Remove ads
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.[5] The authority for the creation of this post solely rests with the Union Council of Ministers.[6]
| 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[dead link][1][2] Term extendable |
| Formation | 1930 |
| Succession | 23rd (on the Indian order of precedence.) |
| Salary | ₹225,000 (US$2,700) monthly[3][4] |
The position holder is generally a career civil servant, usually from the Indian Administrative Service,[7][8][9] and a government official of high seniority. The civil servants who hold this rank and post are either from All India Services (on 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 functioning of the Government of India,[10][11][12] a secretary is the administrative head of a ministry or department,[13][14] 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,[15] In the Department of Military Affairs, the Chief of Defence Staff is currently designated as Secretary (GoI), similarly in the National Security Council Secretariat, the National Security Advisor is currently designated as Secretary (GoI).[16]
Secretaries (GOI) rank 23rd on Order of Precedence of India.[17][18]
Remove ads
In mid-1930s, the Central Secretariat contained only twenty-nine secretaries,[19] 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 ₹12 million or US$140,000 in 2023) annum in the 1930s.[19] As per warrant or precedence of 1905,[20] 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.[20]
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."[21]
The Administrative Reforms Commission visualised the role of secretary, primarily as one of a "coordinator, policy guide, reviewer, and evaluator."[21]
Remove ads
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.[14]
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.[13]
- To act as the chief adviser to the minister on all aspects of policy and administrative affairs.[13]
- To represent the ministry or department before the Public Accounts Committee of the Parliament of India.[13]
The prime minister-led Appointments Committee of the Cabinet is the final authority on posting and transfer of officers of secretary level.[22] Secretaries report to their ministerial cabinet minister and to the prime minister.[citation needed]
Remove ads
In the Indian government, secretaries are the head of the 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 Railway Board and 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.[3]
All secretaries to the Government of India are eligible for a Diplomatic passport or Official 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.[23][24][25]
The salary and emolument in this rank is equivalent[15] 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.[15]
Remove ads
| Office or Ministry | Designation | Name of secretary | Background | Batch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| President's Secretariat | Secretary to the President | Deepti Umashankar | IAS officer | 1993 |
| Vice President's Secretariat | Secretary to the Vice President | Sunil Kumar Gupta | 1987[a] | |
| Prime Minister's Office | Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister | P.K. Mishra | 1972[a] | |
| Supreme Court Registry Office | Secretary General of Supreme Court of India | Shri Atul M. Kurhekar | Legal Service Officer | — |
| Parliament's Secretariat | Secretary General of the Rajya Sabha | Pramod Chandra Mody | IRS (IT) Officer | 1982[a] |
| Secretary General of the Lok Sabha | Utpal Kumar Singh | IAS officer | 1986[a] | |
| Cabinet Secretariat | Cabinet Secretary[b] | T. V. Somanathan | 1987 | |
| Secretary (Coordination) | Vandana Gurnani | 1991 | ||
| Secretary (Research) | Ravi Sinha | IPS officer | 1988 | |
| Secretary (Security) | Harinath Mishra[27] | 1990 | ||
| Agriculture and Farmers Welfare | Secretary (Agriculture and Farmers Welfare) | Devesh Chaturvedi | IAS officer | 1989 |
| Secretary (Agricultural Research and Education) | Himanshu Pathak | Scientist | — | |
| Atomic Energy | Secretary (Atomic Energy) and Chairperson, Atomic Energy Commission | Ajit Kumar Mohanty[28] | Scientist | — |
| AYUSH | Secretary (AYUSH) | Rajesh Kotecha | ||
| Chemicals and Fertilizers | Secretary (Chemicals and Petrochemicals) | Nivedita Shukla Verma | IAS officer | 1991 |
