Narendra Modi government makes big changes, shifts 24 top babus, makes Atanu Chakraborty Economic Affairs Secretary

Narendra Modi government has shifted 24 bureaucrats in a major reshuffle, appointing Atanu Chakraborty as the new economic affairs secretary, according to a government statement late on Wednesday. Chakraborty will replace Subhash Chandra Garg, who was also secretary to the department of economic affairs, will become new power secretary.

Garg, the Rajasthan-cadre Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer, was the most senior bureaucrat in the finance ministry, playing a key figure in the maiden budget of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. Garg was on the six-member panel deciding on the transfer of "excess reserves" from the Reserve Bank of India, or central bank. 

In another major change, Union power secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla, an Assam and Meghalaya-cadre IAS officer of the 1984 batch, has been appointed officer on special duty (OSD) in the home ministry. Bhalla will take over as Union Home Secretary after Rajiv Gauba’s term ends. 

Ravi Capoor, 1986-batch Assam and Meghalaya-cadre IAS officer, has been appointed as secretary, ministry of textiles.

Earlier on Monday, the government had cleared a total of 33 new Joint Secretary-level appointments, including of 1992-batch IAS officer Pankaj Agarwal as Joint Secretary in the Cabinet Secretariat. 

In an order, the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet had stated to have appointed Shomita Biswas, a 1988-batch IFoS officer as Joint Secretary in the Department of Agriculture Cooperation and Farmers Welfare, for a combined tenure of seven years or until further orders vice Alka Bhargava, a 1987-batch IFos officer.

The ACC had also appointed Shubha Thakur as Joint Secretary, Department of Agriculture Cooperation and Farmers Welfare for an overall tenure of five years or until further orders vice Dinesh Kumar, a 1996-batch IAS officer of the Rajasthan cadre.

Among other key appointments were of Rajesh Agarwal, Puja Singh Mandol, Angshumali Rastogi, and Suman Sharma, to different departments.