Secretary to the Government of India, often abbreviated as Secretary, GoI, or simply as Secretary, is a post and a rank under the Central Staffing Scheme of the Government of India. The authority for the creation of this post solely rests with the Union Council of Ministers.
| Union Secretary | |
|---|---|
State Emblem of India | |
Flag of India | |
| Government of India | |
| Member of | Committee of Secretaries on Administration |
| Reports to |
|
| Seat |
|
| Appointer | Appointments Committee of the Cabinet |
| Term length | No term length[dead link] Term extendable |
| Formation | 1st November 1858 |
| Succession | 23rd (on the Indian order of precedence.) |
| Salary | ₹225,000 (US$2,700) monthly |
The position holder is generally a career civil servant and a government official of high seniority. The civil servants who hold this rank and post are either from All India Services or Central Civil Services. All promotions and appointments to this rank and post are directly made by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet.
In the functioning of the Government of India, a secretary is the administrative head of a ministry or department, and is equivalent to chief secretaries of state governments and Vice Chief of the Army Staff, General Officers Commanding in Chief of Army Commands, and their equivalents in the Indian Armed Forces, In the Department of Military Affairs, the Chief of Defence Staff is currently designated as Secretary (GoI), similarly in the National Security Council Secretariat, the National Security Advisor is currently designated as Secretary (GoI).
Secretaries (GOI) rank 23rd on Order of Precedence of India.
History
In mid-1930s, the Central Secretariat contained only twenty-nine secretaries, who were all members of the Indian Civil Service. The salary for a member of this rank and post was fixed at ₹48,000 (equivalent to ₹12 million or US$140,000 in 2023) annum in the 1930s. As per warrant or precedence of 1905, secretaries to the Government of India was listed together with joint secretaries to the Government of India and were ranked above the rank of chief secretaries of provincial governments.
N. Gopalaswami Ayyangar had once suggested "[a] secretary should not be immersed in files and burdened with routine. It is essential that he should have time to grasp the overall picture, size up the problems facing the government in the field allotted to his charge, and think and plan ahead. All these are his proper functions and must be efficiently performed. Failure to make adequate provision in this respect cannot be compensated by a mere increase in the establishment under his control." The Administrative Reforms Commission visualised the role of secretary, primarily as one of a "coordinator, policy guide, reviewer, and evaluator."
Before Partition of India, notable officers who served as Secretary in the Central Government include - Allan Hume, Edward Buck, Thomas Holderness, N. R. Pillai, Y. N. Sukthankar, Charles Ogilvie, Archdale Earle, Charles Todhunter, Jeremy Raisman, Herbert Hope Risley, Robert Carlyle, Henry Smith, C. S. Venkatachar, V. P. Menon.
Tenure and Appointment
A member of All India Services is appointed to this rank and post only on tenure. This tenure is a deputation to the Central Government and does not carry a fixed term. They serve at the pleasure and will of the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet.
A member of Central Civil Services is appointed to this rank and post as per vacancy in their own service cadre and are empanelled.
Powers, responsibilities and postings
A secretary to the Government of India is the administrative head of a ministry or department and is the principal adviser to the minister-in charge on all matters of policy and administration within the ministry or department.
The role of a secretary is as follows:
- To act as the administrative head of the ministry or department. The responsibility in this regard is complete and undivided.
- To act as the chief adviser to the minister on all aspects of policy and administrative affairs.
- To represent the ministry or department before the Public Accounts Committee of the Parliament of India.
The prime minister-led Appointments Committee of the Cabinet is the final authority on posting and transfer of officers of secretary level. Secretaries report to their ministerial cabinet minister and to the prime minister.[citation needed]
Position
In the Indian government, secretaries are the head of the ministries of the government and hold positions such as Finance Secretary, Defence Secretary, Foreign Secretary, Home Secretary, Chairperson of the Railway Board and members of the Railway Board and Telecom Commission.
According to the report of the Seventh Central Pay Commission of India, seventy-one out of ninety-one secretaries to the Government of India are from the Indian Administrative Service.