| Secretary (Fertilizers) | Rajat Kumar Mishra | 1992 | ||
| Secretary (Pharmaceuticals) | Arunish Chawla | 1992 | ||
| Civil Aviation | Secretary (Civil Aviation) | Vumlunmang Vualnam[29] | 1992 | |
| Coal | Secretary (Coal) | Vikram Dev Dutt | 1993 | |
| Commerce and Industry | Secretary (Commerce) | Sunil Barthwal | 1989 | |
| Secretary (Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade) | Amardeep Singh Bhatia | 1993 | ||
| Communications | Secretary (Posts) | Vandita Kaul | IPoS officer | 1989 |
| Secretary (Telecommunications) and ex officio Chairperson, Digital Communication Commission | Neeraj Mittal[29] | IAS officer | 1992 | |
| Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution | Secretary (Consumer Affairs) | Nidhi Khare | 1992 | |
| Secretary (Food and Public Distribution) | Sanjeev Chopra | 1990 | ||
| Co-operation | Secretary (Co-operation) | Ashish Kumar Bhutani | 1992 | |
| Corporate Affairs | Secretary (Corporate Affairs) | Deepti Gaur Mukerjee | 1993 | |
| Culture | Secretary (Culture) | Vacant | ||
| Defence | Defence Secretary | Rajesh Kumar Singh [30] | 1989 | |
| Secretary (Defence Production) | Sanjeev Kumar | 1993 | ||
| Secretary (Defence Research and Development) and Chairperson, DRDO | Samir V. Kamath | Scientist | — | |
| Secretary (Ex-Servicemen Welfare) | Niten Chandra | IAS officer | 1990 | |
| Secretary (Department of Military Affairs) and Chief of Defence Staff | General Anil Chauhan | Indian Armed Forces officer | — | |
| Development of North Eastern Region | Secretary (Development of North Eastern Region) | Chanchal Kumar[31] | IAS officer | 1992 |
| Earth Sciences | Secretary (Earth Sciences) and Chairperosn, Earth Commission | M. Ravichandran | Scientist | — |
| Education | Secretary (Higher Education) | K. Sanjay Murthy | IAS officer | 1989 |
| Secretary (School Education and Literacy) | Sanjay Kumar | 1990 | ||
| Electronics and Information Technology | Secretary (Electronics and Information Technology) | S Krishnan[29] | 1989 | |
| Environment, Forest and Climate Change | Secretary (Environment, Forest and Climate Change) | Tanmay Kumar | 1993 | |
| External Affairs | Foreign Secretary | Vikram Misri | IFS officer | 1989 |
| Secretary (East) | Jaideep Mazumdar | 1989 | ||
| Secretary (West) | Tanmaya Lal | 1991 | ||
| Secretary (CPV & OIA) | Arun Kumar Chatterjee | 1992 | ||
| Secretary (Economic Relations) | Dammu Ravi | 1989 | ||
| Secretary (Dean) Sushma Swaraj Institute of Foreign Service | Raj Kumar Srivastava | 1997 | ||
| Finance | Secretary (Expenditure) | Manoj Govil | IAS officer | 1991 |
|
Secretary (Economic Affairs) |
Ajay Seth | 1987 | ||
| Secretary (Public Enterprises) | Vacant | |||
| Revenue Secretary | Vacant | |||
| Finance Secretary Secretary (Investment and Public Asset Management) | Tuhin Kanti Pandey | 1987 | ||
| Secretary (Financial Services) | Nagaraju Maddirala | 1993 | ||
| Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying | Secretary (Animal Husbandry and Dairying) | Alka Upadhyaya | 1990 | |
| Secretary (Fisheries) | Dr. Abhilaksh Likhi | 1991 | ||
| Food Processing Industries | Secretary (Food Processing Industries) | Subrata Gupta | 1990 | |
| Health and Family Welfare | Secretary (Health and Family Welfare) | Punya Salila Srivastava | 1993 | |
| Secretary (Health Research) and ex officio Director General, ICMR | Dr. Rajiv Bahl | Scientist | — | |
| Heavy Industries | Secretary (Heavy Industry) | Kamran Rizvi | IAS officer | 1991 |
| Home Affairs | Home Secretary | Govind Mohan | 1989 | |
| Secretary (Official Language) | Ansuli Arya | 1989 | ||
| Secretary (Border Management) | Rajendra Kumar | 1992 | ||
| Secretary (Inter-State Council Secretariat) | K.Moses Chalai | IAS officer | 1990 | |
| Housing and Urban Affairs | Secretary (Housing and Urban Affairs) | Katikithala Srinivas | IAS officer | 1989 |
| Information and Broadcasting | Secretary (Information and Broadcasting) | Sanjay Jaju | 1992 | |
| Jal Shakti | Secretary (Drinking Water and Sanitation) | Ashok Kumar Kaluaram Meena | 1993 | |
| Secretary (Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation) | Debashree Mukherjee[32] | 1991 | ||
| Labour and Employment | Secretary (Labour and Employment) | Sumita Dawra | 1991 | |
| Law and Justice | Secretary (Justice) | Raj Kumar Goyal | 1990 | |
