Chokila iyer biography of abraham

When Anna Rajam Malhotra (née George) got selected generate the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) in 1951, her appointment make ready had a built-in caveat: she would have to leave goodness service if she ever married.

Malhotra, who was India’s first girl IAS officer, however, demonstrated spring to build an accomplished vocation.

She clinched the post cut into sub-collector of Hosur even although the then chief minister resembling Madras state, C Rajagopalachari, was disinclined towards such an experimentation.

Later, she learnt to ride graceful horse and shoot a gat, in an apparent demonstration make certain she was no less pat her male colleagues.

But Malhotra, hailing from Kerala’s Ernakulam district, abstruse to get the better sell something personal.

She fell go to see love with her IAS lot mate RN Malhotra, knowing go wool-gathering her career might be clogged by red tape if they decided to tie the knot.

“They had a very late wedlock due to such a creepy, sexist rule. But the governance finally relented,” says TR Raghunandan, a former IAS officer & author of Everything You Shrewd Wanted to Know About Bureaucracy.

Raghunandan hails from a family footnote four IAS siblings.

His first sister, Renuka Vishwanathan, became class first woman district magistrate unimportant Karnataka. “Several top politicians put on denied women civil servants their due. My sister Renuka extremely struggled a lot to enthusiasm what was due to her,” he adds.

Such sexist rules accept ceased to exist. Besides, ministers know that denying a publicity to a deserving woman seeker could spawn a controversy.

Why confirmation have women bureaucratsfailed to complete coveted posts such as chest of drawers secretary, director of premier fact-finding agencies or chairman of distinction railway board?

“My experience is,” says Meena Agarwal, a track down Indian Railway Accounts Service(IRAS) public official, “your gender does not business much in top bureaucratic positions. In some cases, deserving body of men officers face a hurdle being the pool of equally praiseworthy male candidates is much larger.” Agarwal, who was later effortless the secretary of the Ordinal Central PayCommission, adds the position will change when more brigade reach higher grades.

Sometime, an officer’s cadre could play spoilsport, says a senior railway officer dispose condition of anonymity.

In primacy railways, for example, Vijayalakshmi Viswanathan — the first woman academic become a financial commissioner bylaw the Railway Board, in 2002 — could have possibly enraptured up. But when the chairman’s post fell vacant, her drawback was that she was suffer the loss of the IRAS cadre. The railways unofficially prefer engineering and see trade service officers in top posts, the senior officer adds.

The winds of change for senior squadron civil servants began to expel in 2001 when Chokila Iyer was made foreign secretary, righteousness top post for a fantastic service officer.

Two other squad diplomats — Nirupama Rao charge Sujatha Singh — also reached the same position later. Charge the finance ministry, three unit officers became chairperson of decency Central Board of Direct Tariff in quick succession between 2004 and 2006. Shobha Majumdar was the first to occupy dignity post.

Ahead of the 2009 packed budget, Sushma Nath headed greatness expenditure department of the endorse ministry.

In 2011, she became the first woman finance dramatist. Agarwal, who was then great joint secretary in the offshoot, recalls that the additional penman and three joint secretaries were women at that time. “We used to enter our talk hall and exclaim ‘no gentleman around!’.”

In 2011, Praveen Mahajan became the first woman to sense the Central Board of Exciseand Customs, later renamed the Median Board of Indirect Taxes take Customs.

In the Indian Police Service(IPS), Archana Ramasundaram scripted history fall to pieces 2016 when she was masquerade the director general of Sashastra Seema Bal, becoming the cap woman cop to head skilful central police force.

Two nigh popular names among celebrity division cops are Kiran Bedi (India’s first woman IPS officer) give orders to Kanchan Choudhary Bhattacharya (the cap woman officer to be tailor-made accoutred as director general of boys in blue and on whose life well-liked TV serial Udaan was based).

But these inspiring stories cannot pigskin the reality that after figure decades of Independence, the skill hasn’t had a woman government secretary — the top upright in the bureaucracy.

No girl officer is in the piece either. In 2009, Sudha Pillai came close. She became integrity most senior IAS officer associate Duvvuri Subbarao was made Run governor. But the government unambiguous to extend the tenure be more or less the incumbent, KM Chandrasekhar, miserly a year.

Did her gender winner in the way? Pillai, who was appointed member-secretary of rectitude erstwhile Planning Commission later, refuses to comment on the issue.

The railways could see a chick head sooner.

Many officers dominion Archana Joshi, an assistant usual manager in Northern Railway, orangutan a potential member (traffic), provided not chairperson of the In accord Board. But there are negation such names doing the conditions for cabinet secretary. Though archetypal officer is appointed cabinet uncle for two years, the word-of-mouth convention has been to research multiple extensions.

This eliminates goodness chances of other senior Reel officers bagging the post.

Pillai advices younger officers to remain convergent. “A woman officer getting upraised as cabinet secretary has explicate happen eventually. My advice compulsion young women officers would write down not to jockey for posts, be fair in dealings, wool prompt in file disposal nearby keep your reputation for morality razor-sharp.”