Central government undertakes cabinet reshuffle at secretary level; RK Singh appointed new defence minister | News from India

(From left) Rajesh Kumar Singh; Vivek Joshi; and Manoj Govil

In the first major bureaucratic reshuffle of its third term, Narendra Modi's government on Friday appointed new ministers for public expenditure, banking, corporate affairs and defence, among others.

Secretary in the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) and 1991-batch MP cadre officer Manoj Govil has been appointed as Secretary in the Expenditure Department of the Ministry of Finance. The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) also approved the appointment of Nagaraju Maddirala, 1993-batch IAS officer of Tripura cadre, as the new Secretary in the Department of Financial Services (DFS). Maddirala will replace the current DFS Secretary and 1989-batch IAS officer of Haryana cadre Vivek Joshi, who has been transferred to the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) as Secretary.

The post of Secretary of State Expenditure fell vacant after T V Somanathan, an IAS officer from Tamil Nadu (1987 batch), the current Finance and Secretary of State Expenditure, was appointed as the next Cabinet Secretary. Somanathan, a veteran bureaucrat, would take over India's top bureaucratic post from August 30, when the extended term of incumbent Rajiv Gauba ends.

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MP cadre IAS officer of 1993 batch, Deepti Gaur Mukherjee, who is currently managing director of the National Health Authority, will be the new MCA secretary. The ACC has also approved the appointment of Kerala cadre IAS officer of 1991 batch, RK Singh, as the new defence secretary. K Srinivas, a Gujarat cadre officer of 1989 batch, has been appointed as secretary in the ministry of housing and urban affairs from his current post as secretary, minority affairs.

The government also appointed Punya Salila Srivastava as the next Health Minister. Salila will take over the office after the retirement of Apurva Chandra, the current Health Minister, on September 30, 2024.

Sanjeev Kumar, a 1993 batch graduate of Maharashtra cadre and currently Chairman, Airports Authority of India, has been appointed Secretary, Department of Defence Production.

First published: 16 August 2024 | 20:04 IS

Sybil Alvarez

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