Emolument, accommodation and prequisites
All secretaries to the Government of India are eligible for a Diplomatic passport or Official passport. Secretaries are allotted either type-VII or type-VIII bungalows in areas like New Moti Bagh and Lutyens' across Delhi by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs' Directorate of Estates.
The salary and emolument in this rank is equivalent to chief secretaries of state governments and to Vice Chief of the Army Staff, General Officers Commanding in Chief of Army Commands, and their equivalents, in the Indian Armed Forces, which is to say Level 17 of the Central Pay Matrix.
| Base salary as per the Seventh Pay Commission | Pay matrix level | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| ₹225,000 (US$2,700) per month | Pay level 17 |
International equivalency
The position of Secretary in Government of India is equivalent to Permanent Secretary in His Majesty's Civil Service (UK), Administrative Vice-Ministers in Civil service of Japan, Secretary General in Italian Senior Civil Service, Department secretary in Australian Government, Deputy Minister in Government of Canada and Federal Secretary in Central Superior Services of Pakistan.
List of current secretaries to the Government of India
| Office or Ministry | Designation | Name of secretary | Background | Batch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| President's Secretariat | Secretary to the President | Deepti Umashankar | IAS | 1993 |
| Vice President's Secretariat | Secretary to the Vice President | Amit Khare | 1985 | |
| Prime Minister's Office | Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister | P.K. Mishra | 1972 | |
| Shaktikanta Das | 1980 | |||
| Supreme Court Registry Office | Secretary General of Supreme Court of India | Bharat Parashar | Legal Service | — |
| Parliament's Secretariat | Secretary General of the Rajya Sabha | Pramod Chandra Mody | IRS (IT) | 1982 |
| Secretary General of the Lok Sabha | Utpal Kumar Singh | IAS | 1986 | |
| Cabinet Secretariat | Cabinet Secretary | T. V. Somanathan | 1987 | |
| Secretary (Coordination) | Manoj Govil | 1991 | ||
| Secretary (Security) | Parag Jain | IPS | 1989 | |
| Secretary (Research) | ||||
| Agriculture and Farmers Welfare | Secretary (Agriculture and Farmers Welfare) | Devesh Chaturvedi | IAS | 1989 |
| Secretary (Agricultural Research and Education) | Mangi Lal Jat | Scientist | — | |
| Atomic Energy | Secretary (Atomic Energy) and Chairperson, Atomic Energy Commission | Ajit Kumar Mohanty | Scientist | — |
| AYUSH | Secretary (AYUSH) | Rajesh Kotecha | ||
| Chemicals and Fertilizers | Secretary (Chemicals and Petrochemicals) | Nivedita Shukla Verma | IAS | 1991 |
| Secretary (Fertilizers) | Rajat Kumar Mishra | 1992 | ||
| Secretary (Pharmaceuticals) | Manoj Joshi | 1989 | ||
| Civil Aviation | Secretary (Civil Aviation) | Samir Kumar Sinha | 1994 | |
| Coal | Secretary (Coal) | Vikram Dev Dutt | 1993 | |
| Commerce and Industry | Secretary (Commerce) | Rajesh Agarwal | 1994 | |
| Secretary (Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade) | Amardeep Singh Bhatia | 1993 | ||
| Communications | Secretary (Posts) | Vandita Kaul | IPoS | 1989 |
| Secretary (Telecommunications) and ex officio Chairperson, Digital Communication Commission | Amit Agrawal | IAS | 1993 | |
| Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution | Secretary (Consumer Affairs) | Nidhi Khare | 1992 | |
| Secretary (Food and Public Distribution) | Sanjeev Chopra | 1990 | ||
| Co-operation | Secretary (Co-operation) | Ashish Kumar Bhutani | 1992 | |
| Corporate Affairs | Secretary (Corporate Affairs) | Deepti Gaur Mukerjee | 1993 | |
| Culture | Secretary (Culture) | Vivek Aggarwal | 1994 | |
| Defence | Defence Secretary | Rajesh Kumar Singh | 1989 | |
