Inside Raisina Hill: Weekly Wrap From The Power Corridor-X

As one walks down the Hill along the Rajpath, now renamed Kartavya Path, come other edifices — Rail Bhavan, Krishi Bhavan, and Shashtri Bhavan on one side and Sena Bhavan, Udyog Bhavan and Vanijya Bhavan on the other. The bureaucrats who adorn the offices in these buildings decide on India's economic, social, and industrial policies. There are many tales to be told from the corridors of these grandiose buildings. We let you in on some of them here in this week's edition of "Inside Raisina Hill".

The Bunkers That Saved Lives

The Indian Government has been planning for a long time for the eventuality of yet another conflict with Pakistan. And that included thousands of fortified underground shelters that were built earlier along the volatile stretches of Jammu and Kashmir, particularly near the Line of Control (LoC).

The country's bureaucracy prepared its citizenry with ample safety drills long before the strike. It also saw to it that these shelters were up and running, properly repaired and had stocks in case people had to be there for a long period. 

These are called ‘border bunkers’. These bunkers were built to shield civilians from cross-border shelling due to any sudden escalation from the other side. In a way, these are frontline lifesavers in conflict zones. "Without these shelters, casualties would have been higher," officials said.

Now that frequent shelling and firing, along with infiltration attempts, have started from Pakistan’s side, these emergency shelters are adequately restocked and reinforced. For communities along the border, bracing desperately for any fallout, these are real lifesavers.

These bunkers and safety drills are an important part of the civil defence. However, being a nuclear-armed state with a full-fledged nuclear triad, India’s nuclear defence is another highly sensitive area.

The country has a network of strategic bunkers and hardened command facilities designed to survive the unlikely event of a nuclear strike. These secured bunkers, if needed, will ensure continuity of governance and military command. This is a critical safety infrastructure in the event of an all-out conflict.

From being relics of the Cold War era, suddenly these bunkers have become vital components of security strategy to confront the current military tussle with Pakistan.

Generational Shift At The Top Of LIC

India’s insurance sector’s public sector giant, Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), is about to go through a leadership change. Three of its five managing directors (MD), including Chairman and CEO Siddhartha Mohanty, will be retiring in early June.

In April 2023, Mohanty was appointed as Chairman, with multiple designations of MD and CEO till June 2025. M Jagannath and Tablesh Pandey, two other MDs, are also set to retire, as they will reach the retirement age of 60.

The government is planning to use this opportunity to reorganise LIC’s top leadership.

Two names are doing the rounds in the corridors of the insurance behemoth — Executive Directors (ED) Ratnakar Patnaik and Dinesh Pant. The Financial Services Institutions Bureau (FSIB) has announced the names of these two new faces as new MDs.

They are expected to step in as MDs very soon, and their appointments are reportedly now with the cabinet committee for due approvals.

After Patnaik and Pant are inducted as MDs, the FSIB will schedule the interviews for the selection of the new MD and CEO. There are other significant names within the serving MDs, including Sat Pal Bhanoo and Ramachandran Doraiswamy.

There is one important change in the selection process under the new rules. Earlier, even an ED could be in the race to become the MD and CEO, but now only sitting MDs will be considered for elevation.

If Finance Ministry mandarins are to be believed, Bhanoo is likely to be named as acting CEO before the actual selection. He is also a strong contender for the top post due to his seniority. LIC, by the way, has a long tradition of promoting leadership based on seniority.

The reshuffle at the top, incidentally, will result in a generational change in leadership. This is also a likely opportunity to create space for the next leadership — Patnaik, with a term till 2028, will emerge as the future CEO candidate.  

Karnataka Heading For A Temporary DGP After May 21

A panel of names of senior Indian Police Service (IPS) officers from the Karnataka government has reached the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) office in New Delhi, just a couple of days ago.

What is this list about?

If government sources are right, then there is a possibility that the state will go for a temporary appointment for the post of Director General & Inspector General of Police (DG&IGP).

The incumbent, Alok Mohan, a 1987-batch IPS officer, is slated to leave office on May 21.

Ministry mandarins inform that the UPSC will require some time to deliberate and evaluate the names sent by the state government. The decision is unlikely to be shared with the Karnataka government before May 21.

