Know Your Babu: Another woman officer Snehlata Kumar in MHA’s male bastion

NO WOMAN officer has become a home secretary ever, but if 1979 batch Madhya Pradesh cadre IAS Ms Snehlata Kumar’s appointment as secretary (border management) in the ministry of home affairs (MHA) is any indication, the government is not averse to having women officers at senior home ministry positions. Incidentally, as border management secretary, Ms Kumar will replace Gauri Kumar, another woman officer and her own...
batch-mate from Gujarat cadre who was recently appointed as labour secretary. Earlier, 1976 batch IAS Anita Chaudhary had handled a number of sensitive issues related to internal security in the MHA, and even became a special secretary in the ministry.
In July 2010, this Haryana cadre IAS was shifted to the department of land resources as its secretary. “As several home ministry officers would concede, Ms Chaudhary has done a commendable job in the North Block demolishing the myth that only male officers would do a better job in a ministry like home,” BoI wrote in an article published in July 29, 2010.
As secretary, border management, Snehlata Kumar will be responsible in managing the nation’s borders including coastal borders, strengthening of border guarding and creation of related infrastructure, border areas development etc.
Earlier, she was the MD of Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India Limited (TRIFED), and then the residence commissioner of Madhya Pradesh Bhawan in Delhi.
An MA in economics, Ms Kumar is diploma holder in French language. In 1993, she took sabbatical from her job and did a full-fledged course in public administration in Paris. She originally belongs to Chandigarh. Ms Kumar will retire on April 30, 2015.