Hari Chava Launches New Mobile ordering App Whizzle

Hyderabad based Whizzle Mobile App Pvt Ltd announced the launch of its mobile ordering application Whizzle.

Whizzle is a smartphone messaging 'Chat Commerce' app to chat with local businesses, Whizzle Founder and CEO Hari Chava told reportere.

"Customers can simply check the product availability and price with a message and order on the go. Whizzle guarantees a response in less than 60 seconds. It owns the entire order life cycle from receiving orders to home delivery of the goods with support for cash-on-delivery," he said.

Whizzle enables consumers to go ahead from web search of businesses or desktop era of online basket-based purchase flow to highly personal and intuitive mobile message based transactions, Chava said. It allows smartphone users to have a real-time interactive experience with their favourite businesses free of cost through messaging wherein consumers can both enquire and order through this platform, he said.

"Every business can now become a smart business by downloading Whizzle and registering as a business. Whizzle currently has more than 15,000 businesses spread across Hyderabad," Whizzle Technology Head Siddhartha Kongara said. "Customers can order food, groceries and any other daily needs, book appointments with spas, salons, clinics and doctors, check prices and availability of any product at most businesses and reserve tables in restaurants and rooms in hotels all with just a message," he said.

"Whizzle app allows two-way communication. Businesses can upload offers on their profiles and attract more customers and broadcast the latest updates or offers to all their users with one click. All offline stores can now compete with e-commerce giants by registering on Whizzle," he said.

After Hyderabad, Whizzle has plans to expand to Bengaluru, Mumbai and Delhi in next three months. 

Sriharshita Musunuri a big winner at international Intel science competition

A science-minded freshman from the Mill Creek area won big at the Super Bowl of science and engineering competitions.

Say the following out loud: Application of Tetrahedrite and Magnesium Silicide in a Novel Thermoelectric Unicouple to Generate Electricity from Industrial Waste Heat.

Few of us can make it through that phrase in one breath, let alone know what it means. But for one high-school freshman from the Mill Creek area, it is much more than just a string of 18 words. It is the title of her science project, which earned her a trip across the country for the prestigious international competition where she emerged a winner in various categories.

Sriharshita Musunuri, 15, received the $5,000 Best in Category award in the Physical Energy group at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF), which took place in Pittsburgh last week.

Musunuri also won a separate $3,000 first-place award for the Physical Energy group, $3,000 in stock from United Technologies Corporation, and the Innovation Exploration Award, which will take her to Pasadena, Calif., to present her research at Caltech Institute of Technology.

That’s a big achievement for someone currently finishing her first year at Jackson High School in Mill Creek. The annual Intel competition — featuring 1,700 students from more than 75 nations — is one of the world’s most competitive.

Andy Sevald, a teacher at Musunuri’s high school, called it the “freaking Super Bowl.”

Musunuri joined Jackson High’s Science Research and Engineering Club in September with a desire to create a device that converts industrial waste heat into energy.

“There’s a lot of waste that’s being lost in the environment, and there’s not a lot that’s being done to recover it, so that sparked my interest,” she said.

Through her research, Musunuri came up with the idea to combine two materials used to produce electricity: tetrahedrite and magnesium silicide. By creating a temperature differential, a voltage could be created that can then lead to energy.

“This hadn’t really been done before,” she said.

With Sevald as her adviser and help from centers such Alphabet Energy and the UW Washington Nanofabrication Facility, Musunuri was able to gather the necessary tools to build her project and gather data.

“She was reading into this stuff before school even started,” Sevald said. “This is quite a ninth-grader.”

After winning second place overall at the Washington State Science and Engineering Fair in March and a silver medal at the I-SWEEEP science fair in Houston in May, Musunuri was invited to attend the Intel competition.

Along with the prizes she received, her win means that Washington state’s fair and Jackson High will also each get a $1,000 grant. Sevald said Jackson High will use its $1,000 for field trips, materials and transportation to future competitions.

