Bihar and UP bias in ED positions at ONGC
Widespread concern is mounting over ONGC's lack of geographical and social diversity.
At the middle-to-senior management level, ONGC is well-represented - some say over-represented - by officers from north India, say several insiders contacted by this report. However, those from southern India are not as well represented in management, they add.
Of the 59 serving executive directors (from a total of 62 positions), 12 are from Bihar, and 11 are from Uttar Pradesh. Three EDs retired on October 31 (2024): Ravi (no last name), Mudit Kumar Mathur and Rajesh Tiwary.
All three were from north India. ONGC chairman Arun Singh was born in Uttar Pradesh and is a mechanical engineer with a degree from the National Institute of Technology, Patna.
"No doubt there's a skewed distribution of officers from Bihar in influential positions," says one insider. Against that, West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh can claim only five EDs each; four are from Uttarakhand, and three are from Madhya Pradesh.
There's also a smattering of EDs from Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Odisha, and the Andaman & Nicobar Islands. "But despite their low representation," says another source, "these EDs are equally influential."
One source argues, plausibly, that more northern Indians choose government jobs than those from Gujarat or Maharashtra, India's two commercial powerhouses. Only two EDs at ONGC are from Maharashtra, and none are from Narendra Modi's home state of Gujarat.
Others stress that despite Modi's drive to encourage affirmative action in the private sector, this is not reflected at state-owned ONGC. Worse still, only six of the 62 total ED positions are held by disadvantaged or Scheduled Caste (SC) communities, and none by Scheduled Tribe (ST) or Other Backward Class (OBC) groups.
Other than (Ms) RS Narayani in the HR department, no woman features on ONGC's list of EDs. At the board level, not a single director can claim to belong to any disadvantaged caste, tribe or socially backward community.
ONGC counts 2275 officers between the General Manager (GM) and ED ranks. This includes 1541 GMs, 560 chief general managers (CGMs), 112 group general managers (GGMs) and 62 EDs.