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2 ex-IAS officers added to new team
Vaishnaw, who was elected to the Rajya Sabha from Odisha in 2019, is a former IAS officer of 1994 batch. He had served as deputy secretary in the office of former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 2004 after serving a brief stint with the Prime Minister’s Office during Vajpayee’s term in 2002.
The Modi government’s new Cabinet now comprises five former bureaucrats and diplomats with the induction of two former Indian Administrative Services (IAS) officers, Ashwini Vaishnaw and Ramchandra Prasad Singh, on Wednesday.
While power minister Raj Kumar Singh was elevated as a Cabinet minister from Minister of State rank, civil aviation minister Hardeep Singh Puri and external affairs minister S Jaishankar are already a part of the Union council of ministers.
Vaishnaw, who was elected to the Rajya Sabha from Odisha in 2019, is a former IAS officer of 1994 batch. He had served as deputy secretary in the office of former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 2004 after serving a brief stint with the Prime Minister’s Office during Vajpayee’s term in 2002.
Vaishnaw is expected to bring managerial expertise to the Modi government. He completed his MTech from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, and also attended a management programme at Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.
As a bureaucrat, Vaishnaw had earned praise for his handling of relief and rehabilitation of people affected by cyclones in Odisha.
Janata Dal (United) lawmaker Ramchandra Prasad Singh, who was also allotted a Cabinet berth on Wednesday, is a former IAS officer of 1984 batch, from the Uttar Pradesh cadre. He is also the national president of his party.
Singh had served as principal secretary to Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar in one of his earlier terms. He availed voluntary retirement in 2010 before his nomination to Rajya Sabha in the same year.
Raj Kumar Singh is a former secretary of home affairs. He is a Lok Sabha MP from Arrah in Bihar and was selected for the IAS from Bihar cadre in 1975.
