Secretary to the Government of India
Secretary to the Government of India, often abbreviated as Secretary, GoI, or simply as Secretary, is a post and a rank under the Central Staffing Scheme of the Government of India.[6] The authority for the creation of this post solely rests with the Union Council of Ministers.[7]
| Union Secretary | |
|---|---|
| Government of India | |
| Member of | Committee of Secretaries on Administration |
| Reports to | |
| Seat | |
| Appointer | Appointments Committee of the Cabinet |
| Term length | No term length is imposed, except for Home Secretary and Defence Secretary.[1][2][3] Term extendable |
| Formation | 1930 |
| Succession | 23rd (on the Indian order of precedence.) |
| Salary | ₹225,000 (US$2,800) monthly[4][5] |
The position holder is generally a career civil servant, mostly from the Indian Administrative Service,[4][8][9][10][11][12] and a government official of high seniority.
Secretary is either from All India Services (deputation; on tenure, after empanelment) or Central Civil Services (Group A; on empanelment). All promotions and appointments to this rank and post are directly made by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet.
In the structure of the Indian government,[13][14][15] a secretary is the administrative head of a ministry or department,[16][17] and is equivalent to chief secretaries or additional chief secretaries of state governments and Vice Chief of the Army Staff, General Officers Commanding in Chief of Army Commands, and their equivalents in the Indian Armed Forces,[18] and are listed as such on the Indian order of precedence, ranking twenty-third.[19][20][21][22]
History
In mid-1930s, the Central Secretariat contained only twenty-nine secretaries,[23] who were all members of the Indian Civil Service. The salary for a member of this rank and post was fixed at ₹48,000 (equivalent to ₹9.9 million or US$120,000 in 2020) annum in the 1930s.[23] As per warrant or precedence of 1905,[24] secretaries to the Government of India was listed together with joint secretaries to the Government of India and were ranked above the rank of chief secretaries of provincial governments.[24]
N. Gopalaswami Ayyangar had once suggested "[a] secretary should not be immersed in files and burdened with routine. It is essential that he should have time to grasp the overall picture, size up the problems facing the government in the field allotted to his charge, and think and plan ahead. All these are his proper functions and must be efficiently performed. Failure to make adequate provision in this respect cannot be compensated by a mere increase in the establishment under his control."[25]
The Administrative Reforms Commission visualised the role of secretary, primarily as one of a "coordinator, policy guide, reviewer, and evaluator."[25]
Powers, responsibilities and postings
A secretary to the Government of India is the administrative head of a ministry or department and is the principal adviser to the minister-in charge on all matters of policy and administration within the ministry or department.[17]
The role of a secretary is as follows:
- To act as the administrative head of the ministry or department. The responsibility in this regard is complete and undivided.[16]
- To act as the chief adviser to the minister on all aspects of policy and administrative affairs.[16]
- To represent the ministry or department before the Public Accounts Committee of the Parliament of India.[16]
The prime minister-led Appointments Committee of the Cabinet is the final authority on posting and transfer of officers of secretary level.[26] Secretaries report to their ministerial cabinet minister and to the prime minister.[citation needed]
Position
In the Indian government, secretaries are the head of the departments or ministries of the government and hold positions such as Finance Secretary, Defence Secretary, Foreign Secretary, Home Secretary, Chairperson of the Railway Board and members of the Telecom Commission.