Musunuri plans to save part of her earnings for college, or to help her do future research.

Several other Seattle-area finalists competed at the Intel competition, too.

Mahalaxmi Elango of Interlake High School in Bellevue won $1,000 in the “Computational Biology and Bioinformatics” group. Rosemichelle Marzan, Cameron Beardsley and Hyrum Bock of Northwest Nuclear Consortium in Federal Way earned $500 in the “Physics and Astronomy” category.

Sonia Murthy, Ethan Perrin and Sophia Tevosyan from Nikola Tesla STEM High School in Redmond won $1,000 in the “Environmental Engineering” group. They were also awarded $1,000 by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Digital Media Distribution Leader Whacked Out expands operations

Digital media distribution firm opens office in Singapore to cater to Asia-Pacific markets

Hyderabad based Whacked Out Media Pvt Ltd, which is into digital media distribution space, expanded its operations by opening its office in Singapore to tap growing opportunities in Asia Pacific region.

This expansion follows four years of the company’s major growth in India across its services offerings that include celebrity management, film promotion and branding, strategic partnerships with YouTube as a MCN (multi channel network), Google and Facebook. It manages the social media profiles of over 200 celebrities of the South Indian film fraternity.

It has distributed 4,000 films and over 5.14 lakh hours of movies, kids, news, devotional and audio content along with TV shows. Its team of social media and YouTube certified experts, communicates with an online audience of over 97 million followers on Facebook and 3.9 million subscribers on YouTube.

The Asia-Pacific expansion, with a major focus on acquiring customers in the region, will now be driven out of the company’s new office in Singapore led by Rama Krishna Veerapaneni, Managing Director and his acquisitions and syndication team. “Singapore’s robust infrastructure and strong connectivity to the rest of the region makes it the optimal city to locate in for our Asia-Pacific operation,” said Veerapaneni.

Through policies that welcome global business, Singapore has built a strong ecosystem of innovation that will be beneficial for us to join. Our expansion will allow us to quickly respond to the growing demand in the region for digital media distribution, he added.

Jwala Gutta Win Canada Open

Calgary - Canada: Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa beat Dutch duo Selena Piek-Eefje Muskens for the title on Sunday.

Indian shuttlers Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa upstaged the top-seeded Dutch pair of Eefje Muskens and Selena Piek in the women's doubles final of the Canada Open on Sunday to win their first title since reuniting after the 2012 London Olympics.

The third-seeded Indian pair triumphed 21-19, 21-16 in the contest which lasted 35 minutes.

In a closely-contested opening game, Jwala and Ashwini broke away from 19-19 onwards and converted the lone game point opportunity to grab the initiative.

The Indians dominated the second game and raced to a 5-0 lead before going from 10-6 to 15-6 up. However, Muskens and Piek fought back to win nine points straight and tie the game at 15-15.

But Jwala and Ashwini did not let the advantage slip and won six of the next seven points to clinch the title.

Double for Pullela Gayatri at PNB Metlife All India sub junior ranking badminton tournament

NEW DELHI: Pullela Gayatri has badminton in her genes. Daughter of chief national coach and former All-England badminton champion Pullela Gopichand and former India champ PVV Lakshmi, Gayatri is a 'chip off the old block' in every sense. 

Just 12 years of age, the shy and demure Gayatri is already leading the way in the Under-13 girls category. She won the U-13 national doubles title last year and is the No. 1 seed in her age-group in both singles and doubles and won both U-13 singles as well as the U-15 doubles categories of PNB Metlife All India sub junior ranking badminton tournament.

A young girl of few words, Gayatri has been training at her father's academy in Hyderabad since the age of six. Her father Gopichand believes in pushing the boundaries. The young shuttler, who attends Glendales school in Hyderabad, begins her day before 4 in the morning. 

