Modi Govt Injects Private and Talented Blood into Govt Service

The move signals a major shift in the entry of professionals in shaping policies.

New Delhi: In a bold initiative, the Union Government Friday selected nine professionals, largely from the private sector, as joint secretaries in various departments.

The move signals a major shift in the entry of professionals in shaping policies. Nine professionals would be joining as joint secretaries on contract basis.

This is the first time that such a large of group of experts with domain knowledge will enter the government through the lateral-entry process. The practice was that joint secretary-level officers were largely drawn from the pool of people who clear the civil services examination conducted by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC).

To ensure the same standards, the entire process of the selection of these experts was conducted by the UPSC.

The UPSC on Friday released the list of experts who will join departments such as agriculture, civil aviation, finance, transport and shipping. They will join their respective departments on a “contract basis”.

 The professional selected are:

Amber Dubey, working as a partner with consultancy firm KPMG as head of aerospace and defence, has been recommended for appointment in the civil aviation ministry. Dubey is an alumnus of IIT Bombay and IIM Ahmedabad and has over 26 years of experience.

Kakoli Ghosh, who is working with a multilateral farm sector-focused agency, has been selected to join the agriculture ministry; Sujit Kumar Bajpayee, who is working with the state-run NHPC, has been recommended for appointment as joint secretary in the environment ministry. Dinesh Dayanand Jagdale, who is the CEO of Panama Renewable Energy Group, will join the new and renewable energy ministry.

Saurabh Mishra will be a joint secretary in the financial services department while Rajeev Saksena will join the economic affairs department.

Earlier, some experts had joined the government through the lateral-entry route in ministries such as finance, power and sanitation. The list of professionals included those like Manmohan Singh, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Bimal Jalan, Vijay Kelkar (former petroleum and finance secretary), R V Shahi (former power secretary), apart from Parameswaran Iyer, who is currently sanitation secretary, and Rajesh Kotecha, who heads the Ayush ministry.