Know Your Babu: Manipur cadre IAS AN Jha will be Union finance secretary for 3 months

AN Jha

THE Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) on Monday approved designating AN

Jha, 1982 batch Manipur cadre lAS and secretary in the department of expenditure, as the new finance secretary. Jha will be the finance secretary for  a little less than three months, as he will retire on January 31, 2019. Incumbent Hasmukh Adhia, a 1981 batch Gujarat cadre IAS, retired in the end of the last month. An alumnus of St. Stephens College of Delhi where he did his post-graduation in history before getting selected into IAS, Jha is the…

Textiles secretary Anant Kumar Singh shifted to dept of land resources; Arun Goel elevated as culture secretary

IN A minor secretary level reshuffle on Thursday, the government changed the ministries of two union secretaries — textiles secretary getting shifted to the department of land resources and secretary, culture, being posed as new textiles secretary. Meanwhile, a special secretary is elevated as union secretary in the ministry of culture. Here below are the details:

Diplomat Pankaj Saran appointed as deputy NSA; defence secretary is temporary head of DRDO

Pankaj Saran, 1982 batch Indian Foreign Service officer, was on Tuesday appointed as the deputy National Security Adviser (Dy NSA) for a period of two years on a deputation basis initially till the date of his retirement, i.e. November 30, 2018, and thereafter on a re-employment contract basis. Saran is presently the ambassador to Russia. Earlier, he was a joint secretary in Manmohan Singh’s PMO. With his appointment, there will be two deputy NSAs, the other being…

Pravesh Sharma: Know more about this IAS-turned Sabziwala

Pravesh Sharma, a 1982 batch Madhya Pradesh cadre IAS resigned from IAS to begin a start-up named Sabziwala, a retail fruits and vegetables chain that promises delivery of quality fresh produce directly sourced from farmers to consumers. Beginning its operation from Delhi, the chain has been using push carts, street vendors, kirana and general stores, milk kiosks etc. to sell its products. Do you want to know more about this former director of Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s PMO? Here are the 10 things to know about this IAS-turned Sabziwala:

GOI Secretary Reshuffle: Urban development secretary Rajiv Gauba to be new home secretary; Aruna Sundararajan is new telecom secretary

Home secretary designate Rajiv Gauba

IN A major secretary-level reshuffle announced on Wednesday night, the Central government appointed urban development secretary and 1982 batch Jharkhand cadre IAS Rajiv Gauba as the next home secretary with effect from August 30 when incumbent Rajiv Mehrishi retires. Among 17 such new secretary-ranked appointments and lateral transfers, there are ones like the shifting of culture secretary NK Sinha as information and broadcasting ministry secretary and the appointment of electronics and information technology secretary Ms Aruna Sundararajan as new telecom secretary, an important post lying vacant. Here below is the list of 17 new appointments:

Know Your IAS: New defence secretary Sanjay Mitra; 10 Things to Know

COME May 24, West Bengal cadre lAS of 1982 batch Sanjay Mitra will be India’s new defence secretary. He has already been appointed as officer on special duty (OSD) in the ministry of defence before he would formally take over as new defence secretary from incumbent G Mohan Kumar. Armed with rich administrative experiences — joint secretary in PMO, chief secretary in West Bengal and union secretary in the ministry of road transport and highways — Mitra has always been a much sought-after officer. Those who are close to Mitra further confirm that he was brought back to Kolkata at the behest of chief minister Mamata Banerjee. Here are 10 things to know about new defence secretary.