Gopi believes that testing her skills against seniors will hold her in good stead for the future. She took part in a senior ranking event in Bangalore a couple of months back on her father's suggestion. 

Avanti feeds, Centum Electronics among 11 Indian companies in Forbes Asia's 'Best Under A Billion' list

SINGAPORE: As many as 11 Indian companies including Avanti Feeds Ltd (Alluri Indra Kumar - Managing director) and Centum Electronics (Apparao V Mallavarapu - Chairman and MD) are ranked among top 200 Asia Pacific corporations in Forbes Asia's 'Best Under A Billion' list. 

The list covers public companies with annual revenue of $5 million to $1 billion, Forbes said, adding that they should also have positive net income and should be publicly traded for at least a year. 

Companies from mainland China & Hong Kong (84) as well as Taiwan (36) dominated this year's list accounting for 60 per cent of the top 200 publicly-traded companies in the Asia Pacific region. 

With 11 companies, India was ranked fourth on the list after South Korea which has 17 firms in the coveted list. 

The Indian companies that made it to the list include Byke Hospitality, Caplin Point Laboratories, Centum Electronics, Kaveri Seed, Kitex Garments, NGL Fine-Chem, Orbit Exports, Premco Global and Vakrangee. 

Of the 200 companies, 123 are new to the list, which underscores the "dynamism of the region's small and medium-sized sector", Forbes said. 

India and Malaysia both have 11 companies on the list while Australia has nine firms. This year, Japan dropped out of the top five countries, with only eight companies compared to 15 last year. 

Yadlapalli Pranjala is World No. 19 in ITF juniors’ circuit

Yadlapalli Pranjala achieved the best-ever ranking by any girl from India in the contemporary ITF juniors’ circuit when she reached World No. 19, according to the latest rankings.

“It’s a great feeling to be the best in the ITF juniors’ circuit from India. But, I know there is still a long way to go and I am grateful to my coach Ilyas Sir (Ilyas Ghouse at the GVK Tennis Academy, Jubilee Hills) for all the support,” says an excited Pranjala.

Ilyas mentions that Sania Mirza was ranked No. 20, but that she played very briefly in the ITF circuit before stepping in the big league and everyone knows she belongs to a different class altogether. This young talent, who for long has been tipped as the next bet in women’s tennis from the city after Sania Mirza, achieved this ranking by virtue of her consistency in the big league.

The most notable being winning the 2014 Grade IV ITF juniors title here, runner-up in Thailand ITF juniors, winner in the ITF Junior Grade I in Chandigarh, making it to the second round in the Junior Australian Open this January, winning the singles in the ITF Juniors Grade I in Thailand in March this year and a ‘double’ in the Asian Closed junior championship in Delhi.

తెలంగాణా ఏ.సి.బి A యాంటి C చంద్ర B బాబు వలె మారిపోయిందా?

జరుగుతున్న పరిణామాలు చూస్తే తెలంగాణా ఏ.సి.బి A యాంటి C చంద్ర B బాబు వలె మారిపోయిందా అనిపిస్తుంది. తెలంగాణా ఏ.సి.బి కొన్ని ప్రశ్నలకు సమాధానాలు చెప్పాలి.

1) చంద్రబాబు నాయుడు ఫోన్ కాల్స్ టాపింగ్ చేయమని ఎవరు ఆదేశించారు? అంత తీవ్రమైన నేరం ఆయన ఏమి చేసాడు? 

2) ముఖ్యమంత్రి స్థాయి వ్యక్తి ఫోన్ కాల్స్ టాపింగ్ చేయటానికి కేంద్ర హోం శాఖ అనుమతి తీసుకున్నారా? ముఖ్యమంత్రి స్థాయి వ్యక్తుల వ్యక్తిగత సంభాషణల పై నిఘా నైతికమేనా? 