According to the report of the Seventh Central Pay Commission of India, seventy-one out of ninety-one secretaries to the Government of India are from the Indian Administrative Service.[4]
Emolument, accommodation and prequisites
All secretaries to the Government of India are eligible for a diplomatic passport. Secretaries are allotted either type-VII or type-VIII bungalows in areas like New Moti Bagh and Lutyens' across Delhi by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs' Directorate of Estates.[27][28][29]
The salary and emolument in this rank is equivalent[18] to chief secretaries of state governments and to Vice Chief of the Army Staff, General Officers Commanding in Chief of Army Commands, and their equivalents, in the Indian Armed Forces, which is to say Level 17 of the Central Pay Matrix.[18]
List of current secretaries to the Government of India
| Ministry | Designation | Name of secretary | Background | Batch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| President's Secretariat | Secretary to the President | Rajesh Verma | IAS officer | 1987[a] |
| Vice President's Secretariat | Secretary to the Vice President | Sunil Kumar Gupta | 1987[a] | |
| Prime Minister's Office | Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister | Dr. P.K. Mishra | 1972[a] | |
| 1986 | ||||
| Cabinet Secretariat | Cabinet Secretary[b] | Rajiv Gauba | 1982 | |
| Secretary (Coordination) | Praveen K. Srivastava | 1988 | ||
| Secretary (R&AW) | Samant Goel | IPS officer | 1984 | |
| Secretary (Security) | Arun Kumar Sinha | 1987 | ||
| Agriculture and Farmers Welfare | Secretary (Agriculture and Farmers Welfare) | Sanjay Agrawal | IAS officer | 1984 |
| Secretary (Agricultural Research and Education) | Dr. Trilochan Mohapatra | Scientist | — | |
| Atomic Energy | Secretary (Atomic Energy) and chairperson of the Atomic Energy Commission | K. N. Vyas[31] | Scientist | — |
| AYUSH | Secretary (AYUSH) | Rajesh Kotecha | ||
| Chemicals and Fertilizers | Secretary (Chemicals and Petrochemicals) | Arun Baroka | IAS officer | 1990 |
| Secretary (Fertilizers) | Rajesh K. Chaturvedi | 1987 | ||
| Secretary (Pharmaceuticals) | Aparna Subramani | 1988 | ||
| Civil Aviation | Secretary (Civil Aviation) | Rajiv Bansal[32] | 1988 | |
| Coal | Secretary (Coal) | Anil Kumar Jain | 1986 | |
| Commerce and Industry | Secretary (Commerce) | B. V. R. Subrahmanyam | 1987 | |
| Secretary (Industrial Policy and Promotion) | Anurag Jain | 1989 | ||
| Communications | Secretary (Posts) | Vineet Pandey | IPoS officer | 1986 |
| Secretary to (Telecommunications) and chairperson, Telecoms Commission | K. Rajaraman | IAS officer | 1989 | |
| Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution | Secretary (Consumer Affairs) | Rohit K. Singh | 1989 | |
| Secretary (Food and Public Distribution) | Sudhanshu Pandey | 1987 | ||
| Co-operation | Secretary (Co-operation) | Devendra K. Singh | 1989 | |
| Corporate Affairs | Secretary (Corporate Affairs) | Rajesh Verma | 1987 | |
| Culture | Secretary (Culture) | Govind Mohan | 1989 | |
| Defence | Defence Secretary | Ajay Kumar | 1985 | |
| Secretary (Defence Production) | ||||
| Secretary (Defence Research and Development) and chairperson, DRDO | Dr. G. Satheesh Reddy | Scientist | — | |
| Secretary (Ex-Servicemen Welfare) | B. Anand | IAS officer | 1987 | |
| Secretary (Department of Military Affairs) and Chief of Defence Staff | General Anil Chauhan, PVSM, UYSM, AVSM, SM, VSM | Indian Armed Forces officer | — | |
| Development of North Eastern Region | Secretary (Development of North Eastern Region) | Lok Ranjan | IAS officer | 1989 |
| Earth Sciences | Secretary (Earth Sciences) and chairman, Earth Sciences Commission | M. Ravichandran | Scientist | — |
| Education | Secretary (Higher Education) | K. Sanjay Murthy | IAS officer | 1989 |
| Secretary (School Education and Literacy) | Anita Karwal | 1988 | ||
| Electronics and Information Technology | Secretary (Electronics and Information Technology) | Ajay P. Sawhney | 1984 | |
