From fashion to finance, Rajiv Takru has covered a long distance in corridors

AS BUREAUCRATS in North Block are getting ready to burn the midnight oil for the next month’s General Budget, Gujarat cadre IAS Rajiv Takru, handpicked by finance minister P Chidambaram himself, has joined the team today as an OSD in the department of financial services, only to be elevated as secretary on January 31 when…
incumbent DK Mittal retires. Takru, an engineer-turned IAS, had a wide canvass in administration: Teaching IAS probationers in Mussoorie, working as joint secretary in defence ministry and then heading the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT). Armed with a post-graduation degree in police management, Takru is straight in his approach. His immediate challenge: How to make the government’s dream plan of direct cash transfer into a smooth implementable project.
In Gujarat, Takru was a collector in Rajkot and Jamnagar districts. For four years between 1988 and 1992, he moved to Mussoorie to join Lal Bahadur Shastri Academy of National Administration (LBSNAA) as a deputy director. In Central deputation, he was a director in the ministry of urban development and poverty alleviation, and then joint secretary in defence and additional secretary in the ministry of information and broadcasting.
Takru was also the Director General of National Institute of Fashion Technology. Another important assignment thrust on Takru was the chief executive’s role in Prashar Bharati.
Takru retires on September, 2015 a month earlier than DEA secretary Arvind Mayaram retires. 
Ex-finance secretary Ashok Chawla who is now the chairman of Competition Commission of India is the only Gujarat cadre IAS who made a mark in North Block during the recent time.