| Secretary (Defence Production) | Sanjeev Kumar | 1993 | ||
| Secretary (Defence Research and Development) and Chairperson, DRDO | Samir V. Kamath | Scientist | — | |
| Secretary (Ex-Servicemen Welfare) | Sukriti Likhi | IAS | 1993 | |
| Secretary (Department of Military Affairs) and Chief of Defence Staff | General Anil Chauhan | Indian Armed Forces | — | |
| Development of North Eastern Region | Secretary (Development of North Eastern Region) | Chanchal Kumar | IAS | 1992 |
| Earth Sciences | Secretary (Earth Sciences) and Chairperson, Earth Commission | M. Ravichandran | Scientist | — |
| Education | Secretary (Higher Education) | Vineet Joshi | IAS | 1992 |
| Secretary (School Education and Literacy) | Sanjay Kumar | 1990 | ||
| Electronics and Information Technology | Secretary (Electronics and Information Technology) | S. Krishnan | 1989 | |
| Environment, Forest and Climate Change | Secretary (Environment, Forest and Climate Change) | Tanmay Kumar | 1993 | |
| External Affairs | Foreign Secretary | Vikram Misri | IFS | 1989 |
| Secretary (East) | Periasamy Kumaran | 1992 | ||
| Secretary (West) | Sibi George | 1993 | ||
| Secretary (CPV & OIA) | Arun Kumar Chatterjee | 1992 | ||
| Secretary (Economic Relations) | Sudhakar Dalela | 1993 | ||
| Secretary (South) | Dr. Neena Malhotra | 1992 | ||
| Finance | Secretary (Expenditure) | Vumlunmang Vualnam | IAS | 1992 |
| Secretary (Economic Affairs) | Anuradha Thakur | 1994 | ||
| Secretary (Public Enterprises) | K Moses Chalai | 1990 | ||
| Secretary (Revenue Secretary) | Arvind Shrivastava | 1994 | ||
| Finance Secretary Secretary (Investment and Public Asset Management) | Arunish Chawla | 1992 | ||
| Secretary (Financial Services) | Nagaraju Maddirala | 1993 | ||
| Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying | Secretary (Animal Husbandry and Dairying) | Naresh Pal Gangwar | 1994 | |
| Secretary (Fisheries) | Dr. Abhilaksh Likhi | 1991 | ||
| Food Processing Industries | Secretary (Food Processing Industries) | Avinash Purushottam Das Joshi | 1994 | |
| Health and Family Welfare | Secretary (Health and Family Welfare) | Punya Salila Srivastava | 1993 | |
| Secretary (Health Research) and ex officio Director General, ICMR | Dr. Rajiv Bahl | Scientist | — | |
| Heavy Industries | Secretary (Heavy Industry) | Kamran Rizvi | IAS | 1991 |
| Home Affairs | Home Secretary | Govind Mohan | 1989 | |
| Secretary (Official Language) | Ansuli Arya | 1989 | ||
| Secretary (Border Management) | Rajendra Kumar | 1992 | ||
| Secretary (Inter-State Council Secretariat) | Ashish Srivastava | IAS | 1992 | |
| Housing and Urban Affairs | Secretary (Housing and Urban Affairs) | Katikithala Srinivas | IAS | 1989 |
| Information and Broadcasting | Secretary (Information and Broadcasting) | Sanjay Jaju | 1992 | |
| Jal Shakti | Secretary (Drinking Water and Sanitation) | Ashok Kumar Kaluaram Meena | 1993 | |
| Secretary (Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation) | VL Kantha Rao | 1992 | ||
| Labour and Employment | Secretary (Labour and Employment) | Vandana Gurnani | 1991 | |
| Law and Justice | Secretary (Justice) | Niraj Verma | 1994 | |
| Secretary (Legal Affairs) | Dr. Rajiv Mani | Legal Service | – | |
| Secretary (Legislative) | ||||
| Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises | Secretary (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises) | Subhas Chandra Lal Das | IAS | 1992 |
| Mines | Secretary (Mines) | Piyush Goyal | 1994 | |
| Minority Affairs | Secretary (Minority Affairs) | Chandra Sekhar Kumar | 1992 | |
| New and Renewable Energy | Secretary (New and Renewable Energy) | Santosh Kumar Sarangi | 1994 | |
| NITI Aayog ( previously Planning Commission) | Chief Executive Officer and ex officio Secretary | BVR Subrahmanyam | 1987 | |