3) చంద్రబాబు నాయుడు స్టీఫెన్ తో సంభాషణల టేపులు న్యాయస్థానానికి సమర్పించకముందే కొన్ని చానళ్ళు ( తెలంగాణా న్యూస్, సాక్షి ) ప్రసారం చేసాయి.... ఆ టేపులు మీరే వారికి అందించారా, లేక ప్రభుత్వ పెద్దల నిర్వాహకమా? ఒకవేళ ఈ రెండిటిలో ఏది నిజమైనా మీ పాత్ర అనేక సందేహాలకు తావిస్తుంది.

4) గత సంవత్సర కాలంలో ముఖ్యమంత్రి కార్యాలయం, మంత్రుల కార్యాలయాల్లో ఎన్నో అనైతిక కార్యకలాపాలు సాగుతున్నాయి... ప్రతిపక్ష ఎమ్మెల్యేలు, ఎమ్మెల్సీలు, ప్రజా ప్రతినిధులను ప్రలోభాలకు గురిచేస్తున్నపుడు, వాళ్ళని సంతలో పశువుల్లా కొనుగోలు చేసినప్పుడు మీ దృష్టికి రాలేదా! లేక వచ్చినా ఈ విషయంలో ముఖ్యమంత్రి అవినీతికి మీరేమన్న లైసెన్స్ ఇచ్చేసారా? 

5) కౌన్సిల్ ఎన్నికల్లో తమ పార్టీకి అనుకూలంగా ఓటు వేయాలని ప్రలోభాలకు గురిచేస్తూ  ప్రతిపక్ష ఎమ్మెల్యే లకు ముఖ్యమంత్రి కార్యాలయం నుండి, హరీష్, కేటిఆర్ కార్యాలయాలనుండి ఫోన్ కాల్స్ వస్తున్నాయని ప్రతిపక్షాల వాళ్ళు చేస్తున్న ఆరోపణలకు స్పందించి మీరేమైనా ఆ విషయంపై ద్రుష్టి పెట్టారా? మీది స్వతంత్ర వ్యవస్థా లేక ప్రభుత్వ కట్టు బానిస వ్యవస్థా? 

6) తమ పార్టీ ప్రజా ప్రతినిధులను తెరాస, కెసిఆర్ కొనుగోలు చేస్తున్నారని ప్రతిపక్షాలు ఆరోపించినప్పుడు మీరు నిజానిజాల కోసం ఆ ప్రజా ప్రజాప్రతినిధుల కాల్ డేటా విశ్లేషించారా, వాళ్ళ బ్యాంకు ఖాతాలు, ఇళ్ళలో ఆధారాలకోసం శోధించారా?

7) అవినీతి ఆరోపణల్లో అడ్డంగా బుక్కైన 'శ్రీనివాస్ గౌడ్' లాంటి వారికి కెసిఆర్ పదవిచ్చి అందలాలేక్కిన్చినప్పుడు ఆ చర్యకు మీరేమైనా అభ్యంతరం తెలిపారా? 

8) 16 కేసుల్లో A1 నిందితుడు జగన్ రోజువారి చర్యలపై నిఘా ఏమైనా పెట్టారా? అరాచకవాదులు అసదుద్దీన్ ఒవైసి, అక్బరుద్దిన్ ఒవైసి వంటి వారిపై నిఘా ఏమైనా ఉందా? 

9) ఆంధ్ర ప్రదేశ్ ముఖ్యమంత్రి గవర్నర్ నామినేటెడ్ ఎమ్మెల్యే స్టీఫెన్ ను తమ పార్టీకి ఓటు వేయమని అడగటం నేరమా? ప్రజాస్వామ్యంలో ఒక పార్టీ వారు ఇతర పార్టీల వారిని, ఇండిపెండెంట్ అభ్యర్ధులను ఓటు అడగకూడదని రూలేమైనా ఉందా? 

10) చంద్రబాబు నాయుడు, స్టీఫెన్ సంభాషణల్లో ఎక్కడా డబ్బుల ప్రసక్తి రాలేదు, ప్రలోభాలకు గురిచేయలేదు, స్వేచ్చగా, నిర్భయంగా ఓటు వేయమని చెప్పటం నేరమా?

