As expected Rajasthan Chief Secretary V Srinivas has been given extension of six months till February next year. He was scheduled to retire this month.
He has been rewarded for exception work during his 9 months tenure as the top boss of Rajasthan bureaucracy. He created good balance between the executive and legislative and drove officers to achieve the agenda set by the Bhajan Lal Sharma government.
When Srinivas was called for the duty from centre where he was serving as Secretary, Department of Administrative Reforms, Public Grievances, Pensions and Pensioners Welfare, there was much turmoil in the Rajasthan bureaucracy. The then Chief Secretary Sudhansh Pant had to go on central deputation in between leaving the entire bureaucratic machinery in shock. But Srinivas steered the ship slowly and put the house in order.
Away from any controversy, Srinivas used his strong connection at centre to good use of Rajasthan. He enjoys great relationship with almost all Secretaries and top officials at centre – most of them are junior to him. Srinivas is among the senior most bureaucrats in the country from the 1989 batch.
Why Srinivas was given extension?
V Srinivas was given extension as the state enters into local bodies elections. The state government wanted continuous of leadership for conducting polls effectively. After local bodies, there will also be panchayat elections, which will be held later in the year. Srinivas has good coordination with Chief Minister office which is working well for the development of state. Moreover, Rajasthan is also gaining from his close connections with Secretaries at centre. He gets the files cleared at centre and helps in getting funds timely for implementation of centrally funded schemes.
Who is V Srinivas?
V Srinivas is a straight forward officer with an expertise in policy making and financial matters. He had served as personal secretary to Jaswant Singh, former external affairs minister and finance minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government. He had also served as technical assistant to executive directorat the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Washington.
He holds Master's degree in Chemical Engineering. He had spent 17 years out of his total 36 years of service on deputation- 14 years at centre and 3 years in US.
A native of Andhra Pradesh, Srinivas is related to former prime minister PV Narsimha Rao. He has served in Rajasthan on various key posts including chairman Revenue Board and Tax Boar among others. He had served as collector of Pali and Jodhpur.
Srinivas created history by getting elected as the President of the International Institute of Administrative Sciences (IIAS), a 100 years old prestigious global organisation, for the 2025–2028 term. He is the first Indian officer to hold the IIAS presidency.
Apart from being an effective officer, Srinivas is also an accomplished author. He is known for his books on governance and public administration, such as “The March to New India: Governance Transformed (2014–2019)” and “India's Relations with International Monetary Fund 1991-2016: 25 Years in Perspective”.
Vivek Shukla is a management graduate who has worked in corporate worked for 20 years and is now pursuing his passion — news.
