Apurva Chandra (IAS) assumes charge as Secretary in the Ministry of I&B

New Delhi: Apurva Chandra (IAS) has assumed charge as Secretary in the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting on Monday. A Civil Engineer by education, Chandra obtained his Bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering and Masters in Structural Engineering from IIT Delhi. He is a 1998-batch Indian Administrative Service Officer (IAS) of the Maharashtra cadre.

Prior to his current assignment, Chandra was serving as Secretary in the Ministry of Labour & Employment since October 1, 2020, with the mandate to implement the Labour Codes passed by the Parliament in September 2020 expeditiously. Under his guidance rules have been framed for all four Labour Codes after extensive consultations with all stakeholders. The Atmanibhar Bharat Rozgar Yojana has been launched to provide employment opportunities to 78.5 lakh workers in the formal sector with a budget of Rs 23,000 crores.

The secretary has also worked as Director General (Acquisition) in the Ministry of Defence with effect from December 1, 2017, with the mandate of strengthening the Indian Armed Forces by expediting the acquisition process. Several major contracts like the S-400 missile system, multi-role helicopters, assault rifles, naval ships, T-90 tanks etc. were signed during the period. He chaired the committee to draft the new defence acquisition procedure.

The senior bureaucrat has worked for over four years between 2013 and 2017 as Principal Secretary (Industries) in the government of Maharashtra. Maharashtra led the country in attracting FDI and other investments over the period. Chandra was instrumental in a slew of new policies like electronic policy, retail policy, a single-window policy to attract new investments. The first smart industrial township under the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) has been operationalised at Aurangabad in Maharashtra under the leadership of Chandra.

He has spent more than seven years in the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas. He has been involved in framing policies with regard to fuel supplies to industries, supply logistics, transportation, storage and distribution of fuel products etc. He was directly associated with Natural Gas transportation infrastructure, setting up city gas distribution companies, LNG import terminals and allocation of gas to industries. Chandra has served on the Board of Directors of Maharatna PSU, GAIL (India) Ltd. and Petronet LNG Limited.

Further, the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) has also assigned the additional charge as Secretary of the Ministry of Labour & Employment to Chandra. According to a DoPT order issued on Monday, Chandra has been assigned with this additional responsibility with immediate effect and till the appointment of regular incumbent or until further orders, whichever is earlier.

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