* * * తెలంగాణా ఏ.సి.బి A యాంటి C చంద్ర B బాబు వలె మారిపోయిందని, ఆంధ్ర ముఖ్యమంత్రి, ప్రజాప్రతినిధుల హక్కులకు భంగం కలిగించేలా ప్రవర్తిస్తూ, ఆంధ్రుల ఆత్మ గౌరవాన్ని దెబ్బతీస్తుందని ఆంధ్ర ప్రజలు అనుకుంటున్నారు... తెలంగాణా ముఖ్యమంత్రి కనుసన్నల్లో పనిచేస్తూ ఈ విధంగా  ఇరు రాష్ట్రాల ప్రజల మధ్య చిచ్చు పెట్టేలా ప్రవర్తించటం మీకు భావ్యమేనా? 

K V Chowdary appointed Central Vigilance Commissioner

NEW DELHI: Kosaraju Veeraiah Chowdary, former chairman of the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), has been appointed the new central vigilance commissioner.

Chowdary's appointment is finalized in June 1 meeting of the selection committee headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and comprising Union ministers Rajnath Singh, Arun Jaitley, Jitendra Singh as well as Leader of Congress in Lok Sabha Mallikarjuna Kharge.

Chowdary, a 1978 batch Indian Revenue Service officer who is currently serving as advisor to the Supreme Court-appointed special investigation team on black money, is the first non-IAS to head the Central Vigilance Commission.

In CVC, the term of central vigilance commissioner Pradeep Kumar had ended on September 28 last year, while vigilance commissioner J M Garg completed his tenure on September 7. Rajiv, a 1975 batch IPS officer, is the only vigilance commissioner at present. The posts of another VC and the CVC have been vacant for almost a year. Sources said the government had received about 135 applications for the CVC's posts.

The appointment of CVC was possible after the apex court earlier this month lifted a five-month-old stay imposed after an NGO approached the court alleging lack of transparency in appointment process. The SC had on December 17 last year asked the government to furnish details of the appointment procedure and not to appoint CVC without its approval.

Lipika Narisetti, Abhilash Yarlagadda, Aniket Nuthalapati semifinalists Scripps National Spelling Bee - 2015

Lipika Narisetti, 12, a seventh-grader at the Hilliard Heritage Middle School, Abhilash Yarlagadda, 13 a eighth grader from Sycamore Junior High School, Ohioand Aniket Nuthalapati, 13 a eighth grader from Aptakisic Junior High School in Blue Ash, Illinois, Chicago were among the elite 49 spellers who reached the semi-finals of the Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee Championship suburban Washington. Three first timers were failed to reach the finals. Better luck next time. 

‘Stealthy’ Big-Data Company Saama Emerges With $35 Million

In 1997, Suresh Katta left Silicon Graphics , the computer graphics company where he was an engineer for nearly nine years, and founded Saama Technologies Inc.

Mr. Katta imagined that corporations would want to be able to find, aggregate and analyze large volumes of data, like the kind that SGI’s technology was able to visualize, to make business decisions.

It was an unusual idea at the time, and with almost no sales or marketing and no venture capital, which he repeatedly turned down, he built a company that has been profitable every quarter and claims more than 50 large customers, including Cisco Systems Inc. and Delta Dental.

Now he thinks Saama has a chance to get significantly bigger. The company, which has less than $100 million in revenue, is finally “coming out of stealth,” as Mr. Katta put it, and has raised $35 million from Carrick Capital Partners.

Hundreds of startups and hundreds of millions in venture capital are now chasing Mr. Katta’s idea, which is labeled big data, but he believes Saama has an 18- to 24-month head start over the competition.