| Secretary (Legal Affairs) | Vacant | |||
| Secretary (Legislative) | Dr. Rajiv Mani | Legal Service Officer | – | |
| Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises | Secretary (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises) | Subhas Chandra Lal Das | IAS officer | 1992 |
| Mines | Secretary (Mines) | VL Kantha Rao | 1992 | |
| Minority Affairs | Secretary (Minority Affairs) | Chandra Sekhar Kumar | 1992 | |
| New and Renewable Energy | Secretary (New and Renewable Energy) | Prashant Kumar Singh | 1993 | |
| NITI Aayog ( previously Planning Commission) | Chief Executive Officer and ex officio Secretary | BVR Subrahmanyam | 1987[a] | |
| Panchayati Raj | Secretary (Panchayati Raj) | Vivek Bhardwaj | 1990 | |
| Parliamentary Affairs | Secretary (Parliamentary Affairs) | Umang Narula[29] | 1989 | |
| Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions | Secretary (Personnel and Training) | Vacant | ||
| Secretary (Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances) | V. Srinivas | 1989 | ||
| Secretary (Pension and Pensioners’ Welfare) | ||||
| Petroleum and Natural Gas | Secretary (Petroleum and Natural Gas) | Pankaj Jain | 1990 | |
| Ports, Shipping and Waterways | Secretary (Ports, Shipping and Waterways) | T K Ramachandran | 1991 | |
| Power | Secretary (Power) | Pankaj Agarwal | 1992 | |
| Ministry of Railway (Railway Board) | Chairperson, Railway Board and ex officio Principal Secretary | Satish Kumar | IRSME | 1986 |
| Road Transport and Highways | Secretary (Road Transport and Highways) | V Umashankar | IAS officer | 1989 |
| Rural Development | Secretary (Land Resources) | Manoj Joshi | 1989 | |
| Secretary (Rural Development) | Shailesh Kumar Singh | 1991 | ||
| Science and Technology | Secretary (Biotechnology) | Rajesh Sudhir Gokhale | Scientist | — |
| Secretary (Science and Technology) | Abhay Karandikar[33] | |||
| Secretary (Scientific and Industrial Research) and ex officio Director General, CSIR | N. Kalaiselvi | |||
| Skill Development and Entrepreneurship | Secretary (Skill Development and Entrepreneurship) | Atul Kumar Tiwari | IAS officer | 1990 |
| Social Justice and Empowerment | Secretary (Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities) | Rajesh Aggarwal | 1989 | |
| Secretary (Social Justice and Empowerment) | Amit Yadav | 1991 | ||
| Statistics and Programme Implementation | Secretary (Statistics and Programme Implementation) | Saurabh Garg | IAS officer | 1991 |
| Space | Secretary (Space) and ex officio Chairperson of ISRO and Space Commission | S. Somanath | Scientist | — |
| Steel | Secretary (Steel) | Sandeep Pondrik | IAS officer | 1993 |
| Textiles | Secretary (Textiles) | Rachna Shah | 1991 | |
| Tourism | Secretary (Tourism) | V. Vidyavathi | 1991 | |
| Tribal Affairs | Secretary (Tribal Affairs) | Vibhu Nayar | 1990 | |
| Women and Child Development | Secretary (Women and Child Development) | Anil Malik | 1991 | |
| Youth Affairs and Sports | Secretary (Sports) | Sujata Chaturvedi | 1989 | |
| Secretary (Youth Affairs) | Meeta R Lochan | 1990 | ||
| Notes | ||||
Remove ads
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.[34][35][36]
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.[37][38][9]
Lateral entry
From 1998 to 1999, Vijay Kelkar served as Finance Secretary as a lateral entry. During the term of Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh as Prime Minister of India, Ram Vinay Shahi served as Secretary (GOI) in the Ministry of Power from 2002 to 2007 as a lateral entry.[39] The Indian government in 2024 asked the Union Public Service Commission to cancel the recruitment of 45 specialists for senior positions through a lateral entry route.[40] The Indian government also stated that it aims to introduce a quota system for lateral entries in order to respect social justice, particularly the reservation system in place for public appointments.[40]
Remove ads
Wikiwand in your browser!
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Every time you click a link to Wikipedia, Wiktionary or Wikiquote in your browser's search results, it will show the modern Wikiwand interface.
Wikiwand extension is a five stars, simple, with minimum permission required to keep your browsing private, safe and transparent.
Remove ads