Air India CMD Rajiv Bansal appointed Aviation Secy; K Rajaraman Telecommunications Secy

Air India Chairman and Managing Director Rajiv Bansal has been appointed as Civil Aviation Secretary to the Union Ministry of Civil Aviation, the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) notified on September 22. The list put out by the DoPT also had the mention of senior IAS officer K Rajaraman who has been appointed as Telecom secretary to the Government of India. The government has also appointed 10 new secretaries and assigned nine special secretaries under various ministries. 

Senior IAS officer Rajeev Bansal appointed Civil Aviation Secy

Rajiv Bansal will move on from his current role as the government intends to sell 100% of the organisation's stakes by the end of September. He will now be serving as the Secretary to the Civil Aviation Department under the Government of India. Since domestic operator 'Indian Airlines' merged with Air India in 2007, it had fallen in debts, but the government had promised to not let it fall apart until complete handover.

Rajiv Bansal, a 1988 batch IAS officer, was appointed as Chairman of Air India on February 13, 2021. Bansal has earlier served the aviation ministry in the position of Director and also served in the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, where he looked after digital payments, IT Act, Aadhaar, and internet governance. Bansal has a graduate degree in Civil Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, (IIT, Delhi, batch of 1986). He also has a diploma in finance from ICFAI, Hyderabad and an executive masters degree in international business from the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, Delhi.

K Rajaraman appointed Telecom Secretary

K Rajaraman will succeed Anshu Prakash as he assumes his new post as the Telecommunication Secretary. K Rajaraman, who is also an IAS officer (Batch of 1989), will take over the role on October 1 after Prakash's last day in office on September 30. It is important to note that Rajaraman has previously served as Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Finance. 

Additional Secretaries elevated to Special Secretaries

The government has also notified via its release that a few additional secretaries were promoted to the rank of special secretaries within their departments. This includes the likes of S Kishore, V Srinivas and Manoj Joshi. It is to be noted that Katikithala Srinivas will now head the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration in the rank and pay of Secretary.

(With inputs from ANI, PTI)

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