Saama is Mr. Katta’s third startup. Previously he co-founded GVI, which developed the groupware application XTeleScreen and was acquired by Netscape Communications, and Multisoft, which he said marketed and distributed high-end graphics products for the Indian market.

Satya Nadella Tops The List of Influential Tech Leaders 2015

Some of the executives on Juniper Research's list of Top Technology Leaders, Influencers, and Visionaries for 2015 are the names you would expect, but others wield their power a little bit more quietly. Not every person who made the list holds the top job at his or her company and not every top influencer works at a top-tier, front-of-mind brand for the public.

To create its list Juniper ranked leaders using eight criteria (in its words):

1. Innovation: How new, differentiated and disruptive their contributions are to the industry.

2. Scalability: How easily their contribution can be applied to multiple markets and product types.

3. Reach: How much impact does this person and their contribution have on a geographical scale?

4. Business Model: The crunch side of innovation; how new is the business proposition of the person's contribution.

5. Personal Capital: How much the person's individual connections, personality, philosophy, etc., is able to complement their business.

6. Outside Impact: The probable impact that the person's contributions will have on their sector outside the growth of their business.

7. End-user Impact: How big a difference the contribution will make to the lives of end users.

8.Vision: How complete a picture of the future the person can make. Do they make a convincing case for the applicability and/or potential of their product?

Using those criteria, Juniper created a list that shows the executives who have the most impact -- a surprising mix of names you know and less-famous leaders. It's a ranking as notable for who did not make it as who did. You won't see Apple's (NASDAQ: AAPL  ) Tim Cook or Amazon's (NASDAQ: AMZN  ) Jeff Bezos, and none of Google's (NASDAQ: GOOG  ) (NASDAQ: GOOGL  ) top executives made the top five.

1. Satya Nadella, CEO, Microsoft
Nadella taking the top spot not only marks a triumph for him but a victory that shows just how much he has changed Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT  ) . The CEO has taken a company that had grown staid and complacent and transformed it. Microsoft is no longer a dying king clinging to a shrinking kingdom. Instead, it's a company with dynamic ideas, which makes its signature products available across all platforms, not just its own Windows operating system.

In his short time at the helm Nadella has created a more nimble Microsoft and delivered a new vision for company. He has pushed the company into the cloud and has led the creation of a new version of Windows that has actually sparked excitement. Nadella has made Microsoft a tech leader, pulling it from the brink of being a dying company relying on legacy products.

Praneet Polineni named US Presidential Scholars for 2015

Praneet Polineni, a senior at Stanton College Preparatory School, has been named one of the 11 Indian Americans among 141 Presidential Scholars in the United States. The prestigious award is based on academic achievement, artistic excellence, leadership, citizenship and contributions to school and community. The scholars, who will be recognized at a ceremony in Washington, D.C., are chosen by the White House Commission on Presidential Scholars, which is appointed by the president, a news release said. They also got to recognize a teacher who has greatly influenced them. Praneet chose Erika Migues, a math teacher at Stanton.

Presidential Scholars are brought to Washington, D.C. the summer after they graduate from high school. During the National Recognition Program, they meet with government officials, educators, authors, musicians, scientists, businessmen, among others. They are also felicitated with a Presidential Medallion in a ceremony sponsored by the White House.

Pranjala Yadlapalli enters French Open junior doubles quarters

PARIS: Pranjala Yadlapalli kept the Indian hopes alive in the junior girls section of the French Open after the 16-year-old moved into the doubles quarterfinals, even as Sumit Nagal exited the boys singles draw. 

Pranjala and her seventh seed Chinese partner Wushuang Zheng cruised past the unseeded pairing of Anastasia Gasanova and Maia Lumsden 7-5, 6-4. 

Earlier, the 17-year-old Nagal lost 6-2, 3-6, 4-6 to eighth seed Korean Yunseong Chung in second round. 

Pranjala though had exited from the girls singles after losing her first round contest.