| Panchayati Raj | Secretary (Panchayati Raj) | Vivek Bhardwaj | 1990 | |
| Parliamentary Affairs | Secretary (Parliamentary Affairs) | Nikunja Bihari Dhal | 1993 | |
| Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions | Secretary (Personnel and Training) | Rachna Shah | 1991 | |
| Secretary (Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances) | ||||
| Secretary (Pension and Pensioners’ Welfare) | ||||
| Petroleum and Natural Gas | Secretary (Petroleum and Natural Gas) | Neeraj Mittal | 1992 | |
| Ports, Shipping and Waterways | Secretary (Ports, Shipping and Waterways) | Vijay Kumar | 1992 | |
| Power | Secretary (Power) | Pankaj Agarwal | 1992 | |
| Ministry of Railway (Railway Board) | Chairperson, Railway Board and ex officio Principal Secretary | Satish Kumar | IRSME | 1986 |
| Road Transport and Highways | Secretary (Road Transport and Highways) | V Umashankar | IAS | 1989 |
| Rural Development | Secretary (Land Resources) | Manoj Joshi | 1989 | |
| Secretary (Rural Development) | Shailesh Kumar Singh | 1991 | ||
| Science and Technology | Secretary (Biotechnology) | Rajesh Sudhir Gokhale | Scientist | — |
| Secretary (Science and Technology) | Abhay Karandikar | |||
| Secretary (Scientific and Industrial Research) and ex officio Director General, CSIR | N. Kalaiselvi | |||
| Skill Development and Entrepreneurship | Secretary (Skill Development and Entrepreneurship) | Debashree Mukherjee | IAS | 1991 |
| Social Justice and Empowerment | Secretary (Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities) | V Vidyavathi | 1991 | |
| Secretary (Social Justice and Empowerment) | Sudhansh Pant | 1991 | ||
| Statistics and Programme Implementation | Secretary (Statistics and Programme Implementation) | Saurabh Garg | IAS | 1991 |
| Space | Secretary (Space) and ex officio Chairperson of ISRO and Space Commission | V. Narayanan | Scientist | — |
| Steel | Secretary (Steel) | Sandeep Pondrik | IAS | 1993 |
| Textiles | Secretary (Textiles) | Neelam Shammi Rao | 1992 | |
| Tourism | Secretary (Tourism) | Srivatsa Krishna | 1994 | |
| Tribal Affairs | Secretary (Tribal Affairs) | Ranjana Chopra | 1994 | |
| Women and Child Development | Secretary (Women and Child Development) | Anil Malik | 1991 | |
| Youth Affairs and Sports | Secretary (Sports) | Hari Ranjan Rao | 1994 | |
| Secretary (Youth Affairs) | Pallavi Jain Govil | 1994 | ||
| Notes | ||||
| ||||
Reforms and challenges
Media articles and others have argued in favour of lateral entrants being recruited to this rank/post to infuse fresh energy and thinking into an insular, complacent and archaic bureaucracy.
Non-IAS civil services have complained to the Government of India because of lack of empanelment in the rank/post of secretary on numerous occasions.
Lateral entry
From 1998 to 1999, Vijay Kelkar served as Finance Secretary as a lateral entry. During the term of Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh as Prime Minister of India, Ram Vinay Shahi served as Secretary (GOI) in the Ministry of Power from 2002 to 2007 as a lateral entry.
See also
- Federal Secretary
- Chief secretary (India)
Bibliography
- Laxmikanth, M. (2014). Governance in India (2nd ed.). Noida: McGraw Hill Education. ISBN 978-9339204785.
- Maheshwari, S.R. (2000). Indian Administration (6th ed.). New Delhi: Orient Blackswan Private Ltd. ISBN 9788125019886.
- Kirk-Greene, A. (2000). Britain's Imperial Administrators, 1858-1966. New York City: Springer. ISBN 9780230286320.
- Singh, Hoshiar; Singh, Pankaj (2011). Indian Administration (1st ed.). Delhi: Pearson Education India. ISBN 978-8131761199.
- Verma, K.B. (1987). Readings In Indian Railway Finance. New Delhi: Mittal Publications. ISBN 978-8171881215.
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