IAS officer Kundan Kumar was on Thursday appointed Private Secretary to Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, according to a Personnel Ministry order.

Kumar, a 2004 batch IAS officer of Bihar cadre, will have a tenure up to Februray 3, 2020, it said.

More than 700 govt doctors in West Bengal tendered resignations in solidarity with their striking junior colleagues, The government appeared rudderless for most part of the day and Mamta remained mum.
Already battling criticism over her handling of the protest by doctors in West Bengal, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was in for more embarrassment. A day after Kolkata Mayor Firhad Hakim’s daughter Shabba Hakim took to Facebook to support protesting doctors, Banerjee’s nephew Abesh was seen leading a strike at KPC Hospital in Kolkata. He is a student at the KPC medical college and hospital.

If you were an alien that dropped in on the planet and you heard that most people on the planet had access to less than a bucket of water a day, because other people used ridiculous amounts of water to grow, feed, clean and kill animals so that they could eat them – when they didn’t need to – what would you say? In the cult book, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams, the Universe has decided that Planet Earth must be flattened and removed to make way for a highway. We don’t have to wait for the universe to kill us – we are doing this to ourselves every day.

The Union Public Service Commission is expected to empanel a list of at least three senior IPS officers this week, paving the way for the appointment of Tamil Nadu’s next Director-General of Police/Head of Police Force, who will hold office for a period of two years, starting July 1, 2019.

The incumbent DGP, T.K. Rajendran, who received a two-year extension of service, will retire by the end of this month.Police sources said J.K. Tripathy (1985 batch) and M.S. Jaffar Sait (1986 batch) are among the frontrunners for the top post, while Sri Lakshmi Prasad, Ashutosh Shukla and Mithilesh Kumar Jha (now on Central deputation) may also find a place on the panel.