Adviser to ED: Govt begins searches for Anuradha Thakur’s replacement in World Bank

THE government has begun the search process for finding a replacement for Anuradha Thakur who is completing her term as Adviser to the Executive Director in the World Bank on March 24, 2014. Ms Thakur, a 1994 batch Himachal Pradesh cadre IAS, had earlier served as…
deputy secretary and then director between 2008 and 2011 in department of economic affairs (DEA) under the ministry of finance. The adviser to the World Bank’s ED is stationed at Washington, USA, for a period of three years. The government has now sent letters to the cadre controlling ministries or departments of Group 'A' services to recommend names of officers at the deputy secretary and director level. But if the precedence is taken into the account, the advisers to ED in World Bank or IMF are unofficially reserved for those serving either in the PMO or the finance ministry. Currently, Manoj Pant, former private secretary to ex-finance minister Pranab Mukherjee and ex-PMO official LK Atheeq are senior advisers to ED, and DPS Sandhu, a railway officer who too had worked in the PMO, is an adviser to ED. The Bank’s Executive Director MN Prasad, looking after India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Bhutan, is a 1972 batch retired IAS who was secretary to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh till Pulok Chatterji re-joined the PMO in 2011.
Anuradha Thakur assists Prasad on geographies like Bangladesh and Latin America and Caribbean (LAC).
According to the vacancy circular, the officers who must have worked for at least two years at the Centre under the Central Staffing Scheme may apply for the post. The officer should not be over 54 years of age, and should not have been posted on an assignment in a foreign or captive post of the government of India earlier. The officer should be at least one batch below the batch currently empanelled as joint secretary.
According to the vacancy circular, it is also desired that the officer has a degree in economics or management or Public Finance or International Trade.