Appointment / New I&B secretary appointed by the Modi government

The Modi government on Thursday picked up a Maharashtra cadre IAS officer Apurva Chandra as new secretary of the ministry of information and broadcasting. 

He is 1988 batch IAS of Maharashtra cadre and currently posted as Secretary, Labour and Employment, in the Government of India. 

Currently, Amit Khare, Secretary, Higher Education in the ministry of HRD, is holding additional charge of the Secretary, Ministry of I&B. 

Khare, a 1985 batch IAS of Jharkhand cadre, is scheduled to superannuate in September 2021. 

Chandra is considered very competent officer who earlier served in the ministry of defence as director general, defence acquisition. 

Prior to this, Chandra was serving as Special Director General, Defence Acquisition, Ministry of Defence, a position where he played a key role in contributing towards AatmaNirbhar Bharat in terms of greater defence acquisition from domestic industry and at the same time keeping Defence Forces equipped with all its challenging requirements.

A civil engineer, Chandra obtained his bachelor's Degree in Civil Engineering and Masters' in Structural Engineering from IIT Delhi. Chandra has spent more than seven years in the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas.

He has been involved in framing policies with regard to fuel supplies to industries, supply logistics, transportation, storage & distribution of fuel products etc. He was directly associated with Natural Gas transportation infrastructure, setting up of city gas distribution companies, LNG import terminals and allocation of gas to industries.

Chandra has served on the Board of Directors of Maharatna PSU, GAIL (India) and petronet LNG. He also served as Joint Secretary, Union Ministry of HRD, Department of School Education & literacy from August 2011 to February 2013.

Between 2013 and 2017, he worked as Principal Secretary (Industries). Chandra joined as Director General (Acquisition) in the Ministry of Defence from December 1, 2017 with the mandate of strengthening the Indian Armed Force by expediting the acquisition process.

He chaired the Committee to draft the new Defence Acquisition Procedure (DAP). The DAP 2020 has come into effect from October 1, 2020 and will go a long way in promoting AatmaNirbhar Bharat while expediting procurement for the Armed Forces.