| Environment, Forest and Climate Change | Secretary (Environment, Forest and Climate Change) | Leena Nandan | 1987 | |
| External Affairs | Foreign Secretary | Vinay Mohan Kwatra | IFS officer | 1984 |
| Secretary (East) | Saurabh Kumar | 1989 | ||
| Secretary (West) | Sanjay Verma | 1990 | ||
| Secretary (CPV & OIA) | Ausaf Sayeed | 1989 | ||
| Secretary (Economic Relations) | Dammu Ravi | 1989 | ||
| Finance | Finance Secretary & Secretary (Expenditure) | T. V. Somanathan | IAS officer | 1987 |
| Secretary (Economic Affairs) | Ajay Seth[33] | 1987 | ||
| Secretary (Public Enterprises) | Ali Raza Rizvi | 1988 | ||
| Revenue Secretary | Tarun Bajaj | 1988 | ||
| Secretary (Investment and Public Asset Management) | Tuhin Kanti Pandey | 1987 | ||
| Secretary (Financial Services) | Debashish Panda | 1987 | ||
| Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying | Secretary (Animal Husbandry and Dairying) | Atul Chaturvedi | 1986 | |
| Secretary (Fisharies) | Jatindra N. Swain | 1988 | ||
| Food Processing Industries | Secretary (Food Processing Industries) | Pushpa Subrahmanyam | 1985 | |
| Health and Family Welfare | Secretary to (Health and Family Welfare) | Rajesh Bhushan | 1987 | |
| Secretary (Health Research) | Balram Bhargava | Scientist | — | |
| Heavy Industries | Secretary (Heavy Industry) | Arun Goel | IAS officer | 1985 |
| Home Affairs | Home Secretary | Ajay Kumar Bhalla | 1984 | |
| Secretary (Official Language) | Ansuli Arya | 1989 | ||
| Secretary (Border Management) | Dharmendra S. Gangwar | 1988 | ||
| Secretary (Inter-State Council Secretariat) | Anuradha Prasad | IDAS officer | 1986 | |
| Housing and Urban Affairs | Secretary (Housing and Urban Affairs) | Manoj Joshi [34] | IAS officer | 1989 |
| Information and Broadcasting | Secretary (Information and Broadcasting) | Apurva Chandra | 1988 | |
| Jal Shakti | Secretary (Drinking Water and Sanitation) | Vini Mahajan | 1987 | |
| Secretary (Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation) | Pankaj Kumar | 1987 | ||
| Labour and Employment | Secretary (Labour and Employment) | Sunil Barthwal | 1989 | |
| Law and Justice | Secretary (Justice) | S. K. G. Rahate | 1990 | |
| Secretary (Legal Affairs) | Niten Chandra | |||
| Secretary (Legislative) | Reeta Vasishta | Legal Service Officer | – | |
| Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises | Secretary (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises) | Bidyut B. Swain | IAS officer | 1988 |
| Mines | Secretary (Mines) | Alok Tandon | 1986 | |
| Minority Affairs | Secretary (Minority Affairs) | Renuka Kumar | 1987 | |
| New and Renewable Energy | Secretary (New and Renewable Energy) | Indu Sekhar Chaturvedi | 1987 | |
| NITI Aayog | Chief Executive Officer and ex officio Secretary | Parameswaran Iyer | 1981 | |
| Panchayati Raj | Secretary (Panchayati Raj) | Sunil Kumar | 1987 | |
| Parliamentary Affairs | Secretary (Parliamentary Affairs) | Gyanesh Kumar | 1987 | |
| Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions | Secretary (Personnel and Training) | Pradeep K. Tripathi | 1987 | |
| Secretary (Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances) | V. Srinivas | 1989 | ||
| Secretary (Pension and Pensioners’ Welfare) | ||||
| Petroleum and Natural Gas | Secretary (Petroleum and Natural Gas) | M.M KUTTY | 1990 | |
| Planning | Secretary (Planning) | – | – | |
| Ports, Shipping and Waterways | Secretary (Ports, Shipping and Waterways) | Sanjeev Ranjan | 1985 | |
| Power | Secretary (Power) | Alok Kumar | 1988 | |
| Ministry of Railway (Railway Board) | Chairperson, Railway Board and ex-officio Principal Secretary | Vinay Kumar Tripathi[35] | IRSME officer | 1983 |
| Road Transport and Highways | Secretary (Road Transport and Highways) | Aramane Giridhar | IAS officer | 1988 |
| Rural Development | Secretary (Land Resources) | Ajay Tirkey | 1987 | |
| Secretary (Rural Development) | Nagendra Nath Sinha | 1987 | ||
| Science and Technology | Secretary (Biotechnology) | Dr. Rajesh S. Gokhale | Scientist | — |
