are there in Govt of India namely; Pawan Agarwal (IAS:1985), Sanjeev Chopra (IAS:1985), RS Shukla (IAS:1986), Tallen Kumar (IAS:1987), Indevar Pandey (IAS:1988), S Kishore (IAS:1989), Chandan Kumar Sinha (IAS:1989), Vivek Bhardwaj (IAS:1990) and Ms. Manmeet Kaur Nanda (IAS:2001). Further, four West Bengal Cadre IPS officers are there at Centre namely; Ram Phal Pawar (IPS:1988) is DG of NCRB whereas Praveen Kumar (IPS:1993), Ms Rashmi Sinha (IPS:1996) and Sumit Chaturvedi (IPS:2001) are working in the Intelligence Bureau whereas Surendra Yadav (IFS:WB) is the only IFS officer who is at Centre as JS, Defence Production.
It may well be underlined that all together (tentatively) only 14 AIS officers from West Bengal Cadre are currently working in Govt of India which itself is a testimony to how the Mamta Govt has been ruining the career prospects of her own officers by depriving them of wider exposure and experience.
That AIS officers generally didn't appreciate this approach of hers to their career prospects didn't seem to have mattered at all in her political calculations.
And because of her brand of politics, only half a dozen AIS officers currently find themselves deputed at the Center.
(By Rakesh Ranjan)
