The Indian Government has made several secretarial appointments in key ministries like Telecommunications, Home Affairs, and Civil Aviation, according to a note by the Department of Personnel and Training housed in the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions. A total of 13 ministries have received new secretaries as per the note.
These appointments are significant as the secretaries at the various ministries are likely to oversee the implementation of major government policies.
Some of the appointments are:
- K. Rajaraman, Additional Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance replaces Anshu Prakash as the Secretary, Department of Telecommunications, Ministry of Communications post his retirement this month.
- Anurag Jain, Vice Chairman, Delhi Development Authority, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs will head the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade at the Ministry of Commerce and Industry as its Secretary. He will likely play a key role in ensuring the government is able to meet the ambitions of its FDI, start-up policy, and ease of doing business
- Sunil Barthwal, Central Provident Fund Commissioner, Employees Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) will be the new Secretary at the Ministry of Labour & Employment.
- Anuradha Prasad, Special Secretary, Ministry of Labour and Employment will take over from Sanjeev Gupta as the Secretary, Inter State Council Secretariat, Ministry of Home Affairs upon his retirement at the end of this month.
- Rajiv Bansal, Chairman and Managing Director, Air India Ltd., Ministry of Civil Aviation, will now be the Secretary at the Ministry of Civil Aviation after Pradeep Singh Kharola retires on September 30, 2021.
- Ansuli Arya, Administrator, Universal Service Obligation Fund, Department of Telecommunications has been appointed as the Secretary, Department of Official Language at the Ministry of Home Affairs.
Who all were elevated as Special Secretaries?
The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet also promoted nine IAS officers to the rank of special secretaries which carry the same pay and rank as the Secretary.
- S. Kishore is now the Special Secretary instead of Additional Secretary at the Department of Commerce in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
- Vivek Joshi, Registrar General and Census Commissioner, Ministry of Home Affairs will be accorded the same rank and pay as the Secretary to the Government of India.
- Anita Praveen is now the Special Secretary instead of Additional Secretary, Department of Telecommunications, Ministry of Communications.
- Rajeev Ranjan who was previously the Additional Secretary, Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance is also promoted to Special Secretary.
What will be the role of the new DoT secretary?
Among all the appointments, the new DoT secretary K Rajaraman has his task cut out for him to ensure the recently-announced relief package is able to kickstart a foundering telecom sector. He will also likely be involved in the government’s 5G rollout and see to it that the auction takes place smoothly. The department is planning to auction the spectrum in 2022 which has now been delayed to 2023. The department recently announced a set of telecom reforms such as Aadhar e-KYC for mobile SIM cards and public WiFi, and the secretary will need to oversee their timely implementation.
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