Arunish Chawla Appointed as Revenue Secretary in the Finance Ministry

In a significant administrative reshuffle, senior IAS officer Arunish Chawla has been appointed as the new Revenue Secretary in the Finance Ministry. Chawla, a 1992-batch IAS officer from the Bihar cadre, is currently serving as the Secretary of the Department of Pharmaceuticals under the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers. He will also continue to hold additional charge as Secretary of the Ministry of Culture until a regular appointee takes over, according to a notification issued by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet on Wednesday.

The post of Revenue Secretary became vacant after Sanjay Malhotra was appointed as Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). In the interim, Ajay Seth, Secretary of the Department of Economic Affairs, was given additional charge of the Department of Revenue. Chawla will now formally assume responsibilities as Revenue Secretary.

Other Key Appointments

In addition to Chawla's appointment, the government announced several high-level changes:

• Amit Agrawal, CEO of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), will replace Chawla as the Pharmaceuticals Secretary.
• Vineet Joshi, a 1992-batch IAS officer and current Chief Secretary of Manipur, has been appointed as Higher Education Secretary. Joshi previously served as Additional Secretary in the Department of Higher Education under the Education Ministry.
• Rachna Shah, the current Textiles Secretary, will take over as Secretary of the Department of Personnel and Training.
• Sanjay Sethi, an IAS officer from Maharashtra, has been appointed Secretary of the National Commission for Minorities, succeeding Neelam Shammi Rao, who has been named Textiles Secretary.
• Neerja Sekhar, Special Secretary in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, will now serve as Director General of the National Productivity Council under the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade.

This reshuffle marks a strategic reallocation of key bureaucratic positions, aimed at strengthening administrative efficiency across various ministries and departments.