Shaktikanta Das is new Revenue Secretary

Shaktikanta Das (57), a 1980 Tamil Nadu batch IAS officer, was appointed as the Revenue Secretary in the Ministry of Finance on Saturday. This is the first major top bureaucratic reshuffle in the finance ministry since Narendra Modi government came to power three weeks back. He has replaced Rajiv Takru (59) who has been the Revenue Secretary since March, 2014. Takru has been appointed as Secretary to the Department of North Eastern Region (DONER) headed by former Army chief VK Singh.

Selection of Das as a Revenue Secretary, one of the efficient IAS officers in India, could be seen as Prime Minister’s dream to make a ‘solid team of bureaucrats’ to drive India towards prosperity in terms of revenue and other areas, which need immediate attention.  

It is expected that Das, who is presently holding the post of Fertilizer Secretary, will take charge in a day or two. In more than 30 years of his service Das earned many applauds with his initiatives in several areas including land revenue, industrial policies, agriculture, IT, health etc. In 26 December, 2013, Das was appointed as Chemicals & Fertilizer secretary and prior to that since 2009 he was the Special Secretary at Department of Economic Affairs in Ministry of Finance.

The Finance Ministry, which is currently preparing Modi government’s first budget, has Arvind Mayaram as Finance Secretary, R P Wattal as Expenditure Secretary, Ravi Mathur as Disinvestment Secretary and G S Sandhu as Financial Services Secretary.