In a large-scale reshuffle in top bureaucracy involving 19 secretaries of various Ministries and departments, the Modi government on Wednesday shunted out National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) chairman Raghav Chandra to the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes, while Coal Secretary Anil Swarup has been moved to the Department of School Education and Literacy.
The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) headed by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi issued orders for 19 secretaries, including Secretaries of Higher Education, Parliamentary Affairs, Fertilizers, Food and Public Distribution, Border Management, Sports, and others.
The reshuffle involved 12 officers from the 1983 batch, three from the 1982 batch, and four from the 1981 batch.
In the present exercise, six officials belonging to the 1983 batch and currently posted as special secretaries in various ministries have been given full-time assignment as Secretaries in the government.
NITI Aayog’s Special Secretary Yudhvir Singh Malik, a 1983 batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of the Haryana cadre, has been appointed as the new chairman of NHAI in place of Raghav Chandra, while Rajiv Yadav has been moved from the Ministry of Sports to the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs as Secretary in place of Prabhas Kumar Jha, who has been made Secretary-Official Language in the Ministry of Home Affairs.
Amiesing Luikham, Secretary-Public Enterprises, has been moved as Officer on Special Duty(OSD) in the Ministry of Minority Affairs, and will take over as Secretary there, following the superannuation of present incumbent Rakesh Garg. Similarly, Anoop Kumar Srivastava, Secretary-Official Language, has been made OSD in the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, where he will take over as Secretary after the superannuation of current Secretary Shyam Agarwal.
Border Management Secretary Susheel Kumar, a 1982 batch IAS officer of the U.P. cadre, has been handed a plum posting as Secretary, Ministry of Coal, while Rajeev Kapoor, Director of the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNA), has been made Secretary, New and Renewable Energy. A 1983 batch IAS officer from Himachal Pradesh, Upama Chaudhary, has been sent to the LBSNA in Mussoorie as its director.
The National AIDS control organisation (NACO) Director General N.S. Kang has been appointed new secretary in the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities. Asha Ram Sihag, Secretary of UPSC, has been made Secretary-Coordination and Public Grievances in the cabinet secretariat.
Another 1983 batch IAS officer, Injeti Srinivas, Director General (DG) of the Sports Authority of India (SSI), has been made Secretary of Sports cum DG-SSI.
Special Secretary in the Ministry of Home, Sanjeevanee Kutty, has been made Secretary, Border Management in the MHA, while her batchmate Bharathi Sihag, Special Secretary in the Ministry of Steel, has been given her first assignment as Secretary in the Department of Fertilizers.
Seema Bahuguna, Special Secretary in the Department of Rural Development, has been made full-fledged Secretary in the Department of Public Enterprises. Preeti Sudan, Special Secretary in the Ministry of Women and Child Development has been posted as Secretary-Food and Public Distribution, while K.P. Krishnan, Special Secretary in the Department of Land Resources has been moved to the position of Secretary, Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship.