Sanjay Mitra is new defence secretary; and Rashmi Verma tourism secretary; adhoc appointments for telecom and road transport

New Tourism Secretary Rashmi Verma (File Photo)

IN A major senior bureaucracy level reshuffle on Wednesday, the Centre appointed Sanjay Mitra, former chief secretary of West Bengal and key bureaucrat in the era of Manmohan Singh’s PMO, as India’s next defence secretary. He is currently serving as secretary in the ministry of road transport and highways. Also, textiles secretary Rashmi Verma will be new tourism secretary. The government has not however posted permanent secretaries in two key ministries — road transport and highways, and telecom. Here below are the appointments of new secretaries in the ministries of defence, textiles, tourism, tribal affairs, consumer affairs etc.:

Anant Narayan Nanda: Know more about the new secretary posts

Anant Narayan Nanda, 1982 batch Indian Postal Service (IPoS) officer, has been appointed as secretary in the department of posts. He will replace Boyapati Venkat Sudhakar, an IPoS officer of 1981 batch. Originally belonging to Balasore district of Odisha, Nanda is  currently a member (banking and HRD) in Postal Services Board. His colleague and member (planning) of the same Postal Services Board -- Ms Meera Handa was also considered a strong…

Gujarat gets its first woman top cop; Geetha Johari appointed new DGP; 10 things about her

SENIOR most IPS officer in Gujarat — Ms Geetha Johari — was on Tuesday appointed as the new Director General of Police (DGP) after her predecessor PP Pandey had to step down from the top cop’s job, following a petition in the Supreme Court. Here are the 10 things you may like to know about the state’s first woman top cop:

4 new appointments; repatriation of 1982 batch IAS Amitabh Verma to Bihar; and full list of 32 JS vacancies

REPATRIATED: Verma

ON FRIDAY, the Centre announced the repatriation of 1982 batch Bihar cadre IAS officer, serving as chairman of Inland Waterways Authority of India under the ministry of shipping, to his parent cadre Bihar “with immediate effect”. And the government found his replacement: 1983 batch AGMUT cadre IAS Ms Nutan Guha Biswas. Meanwhile, there are 32 joint secretary-level vacancies at the Centre. Here below are the details of new appointments, repatriation and full list of 32 JS vacancies:

Know more about UP’s new chief secretary — Rahul Prasad Bhatnagar

UTTAR Pradesh has a new chief secretary — 1983 batch IAS Rahul Prasad Bhatnagar. State chief minister Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday appointed Bhatnagar as the state’s top bureaucrat after he had removed 1982-batch IAS officer Deepak Singhal from the post. Singhal is believed to be close to CM’s uncle and minister Shivpal Singh Yadav with whom CM’s relations have deteriorated over the last three months. Setting aside the politics within the Yadav family, BoI here talks about the new man at the helm of bureaucracy in Uttar Pradesh, the state that’s going for polls early next year. Hailing from Delhi, Bhatnagar…

Secretary Reshuffle: Health secretary BP Sharma shifted to DoPT; water resources ministry to virtually have 2 sectaries for next 5 months

THE Central government on Thursday had a major round of secretary-level reshuffle, the key highlight being appointing would-be secretaries as Officer-on Special Duty in the ministry where the incumbent secretaries have a tenure of one to five months months. For example, the secretary of the ministry of water resources, river development and Ganga rejuvenation Shashi Shekhar will retire only on December 31, 2016, but 1982 batch Gujarat cadre IAS Dr Amarjit Singh is asked to immediately join the ministry as OSD with a direction that he will take over as secretary once the incumbent retires. Also, this round of reshuffle heralds the appointment of 1983 batch IAS who were empaneled as secretaries only recently. Here are the new postings:

Drought in Corridors? No full time rural development secretary as yet; Panchayati Raj secretary to continue holding additional charge

IT SOUNDS odd, but in the midst of the worsening drought situation across the country, Panchayati Raj secretary and 1982 batch Madhya Pradesh cadre IAS officer Jitendra Shankar Mathur has been asked to double up as rural development secretary too, till August 24, 2016, as the government has failed to identify the right bureaucrat as the rural development secretary. This saga began on February 29, 2016 when the then rural development secretary Jugal Kishore Mahapatra had…

