The achiever daughters of
Haryana
V.P. Prabhakar
(From left) New Haryana Chief Secretary Keshni Anand Arora with her sisters Meenakshi Anand Chaudhary and Urvashi Gulati.
Keshni Anand Arora, topper of the 1983
Haryana cadre batch, created history in two
ways. She is the youngest of three real sisters
and became the Haryana Chief Secretary the
other day. Of her two elder sisters, Meenakshi Anand
Chaudhary, a 1969-batch IAS officer, was the first
woman Chief Secretary of Haryana. Later, her elder
sister, Urvashi Gulati, a 1975-batch IAS officer, also
occupied this coveted
position.
Besides the three
sisters, Haryana has also
had two other women
Chief Secretaries ---
Promila Issar (August
31, 2007, to February
29, 2008) and
Shakuntala Jakhu (July
31, 2014, to November
30, 2014). Haryana,
therefore, has had five
women Chief
Secretaries, a record of
sorts.
The three daughters
of Prof JC Anand of
Panjab University,
Chandigarh, made their
parents proud by
reaching the position of
the state’s Chief
Secretary.
Keshni has succeeded 1982-batch officer D. S.
Dhesi, who retired on June 30, 2019, after serving in
the post for four and a half years. She will retire on
September 30, 2020.
Born in Punjab in September 1960, Keshni had also
remained the first women Deputy Commissioner in
Yamunanagar from April 16, 1990, to July 1, 1991. She
won an international-level best Award for
Conservation and Preservation of Heritage and eight
more awards. She got an MBA degree from Western
Sydney University of Australia.
Meenakshi Anand Chaudhary said: “Our parents
would have been the most delighted today after
seeing that Keshni, too, has reached the top position
in the Government of Haryana. Certainly, this is a moment of pride for all of us. This has come at a time
when her daughter, Shruti, has joined the IPS.”
Meenakshi’s son, Maneesh Chaudhary, is an IPS
officer and is at present posted as DIG (Security) in
the Haryana police. Urvashi’s daughter, however,
works in the corporate sector.
Urvashi Gulati said: “This is really an emotional
moment for all of us. I wish our parents were alive
today. She has
lived up to their
dreams, especially
our mother.”
Keshni said: “I
owe it to my mom
and dad, my didis,
family and, of
course, seniors
who have shown
faith in me. I shall
try to live up to the
expectations of
all.”
Keshni was
Deputy DirectorGeneral, UIDAI,
during her
deputation to the
Centre and headed
the project in
Punjab, Haryana,
HP, Jammu and
Kashmir and
Chandigarh.
Keshni declared: “Good governance and
transparency in the system will be my top priority. I
will focus on implementing flagship schemes of the
central and state governments apart from working
for inclusive growth.”
As Additional Chief Secretary (Revenue), Keshni
conceptualised and implemented many innovative egovernance projects like registration of properties,
mandatory e-stamping and online PAN verification.
The implementation of the decision to charge Rs
5679.45 crore as registration fee and stamp duty in
2018-19 is Rs 1414.27 crore higher than that in 2017-
18 (more than 33 per cent) and the highest in the
history of Haryana.
Eye specialist honoured
PGI Director Dr Jagat Ram honoured in Chennai
Dr Jagat Ram, Director of
the PGI, Chandigarh, was
honoured on July 6 by
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister
Edappadi K Palanisswami
for his significant
contribution to Indian
ophthalmology in the field
of adult and paediatric
cataract surgery.
He was honoured during
the Indian Intraocular
Implant and Refractive
Surgery Convention held
in Chennai. The
conference was attended
by over 2500 ophthalmologists from India and
abroad.
Dr Jagat Ram, honoured with the Padma Shri by
the President of India this year, is already a recipient
of the Most Prestigious Award Best of the Best
Winner for New
Surgical Techniques
on the Management
of Double
Crystalline Lens at a
session of the
American Society
Cataract and
Refractive Society at
San Francisco, US, in
April 2013.
On May 9, 2016,
he had received the
Best of the Best
Award at New
Orleans, US, at an
American Society conference.
He also received one of the most prestigious
awards, the Oscar of Paediatric Ophthalmology, at
the World Congress of Paediatric Ophthalmology and
Strabismus held at Barcelona in 2015.
Bureaucrat with literary touch
Amandeep Sindhu Chatha, Director-General
of Audit, South Central Railway, Secunderabad,
is well known in the literary world and the audit
field in Chandigarh, as she had remained posted in
the Accountant-General’s offices of Haryana for over
16 years. She is popular in literary circles because of
her interest in poetry as well as for her simple
behaviour and compassionate attitude towards her
staff.
She was also posted as Principal-Director of Audit,
Indian High Commission, London, from 2013-15. She
had the proud privilege to present the external
auditor report on behalf of the C & AG of India to the
Programme and Budget Committee of United Nations
General Assembly at Geneva.
Amandeep writes poetry in freestyle in the form of
two-line couplets.
“Bandagi” stays the important component in all
books. In all, she has written five books. Her fifth
book, “Rehnuma”, was released some time back in
Secunderabad. The earlier four books are “Ehsas aur
Bandagi”, “Inayat”, “Zarf-e-Nazar” and “Zaafraan”.
Amandeep has dedicated “Rehnuma” to her father
(Walid ke Naam), Sardar Surinder Singh Sidhu (April
26, 1935, to November 3, 2015). Her two books
“Zaafraan” and “Rehnuma” are in Hindi, English and
Urdu.
The following few couplets show her devotion to
her father and God:
“Mukammal aashiyaan hota hai ek baar
Vo jo tha aapke walidain ka ghar”
“Vo aapka fikr aur hamaara hum sehi zikr
Waalid ki duniya mein, lagta hai hum hi hum
the.”
“Kya guzarti hogi Khuda par jab kehte hain log
Ek jannat aur bhi hai, iss se bhi khoob.
The last two couplets are:
“Sardi kee dhoop si waalid ki yaad
Muskuraahat qaayam hai, aankh nam hai.”
“Waalid ki yaad, tujh par ilzaam nahin
Mujh ko maaloom hai tu Raheem hai.”
This shows how devoted Amandeep has been to
her father and the supreme power.
Amandeep was also awarded by the Millat
Educational Welfare Society under the aegis of the
Uttar Pradesh Urdu Academy in 2009