MunchEm: A Startup that Provides New Channels to Restaurants to Make Additional Revenue

Florida-based MunchEm is a marketing software startup that was launched in April 2013 by Prasad Vemulapalli, with an aim to empower local restaurants with technology and tools to tap the potential customers. Its business model include two verticles – MunchEm and OrderEm.

MunchEm is a food ordering app & website that allows users to order their favorite food from near by restaurants, and gets delivered directly to their doorstep. They can pay online with a credit card or with the help of PayPal account or pay when they pick up. The app is available for Android, iOS and Windows phone users.

OrderEm provides free software to restaurants and delivery service companies, to create their own apps and websites. It is a zero cost solution to restaurants. Restaurants pay a commission fee only when orders flow-in.

Using OrderEm, restaurants have complete control of their Custom App or  Website. They can edit menus and upload photos from their phone to manage their website/app from any location.

Initially, the startup was launched in the USA & India (Vijayawada), and now it is building up restaurant clients in Vishakhapatnam, Hyderabad , Bangalore etc.

What problems is it solving?

It enables new channels for restaurants to make additional revenue with its online ordering. The startup’s SaaS software and tools enable restaurants to change menu, content and delivery zones from their phone, which in turn automatically updates in real time information in their website & app, as well as to discovery MunchEm app.

Funding & Investment

The startup has raised a funding of around $1,450,000 till now. Now, it is looking to secure around $2-5 million and plans to use these new funds to scale its operations, to grow its sales in 25 cities.

Competitors

It is competing with other players like GrubHub, Zomato, Yelp and ChowNow.

Present Status and Future Plans

The startup has over 200,000 menu items offered by 2,000 restaurants in the MunchEm system. It has already benefited over more than 1000 customers from these services.

Its future plans are to help food lovers in the 100 Smart Cities that Indian Government is creating. Simultaneously, it plans to be in 25 cities in USA in 2015.

K V Chowdary tipped to be new CVC

THE PM-headed panel that includes Leader of Congress in Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge selected the next Central Vigilance Commissioner (CVC), a post that has been lying vacant since September last year when the then CVC Pradeep Kumar had retired. And a former IRS officer Kosaraju Veeraiah Chowdary, the Income-Tax sleuth who played a critical role in probes like 2G spectrum allocation and the HSBC Geneva taxpayers list, is tipped to be the next CVC, according to… reports that are still unofficial, as the name will formally be announced after President Pranab Mukherjee returns from his foreign tour later this week and gives his assent to the recommendation.

After the meeting, Kharge told reporters that the meeting was confidential but added that the panels (there were two panels, one each for CVC and CIC) sent the recommendations to President’s office. The name of Vijai Sharma, the senior-most information commissioner, was reportedly recommended as the new chief information commissioner (CIC).

And if the initial reports are correct, the post of CVC, traditionally held by a retired IAS officer, will now go to a retired IRS officer. The power of the CVC can be gauged by the wide mandate he enjoys under which the CVC can probe corruption cases of any government official, be it a peon or the cabinet secretary. Also, the CVC has a say on the appointment of the CBI director, thereby making the post all the more important. After the Supreme Court judgement on PJ Thomas case, the post of CVC is no longer restricted to a retired or serving civil servant, and a private citizen can also be a contender to the post.

Chowdary joined IRS in 1978 and moved up in the ladder to become chairman of the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), the highest decision-making body on I-T policy. In CBDT, he was first Member (Audit and Judicial) before taking charge of investigations.

Earlier, during his tenure as Director General (Investigations) in Delhi, he got a chance to head high-profile I-T probes like that of 2G spectrum allocation case and the HSBC Geneva taxpayers list. That Chowdary is highly valued by the present government can be gauged by the fact that soon after his retirement as the CBDT chief, he was appointed as an Advisor to the Special Investigation Team (SIT) that was probing black money cases.

Chowdary has a post-graduate degree in mathematics from Indian Institute of Technology, Chennai.