| Secretary (Science and Technology) | Dr. Sribhari Chandrasekhar | |||
| Secretary (Scientific and Industrial Research) | Dr. Sekhar C. Mande | |||
| Skill Development and Entrepreneurship | Secretary (Skill Development and Entrepreneurship) | Rajesh Aggarwal | IAS officer | 1989 |
| Social Justice and Empowerment | Secretary (Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities) | Anjali Bhara | 1988 | |
| Secretary (Social Justice and Empowerment) | R. Subramanyam | 1985 | ||
| Statistics and Programme Implementation | Secretary (Statistics and Programme Implementation) | G. P. Samanta[36] | Scientist | — |
| Space | Secretary (Space) and chairperson of ISRO | S. Somanath | — | |
| Steel | Secretary (Steel) | Sanjay K. Singh | IAS officer | 1987 |
| Textiles | Secretary (Textiles) | Upendra P. Singh | 1985 | |
| Tourism | Secretary (Tourism) | Arvind Singh | 1988 | |
| Tribal Affairs | Secretary (Tribal Affairs) | Anil Kumar Jha | 1988 | |
| Women and Child Development | Secretary (Women and Child Development) | Indeevar Pandey | 1988 | |
| Youth Affairs and Sports | Secretary (Sports) | Sujata Chaturvedi | 1989 | |
| Secretary (Youth Affairs) | Usha Sharma | 1985 | ||
| Notes | ||||
Reforms
Media articles and others have argued in favour of lateral entrants being recruited to this rank/post to infuse fresh energy and thinking into an insular, complacent and archaic bureaucracy.[37][38][39][40]
Non-IAS civil services have complained to the Government of India because of lack of empanelment in the rank/post of secretary on numerous occasions.[4][8][9][10][11][12]
See also
References
- ^ Khare, Harish (8 February 2005). "Fixed tenure planned for Home, Defence Secretaries". The Hindu. Retrieved 10 January 2018.[dead link]
- ^ "Fixed tenure for defence, home secretaries". Rediff.com. 22 September 2005. Retrieved 10 January 2017.
- ^ "Fixed tenure for Defence, Home Secretaries". Outlook. 22 September 2005.
- ^ a b c d e (PDF). Seventh Central Pay Commission, Government of India. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 November 2015. Retrieved 13 August 2017.
- ^ a b Biswas, Shreya, ed. (29 June 2016). "7th Pay Commission cleared: What is the Pay Commission? How does it affect salaries?". India Today. Retrieved 24 September 2017.
- ^ "The Central Staffing Scheme" (PDF). Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions. January 1996. Retrieved 13 April 2016.
- ^ "Only Cabinet can create Joint Secretary, above level posts". Press Trust of India. Retrieved 18 April 2017.
- ^ a b Tripathi, Shishir (8 December 2015). "IAS: Emperor among the kings?". Governance Now. Retrieved 13 August 2017.
- ^ a b Tikku, Aloke (15 January 2016). "Parity between IAS and non-IAS? The IAS will get to decide". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 13 August 2017.
- ^ a b "Non-IAS bureaucrats now eligible for secretary-level posts". The Asian Age. 18 January 2016. Retrieved 13 August 2017.
- ^ a b "Need Pay Parity With IAS Officers, Say Officials Of 20 Civil Services". NDTV. 30 June 2016. Retrieved 13 August 2017.
- ^ a b Dastidar, Avishek G (14 January 2017). "Alleging bias, non-IAS officers petition PM Modi". The Indian Express. Retrieved 13 August 2017.
- ^ (PDF). Ministry of Law and Justice, Government of India. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 October 2017. Retrieved 15 January 2018.
- ^ (PDF). Ministry of Law and Justice, Government of India. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 December 2011. Retrieved 6 October 2017.
- ^ (PDF). Ministry of Law and Justice, Government of India. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 December 2011. Retrieved 16 August 2017.
- ^ a b c d Laxmikanth, M. (2014). Governance in India (2nd ed.). Noida: McGraw Hill Education. pp. 3.1–3.10. ISBN 978-9339204785.
- ^ a b "Central Secretariat Manual of Office Procedure - 14th Edition (2015)" (PDF). Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pension. p. 6. Retrieved 15 November 2016.
