Congratulations, Megha Nidhi! And Thank You!

 

Megha Nidhi Dahal has cracked the UPSC exams and is now headed to IAS-dom. His success has been inspiring, and his journey thus far, despite his barely 28 years of age, has been uplifting as well. In a feature originally published in Sikkim NOW! edition dated 11-17 July 2015, TSHERING EDEN touches on some aspects of what makes Megha Nidhi special…

“If you think you can, you certainly will”

iN-CONVERSATION WITH MEGHA NIDHI DAHAL

NOW: Now that some time has passed since the initial euphoria of getting through the UPSC exams, how does it feel?MEGHA NIDHI DAHAL: I definitely feel happy. Sometimes, I find it a little hard to believe as well. But then again, I feel that it is no big deal. If not me, someone else would have been there, probably from a State that has poorer social indicators than ours. This result is a testimony to the fact that the education system in Sikkim is equally competent as any other states in India, perhaps even better.

Premature Retirement rules for officers of All India Services enforced

GANGTOK, 23 Jan: The state government has announced what is also called the rule of premature retirement of officers of the All India Services as implemented in force in Sikkim as per Rule 16 (3) of the All India Services (Death cum Retirement Benefits) Rules, 1958. This rule was amended by Parliament on 31 January, 2012.
For this purpose the government has instituted review committees of IAS, IFS and IPS officers in the state. As per this rule the centre in consultation with the state may require a member of the All India Service to retire from service in public interest; for this purpose a notice of 3 months is required to be given or three months pay and allowances in lieu of such notice.
The committees will review the entire service record of the officer regarding suitability or otherwise for further retention in the service. In fact, such a review is to be conducted regularly, first after the completion of 15 years of service, second after completion of 25 years of service or the officer attaining the age of 50 years. Further enhancing the prerogative of the state government in connection to the retention of IAS, IPS and IFS officers, in case such reviews have not been conducted the review may be conducted at any other time as the centre may deem fit.
Recently there had been a re-juggling in the ranks of the state civil services as well as in the number of IAS/IFS officials deputed to the state government and committees set up for the review of officers of the All India Services in Sikkim. Three committees have been constituted to carry out the periodic review of officers of the All India Services of IAS, IPS and IFS categories respectively.
These have been constituted in terms of the All India Services (Death cum Retirement Benefits) Rules, 1958. For IAS category the committee is headed by the Chief Secretary and consists of an officer in the apex scale in the cadre concerned, an officer in the apex scale from outside the cadre and who has not declared such cadre as his home state, one officer in the grade of Principal Secretary in the cadre representing SC/ST community and the Secretary, Department of Personnel as member secretary.
Similarly for review of IPS officers the committee is headed by the Chief Secretary and consists of the DG, Police; a DG level police official from outside the cadre; a Principal Secretary ranked officer representing the SC/ST community and Secretary, Home Department as member secretary.
For the review of IFS officers the committee is again headed by the CS and consists of the PCCF; a PCCF level officer from outside the cadre, a principal secretary ranked officer representing the SC/ST community and the secretary, Forest Department as member secretary.
This rule has been so amended “on sound policy” and in “public interest” with the objective to weed out the deadwood and in order to maintain a high standard of efficiency and initiative in the state services.
A few months ago in October 2012 two vacancies had been created in the Sikkim cadre central services, one in the IAS category and another in the IFS category; these were created with the retirement of two state officials.
For such appointments officials of the Union Public Service Commission consult with state officials as happened in November, 2012. The meeting between the state and central officials decides in what rank the central officials will be posted and this again depends on seniority in the state service. Earlier in September the government had notified around 33 posts of Under Secretaries to be filled in the civil service and there was also an enhancement in the number of Secretary ranked posts from the civil services.

South Sikkim’s first IAS Officer, Karma R Bonpo, felicitated

NAMCHI, 03 June: Daksin Sikkim Sahitya Sammelan [DSSS] today felicitated the first IAS Officer from South Sikkim, Karma R Bonpo who is on probation at present as Assistant DC [South] at Namchi. Namchi-Singithang MLA, Binod Rai, was present as the chief guest for the felicitation programme organized here at the DAC conference while was also attended by SDM HQ, Joint Director Land Revenue, other officials from South District and students of surrounding schools.
DSSS felicitated Mr. Bonpo for successfully clearing the UPSC exams and for choosing Sikkim as his cadre. He was felicitated with a shawl and a letter.
While addressing the gathering, Mr. Bonpo said that the love and respect from the people of Sikkim has made all his efforts worthwhile. After completing his schooling from Namchi Public School his first choice was getting into the country’s premier Indian Institute of Technology [IIT], however, he shared that due to lack of proper guidance he could not make it to IIT. He then joined Delhi University, which according to Mr Bonpo, opened the doors to IAS for him.
After completing his higher studies from the Indian Institute of Management he finally sat for the civil services examination and qualified out of the 4 lakh candidates who had sat for the UPSC exams. His prolonged desire to serve his own state brought him back to Sikkim cadre otherwise he was inducted as an IAS officer in the Tripura cadre, he mentioned.
Responding to queries from the students present, Mr. Bonpo said that, hard work was the secret behind the success of every IAS or IPS officer and added that there should be a hunger for knowledge. He further asked the students to focus on English and Mathematics which according to him were important subjects to achieve any kind of goal in the future.
Being a small state, most of the students here are not getting the real guidance, stating this he further said that, Class XI and XII is the most crucial period of a student’s life from where one can decide one’s future path.
MLA Mr. Rai in his address congratulated Mr. Bonpo and also thanked him for choosing Sikkim as his cadre. He added that Mr. Bonpo was an inspiration for the coming generation of Sikkim.
The programme was conducted by the literary deputy general secretary of DSSS, Thiru Psd. Nepal while it was also addressed by DPO, DRM, Pempa Sherpa. Vice president of DSSS, CM Dahal read out the felicitation letter and the programme concluded with the vote of thanks delivered by SDM HQ, Purna Yonzon. The function was followed by the literary programme of DSSS “Chawtari”.