On 5 January 2024, the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) chaired by Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi, cleared the appointment of 7 civil servants to key posts abroad to represent India in foreign missions and captive posts within the Government of India (GoI) across various multilateral bodies.
7 Appointments:
1.Vikas Sheel:
i.Vikas Sheel, a 1994-batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of the Chhattisgarh cadre was appointed as Executive Director (ED) of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in Manila (Philippines) for 3 years.
ii.Currently, he is the Additional Secretary and Mission Director in the Jal Jeevan Mission under the Ministry of Jal Shakti.
2.Senthil Pandian:
i.He is a 2002-batch IAS officer of the Uttar Pradesh cadre and has been appointed as Ambassador/Permanent Representative (PR) at the Permanent Mission of India (PMI) to the Geneva (Switzerland)-based World Trade Organisation (WTO) for 3 years.
ii.He will replace Brajendra Navnit, who will complete his 3-year tenure on 31 March 2024.
Note: The joint secretary-level post in the PMI (Geneva) functions under the Department of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
3.MÂ Balaji:
i.He is a 2005-batch IAS officer of the Tamil Nadu cadre and has been appointed Deputy Chief of Mission at the Embassy of India, Brussels (Belgium) for 3 years.
ii.He replaces Debasish Prusty, who too will complete his tenure on 31 March 2024.
4.Parveen Kumar:
i.He is an Indian Revenue Service (IRS) (Income Tax) officer of the 2004 batch and was appointed as Adviser to the ED of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Washington DC, the United States of America (USA).
ii.He was appointed, in place of Simanchala Dash for 3 years.
Note: The Joint Secretary level a Captive Post of GoI functions under the Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance.
5.Smita Sarangi:
i.She is a 2008 batch IAS officer of the Nagaland Cadre and was appointed as Adviser to the ED of the ADB, Manila for 3 years.
ii.She will replace H Atheli, who is a 2000-batch Indian Civil Accounts Service (ICAS) officer.
6.Kalyan Revella:
i.Senior bureaucrat Kalyan Revella, a 2010-batch IRS officer, has been appointed Counsellor (Economic) at the Embassy of India in Beijing, China for 3 years, replacing Lekhan Thakkar.
7.Tanu Singh:
i.Tanu Singh, a 2012-batch Indian Trade Service (ITradeS) officer, has been named as the First Secretary of the PMI to the WTO (Geneva) for 3 years.
ii.She replaces Anwar Hussain Shaik, who is completing his tenure on 31 March 2024.
iii.She is currently the Deputy Secretary of the Department of Justice, under the Ministry of Justice.
Recent related News:
On 7 October 2023, the Appointment Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) chaired by Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi, approved the appointment of 12 Chief General Managers (CGMs) and General Managers (GMs) as Executive Directors (EDs) of various Public Sector Banks (PSBs).
About the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC):
Chairperson– Narendra Modi
Headquarters– New Delhi, Delhi