- ^ a b c "TGC Entry Advert, 2022" (PDF). Ministry of Defence, Government of India. 24 January 2022. Retrieved 17 April 2022.
- ^ "Order of Precedence" (PDF). Rajya Sabha. President's Secretariat. 26 July 1979. Retrieved 24 September 2017.
- ^ (PDF). Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. President's Secretariat. 26 July 1979. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 May 2014. Retrieved 24 September 2017.
- ^ . Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. President's Secretariat. Archived from the original on 28 April 2014. Retrieved 24 September 2017.
- ^ Maheshwari, S.R. (2000). Indian Administration (6th ed.). New Delhi: Orient Blackswan Private Ltd. ISBN 9788125019886.
- ^ a b Kirk-Greene, A. (2000). Britain's Imperial Administrators, 1858-1966. New York City: Springer. ISBN 9780230286320.
- ^ a b As per published records and book named "The India List and India Office List 1905" as published by India Office and India Office Records.
- ^ a b Singh, Hoshiar; Singh, Pankaj (2011). Indian Administration (1st ed.). Delhi: Pearson Education India. pp. 104–126. ISBN 978-8131761199.
- ^ "PM to oversee cadre allocation of bureaucrats, postings of joint secretaries and above". The Times of India. 21 August 2014. Retrieved 17 September 2017.
- ^ (PDF). Directorate of Estates, Ministry of Urban Development They are also eligible for Y+ security i.e of 4 Para commando and 18 Armed Forces. January 2013. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 November 2014. Retrieved 21 July 2014.
- ^ Gupta, Geeta (21 July 2011). "New homes for govt staff changing New Delhi". Indian Express. Retrieved 6 October 2017.
- ^ Singh, Vijaita (16 September 2015). "Home Secretary gives the miss to fortified bungalow". The Hindu. Retrieved 6 October 2017.
- ^ "Secretaries to the Government of India (as on 1 February 2022)" (PDF). Department of Personnel and Training. Government of India. Retrieved 2 February 2022.
- ^ "Top Scientist KN Vyas Appointed As Atomic Energy Commission Chief". NDTV.com. Retrieved 27 January 2022.
- ^ "Air India CMD Rajiv Bansal appointed as Civil Aviation Secretary". mint. 22 September 2021. Retrieved 25 January 2022.
- ^ "Ajay Seth takes over as new economic affairs secretary - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 22 December 2021.
- ^ "Manoj Joshi takes charge as new secretary of Union Housing & Urban Affairs Ministry". ThePrint. 29 December 2021. Retrieved 27 January 2022.
- ^ "Vinay Kumar Tripathi appointed as new chairman of Railway Board". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 1 January 2022.
- ^ Suneja, Kirtika. "Govt appoints GP Samanta as new Chief Statistician". The Economic Times. Retrieved 27 January 2022.
- ^ Natarajan, Gulzar (13 April 2015). "Lateral entry, blind alley". The Indian Express. Retrieved 13 August 2017.
- ^ Chandra, Shailaja (15 July 2017). "Should the government allow lateral entry into the civil services?". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 13 August 2017.
- ^ "The need for lateral entry in civil services". Live Mint. HT Media. 19 July 2017. Retrieved 13 August 2017.
- ^ Natarajan, Gulzar; Subbarao, Duvvuri (9 August 2017). "The case for lateral entry". The Indian Express. Retrieved 13 August 2017.
Bibliography
- Laxmikanth, M. (2014). Governance in India (2nd ed.). Noida: McGraw Hill Education. ISBN 978-9339204785.
- Maheshwari, S.R. (2000). Indian Administration (6th ed.). New Delhi: Orient Blackswan Private Ltd. ISBN 9788125019886.
- Kirk-Greene, A. (2000). Britain's Imperial Administrators, 1858-1966. New York City: Springer. ISBN 9780230286320.
- Singh, Hoshiar; Singh, Pankaj (2011). Indian Administration (1st ed.). Delhi: Pearson Education India. ISBN 978-8131761199.
- Verma, K.B. (1987). Readings In Indian Railway Finance. New Delhi: Mittal Publications. ISBN 978-8171881215.