Back, And On The Job Already

Vijay Kelkar

Adviser to the finance minister

The first thing Vijay Kelkar, adviser to finance minister Jaswant Singh, did after being appointed the head of the three task forces on direct and indirect taxes, was to get hold of a copy of the Parthasarathy Shome committee report.

Reason: instead of waiting for the mandatory presentation by revenue department officials next week, he wanted to utilise the weekend to read the issues that dog the tax administration. That is typical of his hands-on approach to any job, quite unlike a bureaucrat.

Kelkar, who was finance secretary in 1998-99, returns to North Block after a three-year stint in the International Monetary Fund as executive director.

In a way, it is interesting that he starts his second innings at a time when the finance and disinvestment ministries have revived the