File Photo: Central Secretariat
Prime Minister Narendra Modi carried out a major bureaucratic reshuffle on Friday, in which 16 ministries and departments have new secretaries, bringing Gujarat cadre officer, Hasmukh Adhia, from Finance ministry's banking secretary to the Revenue secretary's office.
Mr Adhia had spearheaded PM Modi's ambitious plan for financial inclusion of the poor, the Jan Dhan Yojana, which completed one year yesterday.
Revenue secretary, Shaktikanta Das, who was Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's point man on all revenue issues including the politically significant black money in foreign accounts recovery drive, has been moved as Economic Affairs secretary. Mr Das replaces Rajiv Mehrishi, who retires on August 31.
Anjuly Chib Duggal would replace Mr Adhia in the Department of Financial services. The changes in Finance Ministry comes months ahead of the Union Budget, and also at a time when a one-time compliance window is open as part of the new black money law.
Of the 16 appointments approved by the Appointments Committee of Cabinet headed by PM Modi, 15 are new Secretaries and one is for the position of National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) Chairman, a coveted post that has gone to Madhya Pradesh cadre Indian Administrative Service officer of 1982 batch, Raghav Chandra.
Former Air India chief and current Skill Development secretary, Sunil Arora will become Information & Broadcasting (I&B) Secretary, replacing Bimal Julka on his superannuation on Monday. Mr Arora will have his hands full due the ministry being in the midst of the two month old controversy at Film and Television Institute of India where classes have not been held due to protests over government appointments.
Air India's current Chairman and Managing Director Rohit Nandan will replace Mr Arora as Secretary in the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, another department handling PM Modi's pet project - the Skill India mission
Deputy Election Commissioner Vinod Zutshi has been appointed as new Tourism Secretary. Tapan Ray, another Gujarat cadre IAS officer, would become Corporate Affairs Secretary. While J S Deepak and Vijay Shankar Madan will be new secretaries of DeiTY and Department of Land Resources respectively.