Know Your Bureaucrat: New Information and Broadcasting secretary Ajay Mittal

1982 BATCH Himachal Pradesh cadre IAS Ajay Mittal has taken charge as the information and broadcasting secretary replacing Sunil Arora who retired on April 30. Usually, information and broadcasting secretary is someone who has been working in government of India or the one already known in Delhi. So naturally, when Mittal’s name was announced after the approval of the appointments committee of the cabinet, many in the corridors wanted to know who this officer is. And here it goes:

Know Your Babu: New urban development secretary Rajiv Gauba and 3 of his batch-mate secretaries

Rajiv Gauba, a Punjabi from Bihar and 1982 batch Jharkhand cadre IAS will be the new urban development secretary from the end of this month when incumbent Madhusudan Prasad retires. Three of his batch mates, G Gurucharan, Hem Kumar Pande and Jitendra Shankar Mathur have also been appointed as union secretaries. Know more about these 4 Union secretaries:

Make in India, Start Up India: Tough task ahead for new DIPP secretary Ramesh Abhishek

RAMESH Abhishek on March 1 assumed charge as secretary, department of industrial policy and promotion under the ministry of commerce and industry. An IAS officer of 1982 batch (Bihar cadre), Ramesh succeeded Amitabh Kant, who was appointed as the CEO of the NITI Aayog on a two years term. Abhishek was initially appointed as Officer on Special Duty in DIPP so as to get a sense of some of the high-profile initiatives like Make in India and Start Up India that the DIPP undertook.
Abhishek, who was said to be in race for the post of chief of market regulator Sebi (Securities and Exchange Board of India), was earlier working as...

Secretary Reshuffle: Ramesh Abhishek is new DIPP secretary; finance secretary Watal gets 2-month extension

Ramesh Abhishek

IN A secretary-level reshuffle undertaken on Thursday night, the government appointed 1982 batch Bihar cadre IAS Ramesh Abhishek as the successor of Amitabh Kant in DIPP, the department that has been handling government initiatives such as Make in India and Ease of Doing Business. In another development, the government decided to extend the tenure of…

Amrendra Dubey, Snehlata Shrivastava, Susheel Kumar: Who are these 3 special secretaries waiting for a secretary posting?

Amrendra K Dubey

WITH effect from December 26, 2015, these three IAS officers of 1982 batch -- Amrendra Kumar Dubey (Kerala cadre), Ms Snehlata Shrivastava (Madhya Pradesh cadre) and Syed Md Andaleeb Razi (Uttar Pradesh cadre) were made special secretaries by temporarily upgrading the posts they held on that day. All these officers got empanelled as secretaries a little late, because of various reasons. But being special secretaries, they will now be eligible to be posted as secretaries in the forthcoming administrative reshuffle. Let’s know more about these 3 bureaucrats:

Monday Night Reshuffle: Sanjay Mitra is new road transport secretary; Amitabh Kant given additional charge of NITI Aayog’s CEO

THE Central government on Monday night appointed new secretaries in the ministry of road transport and highways, disinvestment and textiles, and gave additional charge of the post of CEO, NITI Aayog to DIPP secretary Amitabh Kant till further order. The moving out of Aradhana Johri from finance ministry (as disinvestment secretary) just a couple of months before the presentation of the general budget and bringing in of West Bengal chief secretary and former PMO official of Manmohan Singh era, Sanjay Mitra, as the secretary of the ministry of road transport and highways were the other two key highlights in the Monday night reshuffle. Here are the 6 key secretary-level appointments:

Commerce minister Sitharaman praises IAS officers -- Vikram Kapur, Latha and Tamil Nadu chief secretary

UNION minister of state for commerce and industry (independent charge)  Nirmala Sitharaman has praised at least three IAS officers of Tamil Nadu cadre -- state chief secretary K Gnanadesikan, principal secretary and commissioner of Chennai Corporation Vikram Kapur and nodal officer of the zone where Ambattur Industrial Estate falls, Ms Latha, IAS. First, let’s have a look at this photo where Sitharaman’s convoy is seen on a flood-hit bye-lane of Ambattur Industrial Estate, Chennai on Monday. Here is what the minister wrote in a social media site: