Meet Alka Tiwari: Jharkhand's New Chief Secretary and Senior Bureaucrat

Ranchi: Senior IAS officer Alka Tiwari on Saturday assumed charge as the new chief secretary of poll-bound Jharkhand . The Election Commission on Friday accepted the Jharkhand government's proposal to appoint Tiwari as the chief secretary ahead of the assembly polls in Jharkhand, scheduled in two phases on November 13 and 20.

Tiwari, who is from the 1988 batch, is currently the senior-most IAS officer in the cadre.

"The proposal for the appointment has been approved by the Election Commission of India," a notification issued by the Department of Personnel, Administrative Reforms and Rajbhasha said on Friday.

She succeeds Lalbiaktluanga Khiangte as the chief secretary.

Tiwari's husband and 1986-batch IAS officer Dr DK Tiwari had earlier held the topmost bureaucratic post in the state.

Alka Tiwari is a postgraduate in psychology from Meerut University and had received the governor's gold medal for academic excellence.

She did her MSc from the University of Manchester in the UK, where she excelled in the 'Management and Implementation of Development Projects' course and received the gold medal. Additionally, she is a law graduate from Ranchi University, the government said in another statement.

She has also completed short-term courses on 'Rethinking Financial Inclusion' from Harvard University, USA, and 'Public Fiscal Management for Financial Advisors' from Duke University, USA.

She has held various positions, including that of the deputy commissioner of Gumla and Lohardaga districts in Jharkhand.

Tiwari has also served as secretary in the departments of commercial taxes and forest & environment. Moreover, she was an advisor in Niti Aayog, joint secretary, and additional secretary in the department of fertilisers, as well as additional secretary-cum-financial advisor in the departments of fertilisers, chemicals, and pharmaceuticals, it said.

During her time at Niti Aayog, Tiwari managed important sectors such as financial resources, education, and tourism. She played a key role in developing strategy documents for reforms in India's higher education regulatory framework and for establishing world-class institutions of teaching and research.

"As CMD of fertiliser company FAGMIL, she reversed its decline of gypsum trade, and converted it into a profit-making market leader company. Tiwari engaged with Qatar, Iran and Russia to ensure adequate availability of urea and to safeguard the revenue interests of the country," the statement said.

"She signed the protocol agreement on 'modernisation and industrial cooperation' under the Indo-Russian Intergovernmental Commission on trade, economic, scientific, technological and cultural cooperation. She worked as secretary to the Government of India in the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes for more than three years," the statement added.

Her husband Dr D K Tiwari, who retired as the chief secretary of Jharkhand, currently holds the constitutional post of the state Election Commissioner.