The Government on Wednesday appointed former Cabinet Secretary Pradeep Kumar Sinha as the Principal Advisor to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. PK Sinha was appointed as the Officer on Special Duty (OSD) in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) on August 30 after PM Modi accepted the request of Nripendra Misra to be relieved from the post.

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ACC approved the appointment of PK Sinha

“The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) has approved the appointment of PK Sinha, currently functioning as OSD in the Prime Minister’s Office, as Principal Advisor to Prime Minister with effect from September 11, 2019,” said a release from Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions. His appointment will be co-terminus with the term of the Prime Minister or until further orders, whichever is earlier, the release said. The ACC also approved the appointment of PK Mishra, who was the Additional Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, as Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister which comes into effect from September 11, 2019. 

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Sinha had a 42-year tenure in the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), he further spent about 20 years in the energy and infrastructure sectors. PK Sinha was moved from the Petroleum Ministry and he went on to head the shipping ministry followed by the power ministry. It was in 2015, Sinha took over as Cabinet secretary from Ajit Seth. After two extensions, he received a third one for the duration of three months which ended on September 2019. Sinha now retired from the IAS, is an officer of 1977 batch, belonging to the Uttar Pradesh cadre. He managed to crack the highly competitive and difficult Indian civil services examination on the first attempt at the age of 22.

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An Economics graduate from St Stephen's College

Sinha is an economics graduate from St Stephen’s College in Delhi and did his postgraduate from the Delhi School of Economics, he is capable of overseeing the government’s ambitious plan of investing Rs 100 lakh crore in the infrastructure sector over the next 5 years as part of the Government’s plan to make the economy grow to $5 trillion by 2025. The latest round of appointments at the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) comprises of Principal Secretary PK Mishra and National Security Adviser, Ajit Doval. Principal Advisor to Prime Minister PK Sinha will form PM Modi’s core group at the PMO. 

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(Inputs from ANI)