Some relief

To keep a check on foreign trips of babus, the finance ministry had said any delegation for more than five days or with five members would require clearance of the screening committee of secretaries. It has now decided to exempt officers of the level of joint secretaries and below from the purview of the screening committee. The ministries have been asked to internally consider such proposals while exercising “strict scrutiny with regard to the duration of the visit and ensure that only minimum inescapable duration is allowed in such cases”.