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Revision as of 10:07, 19 July 2006 by Oxfordeditor (talk | contribs)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)PRADIP BAIJAL is a retired officer of the much respected Indian Administrative Service. He is a 1966 Batch officer from the Madhya Pradesh cadre. He is part of a long list of senior bureaucrats who have spent time at Oxford University for specialised training. His career in the IAS has been one of many wins and a few controversies. Business Standard, in an article in 2003 called him a storm-raiser, and rightfully so. Credited for 'getting things done', he is respected for his clear thinking and integrity. He has been at the center of the privatisation process in India, the sale of stake in the largest car company in India - Maruti, and the rapid growth of the Telecom market in India.
He retired as the Chairman of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). During his tenure, TRAI articulated and adopted pro-development and consumer-friendly regulatory practices and made important recommendations on the growth of telecom services in rural India to the Government of India. TRAI has also urged the industry to think of next generation telecom networks. Baijal, directly dealt with a variety of key issues impacting the telecom industry in India, including changes to the Access Deficit Charge (ADC) that punctured mobile phone bills. In fact, it was he who is credited with suggesting a reduction in ADC, a fee that private operators pay BSNL for compensating its rural operations, and its eventual withdrawal by 2009. This was by no means a small decision given the clout and might of BSNL and the support of department of telecom to continue with the levy, which works out to not less than Rs 5,000 crore. He was also responsible for Trai`s recommendations on regulation of the vastly unorganised cable industry in India.
Another step of far-reaching implications was Baijal`s continued thrust on unified licensing, under which an operator can offer telecom and broadcasting services on a single licence and next generation networks for Indian telecom sector that would bring down the network costs significantly.
The unified access licences are already in place.
Before taking over chairmanship of TRAI, he held senior administrative positions in the Ministry of Finance and industries at state level. Before his current assignment in TRAI, he was the first Secretary, Minister of Disinvestment, from 1999 to 2003, and laid down the entire gamut of rules and regulations for privatization. Mr. Baijal, who in an earlier assignment was the Minister of Power, from 1994 to 1999, and assisted the central Government in power sector reforms, has been a member of India's Administrative Service since 1966. He has published many papers on privatization, liberalization, power and telecom regulation issues.
He was trained as an engineer before he joined the Indian Administrative Service. Shri Baijal earned his BE (Honours) in Mechanical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology at Roorkee. He took part in a one year visiting fellowship at Oxford University on the Privatisation of Public Enterprise.
Links
Storm Raiser Interview asp?aid=283048&ssid=54&sid=BUS Retirement Dilemma uploads/2006/03/keynote_address_1mar06.pdf SPEECH Article on Regulation