On June 4, 2020 Cabinet’s Appointment committee approved the appointments of Rajeev Topno, the private secretary to the prime minister as Senior Advisor to the Executive Director(ED), World Bank & Brajendra Navnit, the Joint Secretary in the Prime Minister’s Office(July 2014 – September 2019) as Ambassador and Permanent Representative of India(PRI) to the World Trade Organisation(WTO) & will be posted at the Permanent Mission of India(PMI) to the WTO, under the Department of Commerce. He replaced JS Deepak at the PMI whose two-year extended term ended on May 31.
About Rajeev Topno & Brajendra Navnit
Rajeev Topno is the 1996 batch Gujarat cadre IAS officer, he joined the PMO as a deputy secretary in 2009. He handled key portfolios such as telecom and ports at the PMO in the United Progressive Alliance(UPA)-2 government.
Brajendra Navnit is the 1999-batch officer of the Tamil Nadu cadre, in 2019 he was given an extension as Joint Secretary in the PMO. He was appointed as Joint Secretary in PMO in 2016, before which he was working as Director in PMO.
Other approved appointments
i.Ravi Kota, a 1993 batch IAS officer of Assam-Meghalaya cadre appointed as Minister (Economic) at the Indian embassy in Washington(Joint Secretary-level post), under the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA). He is currently serving as joint secretary in the 15th Finance Commission under the DEA.
ii.Lekhan Thakkar, a Central Secretariat Service (CSS) officer, appointed as Counsellor (Economic) at the Indian Embassy in Beijing, China(director level), under the Department of Economic Affairs.
iii.H Atheli, a 2000 batch officer of the Indian Civil Accounts Service(ICAS), will be Advisor (Director level) to ED, Asian Development Bank(ADB), Manila, Philippines, under the DEA.
iv.Anwar Hussain Shaik, a 2000 batch officer of the Indian Railway Traffic Service(IRTS) appointed under Brajendra Navnit as the Counsellor in the PMI to the WTO. The Director-level post is under the Department of Commerce.
v.N Ashok Kumar, a 2004 batch IAS officer of Manipur cadre appointed as Advisor (Industry and Engineering) in the Indian Embassy in Brussels. The Director-level post is under the Department of Commerce.
Note: Tenure of all appointments is 3 years.
About World Bank:
Headquarters– Washington, D.C., United States
President– David R. Malpass(13th president)
About WTO:
Headquarters– Geneva, Switzerland,
Director General(DG)– Roberto Azevedo(6th DG)
About ADB:
Headquarters– Metro Manila, Philippines
President– Masatsugu Asakawa
