Arunish Chawla Takes Over as Revenue Secretary; Vineet Joshi Transitions from Manipur to Central Role

New Delhi, Dec 25 (NationPress) Arunish Chawla, an IAS officer from the 1992 batch, has been designated as the new Revenue Secretary following a reshuffle of senior bureaucrats by the Centre on Wednesday. Chawla, who belongs to the Bihar cadre, is presently serving as the pharmaceuticals secretary. He will assume the role of Secretary in the Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance, as per a circular released by the Ministry of Personnel.

The position of Revenue Secretary became vacant earlier this month when Sanjay Malhotra was appointed as the RBI Governor, succeeding Shaktikanta Das, whose extended term concluded.

In addition to his new role, Chawla will maintain his responsibilities as Secretary of the Ministry of Culture until a permanent appointment is made, according to the order.

Amit Agrawal, currently the chief executive officer of the Unique Identification Authority of India, will succeed Chawla as the new pharmaceuticals secretary.

As part of the reshuffle, Vineet Joshi, also a 1992 batch IAS officer, has been appointed as the Secretary of Higher Education. He was serving as the Chief Secretary of Manipur since May of last year and has extensive experience in the Education Ministry as the additional secretary.

The reshuffle also includes Rachna Shah, who will now serve as Secretary of the Department of Personnel, previously holding the position of Secretary in the Textiles Ministry.

Neelam Shammi Rao, formerly the Secretary of the Minorities Commission, has been appointed as the new Textiles Secretary, replacing Shah. Sanjay Sethi, an IAS officer from the Maharashtra cadre, will take over as Secretary of the Minorities Commission.

The order also indicates that Neerja Sekhar, currently the special secretary in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, will be the director general of the National Productivity Council under the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade.