As reported first by Indianmandarins, the UP IAS association, during its annual general meeting, approved the demand of its female officers to take up with the central government the issue of allowing 730-day childcare leave only to women officers or single fathers.

 

Terming the department of personnel and training (DoPT) circular issued in this regard in 2018 as ‘regressive’, the association decided by consensus that it may plead with the central government that "husbands should also be allowed to avail of this leave, with the couple as a unit allowed to share 730 days of leave as they like. We all agreed to the proposal and it will be put up before the Centre for consideration.”

 

Further, the association called for transparency in empanelment of IAS officers for postings at Centre besides allowing them to work in municipal bodies to give them exposure in the urban development sector.

 

“For empanelment of officials for secretary and additional secretary level positions at the Centre, while all information is collected about deserving officers under the 360-degree feedback mechanism, no reason is given in case empanelment is denied,” said an association office-bearer. “The process is very opaque and we will be putting up this matter before the Centre as well,” he added.

 

The association also called for posting of IAS officers in municipal bodies. “In some states, including Delhi, IAS officers are posted as municipal commissioners but this is not being done in UP. The only exceptions are Varanasi and Allahabad where municipal commissioners are IAS officers,” said an officer.

 

The mentorship project started by the IAS association was also discussed.