After T. Nanda Kumar resigned as chairman of the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB), hinting at discomfort with the current “external environment”, the Union Agriculture Minister on Friday said he was not aware of any such reason as a cause for the resignation.
“I have yet not seen the resignation letter. It must be with the Appointments Committee of Cabinet. If there are any allegations, in the resignation or elsewhere, I can reply only after going through them,” Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh told The Hindu .
The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet accepted the resignation of Mr. Kumar on Wednesday with effect from August 1, 2016, said an order issued by the Department of Personnel and Training, without citing any reason.
A retired 1972-batch IAS officer from the Bihar cadre, Mr. Kumar had submitted his resignation on June 29, 2016.
Mr. Kumar was appointed NDDB chairman in March 2014 after the exit of Amrita Patel in February 2014. Ms. Patel, who had served about 16 years as NDDB head, was the second chairman of the institution after its founder Varghese Kurien.
Notably, it was after the farewell email sent to NDDB employees by Mr. Kumar, in which he hinted at the reason for his resignation, the speculations of tussle between NDDB and the Union Agriculture Ministry strengthened.
“There comes a time in everyone’s life when one’s value system comes into serious conflict with the external environment. A point of no compromise becomes a point of no return. I have gone through such situations many times before. The dilemma is: should one allow such conflicts to affect an institution?”
“I have always believed that institutions are important, personalities should not matter beyond a point. I have reached such a point,” he wrote and announced that he had tendered his resignation on June 29 and that he had been informed about the acceptance of the “same by the Government”.
Mr. Kumar, however, expressed satisfaction over the work done during his tenure, noting that NDDB had brought most of the Dairy Co-op Federations under a common umbrella to address the problems of farmers while taking care of the concerns of customers.
