Key appointments in ministries: Devesh Chaturvedi is new agriculture secretary, Sandeep Pondrik is steel secretary | Today News

New Delhi: In a significant bureaucratic reshuffle, the Centre has appointed Devesh Chaturvedi as the new agriculture secretary and Sandeep Pondrik as the new steel secretary, according to an order from the Department of Personnel & Training (DoPT).

Chaturvedi, a 1989-batch IAS officer of the Uttar Pradesh cadre, and Pondrik, a 1993-batch Bihar cadre officer, are both currently serving in their respective cadres.

Mint had reported on 11 July that key ministry secretary positions had been vacant for an extended period.

Alongside Chaturvedi and Pondrik, six IAS officers have been promoted to secretary-level posts: Anurag Agarwal, Chandra Sekhar Kumar, Punya Salila Srivastava, Tanmay Kumar, Amit Agrawal, and Deepti Gaur Mukerjee. Senior IAS officer Amit Singh Negi has been appointed as additional secretary in the PMO. Negi, a 1999-batch IAS officer of the Uttarakhand cadre, is currently a joint secretary in the department of expenditure under the finance ministry.

In total, 20 officers have been appointed as additional secretaries, with four officers promoted from joint secretary to additional secretary. These include Bhawna Garg, Puneet Yadav, M Beena, and Subodh Yadav.

Samir Ashwin Vakil, a 1998-batch IRS (Income Tax) officer, has been appointed director in the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) under the corporate affairs ministry for a five-year tenure. Maneesh Garg, who previously served in the education ministry, has been appointed as deputy election commissioner in the Election Commission of India. 

Alongside Garg, Himachal Pradesh cadre officer Sanjay Kumar and Ajeet Kumar have also been appointed as deputy election commissioners.

Manisha Saxena, director general (tourism) under the Ministry of Tourism, will now be an additional secretary in the DoPT. Mugdha Sinha, joint secretary in the culture ministry, will replace Saxena as director general (tourism).

Ashutosh Agnihotri and Niraj Kumar Bansod have been appointed additional secretary and joint secretary, respectively, in the home ministry. Gujarat-cadre IAS officer Ajay Bhadoo has been appointed additional secretary in the commerce ministry, while Amandeep Garg will be additional secretary in the environment ministry. Garg previously served as private secretary to health minister JP Nadda.

Ashok Kumar Singh has been appointed director general of the Employees’ State Insurance Corporation under the labour and employment ministry, in the rank and pay of additional secretary. Vatsalya Saxena has been posted as chief executive of the Khadi and Village Industries Commission under the Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises.

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Nidhi Chhibber will be additional secretary in the NITI Aayog, TK Anil Kumar will be additional secretary in the Department of Rural Development, and Dheeraj Sahu is the new managing director of the Small Farmers’ AgriBusiness Consortium (SFAC) under the agriculture ministry.

Caralyn Khongwar Deshmukh will be the additional secretary in the rural development ministry, Rabindra Kumar Agarwal will be additional secretary in the ministry of cooperation, and Puneet Agarwal will be additional secretary and financial advisor in the ministry of road transport & highways.

N Gulzar is appointed as additional secretary in the telecommunications ministry, and Ashish Chatterjee has been named managing director of the Tribal Co-operative Marketing Development Federation of India under the tribal ministry.

Puneet Yadav will be the additional secretary in the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances under the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions. He is currently joint secretary in the same department.

Joint secretary appointments

The government has also approved the appointment of 39 officers from the IAS, IRS, and other services as joint secretaries in various ministries. 

Nila Mohanan has been appointed joint secretary in the Cabinet Secretariat, Pawan Kumar Sharma will be joint secretary in the Department of Defence, and Uttar Pradesh-cadre IAS officer Alok Tiwari will be joint secretary in the Department of Economic Affairs. Kumar Ravi Kant Singh has been named joint secretary in the Department of Military Affairs.

Nand Kumarum, a 2008-batch IAS officer of the Madhya Pradesh cadre, has been appointed CEO of the National eGovernance Division (NeGD) under the Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology. IAS officers Latha Ganapathy and Nikhil Gajraj have been appointed joint secretaries in the health ministry, and V Kiran Gopal has been posted as joint secretary in the National Health Authority under the health ministry.

V Lalithalakshmi, a 2008-batch IAS officer of the West Bengal cadre, has been named secretary in the Capacity Building Commission with additional charge of the post of CEO, Karmayogi Bharat, under the DoPT. Sunil Kumar, a 1995-batch Indian Railway Accounts Service (IRAS) officer, has been appointed additional registrar general in the office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner, India.

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P Bala Kiran will take charge as director of Census Operations in Andhra Pradesh, Pooja Pandey as director of Census Operations in Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya, and Sheetal Verma as director (Census Operations) in Uttar Pradesh. J Ashok Kumar and Chhavi Bhardwaj have been appointed joint secretaries in the DoPT. Vinod Seshan will be joint secretary in the Department of Petroleum & Natural Gas, and Naval Kishore Ram will be joint secretary in the Department of Revenue.

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