Rajiv Gauba takes over as cabinet secretary

Rajiv Gauba, an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer on Friday took over as the new Cabinet Secretary in the Government of India after the superannuation of the incumbent PK Sinha.

Gauba is an IAS officer of Jharkhand cadre (1982 batch) and has held important assignments like Union Home Secretary, Secretary, Ministry of Urban Development, Government of India and Chief Secretary, Jharkhand. He has also represented India at the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

He was one of the key implementers of the Centre's decision to abrogate Article 370 and the reorganization of Jammu and Kashmir and is widely credited for flawless and smooth implementation of the decision. Along with a small core team, he gave final shape to constitutional and legal aspects while working out administrative and security arrangements.

Earlier, during his stint in MHA as Additional Secretary, he prepared a multi-pronged action plan in 2015 to tackle LWE and steered its implementation which has resulted in significantly shrinking the spread of Maoists' area of influence.

Besides MHA, Gauba has served in the Central Government in wide-ranging areas such as Urban Development, Defence, Environment and Forests, and Department of Electronics and Information Technology.

As Chief Secretary of Jharkhand, Gauba had introduced major governance and economic reforms including lateral entry of professionals, restructuring, downsizing of Ministries, and labour reforms. Jharkhand leapt from the bottom of the table to the third rank in Ease of Doing Business during his tenure.

Gauba has also served in the IMF representing the country for four years on the Board of IMF.