So, Karnataka may be on the path to appoint a temporary Head of the Police Force (HoPF).

As per the Civil List of IPS officers of Karnataka cadre, Mohan was scheduled to retire on April 30, on attaining the age of 60 years, but he has continued in office due to ‘two-year’ fixed term.

He was appointed in-charge DG&IGP on May 22, 2023, after his predecessor — then police chief Praveen Sood — was appointed as the CBI Director. But his appointment was later confirmed on August 5, 2023.

The officials here said that the state government, in compliance with the Supreme Court judgment in the Prakash Singh case on police reforms, has sent to the UPSC the names of four senior-most IPS officers of the rank of DGP for shortlisting candidates for the next DG&IGP.

Officers whose names have been received by the UPSC include 1992-batch IPS officer Prashant Kumar Thakur, the DG, Fire & Emergency Services, 1993-batch IPS M A Saleem, the DG (Criminal Investigation Department - CID), 1993-batch IPS K Ramachandra Rao, DGP & CMD of the State Police Housing & Infrastructure Development Corporation, 1994-batch IPS Pronab Mohanty, the DGP of Internal Security Division (ISD) and Cyber Command. These officers have their services left for 2-3 years.

K V Subramanian’s fall from grace

K V Subramanian’s fall from grace may just be beginning. Recently removed from his role as Executive Director at the International Monetary Fund, the former Chief Economic Adviser is now under the scanner for alleged misuse of influence during his tenure.

Sources within the banking division reveal that the government is checking whether multiple state-run banks made huge purchases of Subramanian’s books.

He recently released a book titled Bharat@100: Envisioning Tomorrow’s Economic Powerhouse. Subramanian, in the book, predicts India can achieve a US$ 55 trillion economy by 2047, if the nation sustains an 8 per cent annual growth rate.

Assocham organised a launch event of the book written by the former Chief Economic Advisor, which was attended by Delhi’s who’s who.

Now, with the economist’s IMF stint cut short and his career under a cloud, Subramanian faces difficult choices.

Insiders say Subramanian’s original appointment as CEA came with backing from the RSS, but he never managed to establish a working relationship with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. 

IAS Turf Wars: 1989 vs 1991 – Who Rules The States?

Camaraderie among the same batch of Indian Administrative Services (IAS) officers is quite common. However, there is another side to the coin also — rivalry between different batches of IAS officers.

Behind the calm corridors of power, a quiet rivalry simmers between the IAS batches of 1989 and 1991. At stake is the pie of power, which neither group wants to share. This is plainly about who holds more turf across India’s administrative map.

As things stand now, the 1991 batch boasts seven Chief Secretaries in different states. That’s more than any other serving batch. This batch steers governments in states as diverse as Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu. All the state postings with high political stakes imply that the Centre-state dynamic in these states is often tense.

Sudhansh Pant now leads Rajasthan’s bureaucracy after a swift repatriation from the Health Ministry. K Ramakrishna Rao holds the reins in Telangana, while A Jayathilak has stepped into poll-bound Kerala.

With N Muruganandam in Tamil Nadu and Manoj Pant in West Bengal, it’s clear the Centre sees the 1991 batch as one that thrives in tough terrain. Add Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh — both sensitive border states — and you’ve got a formidable line-up.

But now, stealthily, another batch is fast catching up: The IAS batch of 1989. They now hold sway in five states and two strategic Union Territories — Delhi and J&K. Atal Dulloo steers J&K’s volatile terrain, while Dharmendra navigates Delhi’s politically charged bureaucracy.

Pankaj Joshi in Gujarat, Amitabh Jain in Chhattisgarh, and powerhouses Anurag Jain and Amrit Lal Meena in MP and Bihar show the batch’s solid grip on top administrative posts. Karnataka, too, where Shalini Rajneesh made headlines succeeding her husband as CS.

In this grand IAS chessboard, it’s a friendly face-off, in which "batch pride" meets bureaucratic finesse.

Who’s winning? For now, the numbers are stacked in favour of the 1991 batch. But in this game, there's no checkmate — just one more move.

(Contributed by Pawan Kumar, Mahua Sengupta Venkatesh & Jayanta Roy Chowdhury; curated by Abhijit Mukhopadhyay)