Know Your Babu: Urban development secretary Shankar Agarwal to drive govt’s dream of building 100 cities

Shankar Agarwal, 1980 batch IAS of Uttar Pradesh cadre and the bureaucrat who headed National e-Governance Plan before he was shifted to defence ministry as additional secretary, is India’s new urban development secretary. There were speculations that Agarwal, 57, would be given the post of telecom secretary, but the Modi government zeroed in…
the urban development ministry for this computer engineer-turned IAS. As the recent Union Budget allocated whopping Rs 7,600 crore for developing 100 smart cities in India, Agarwal is expected to play a key role in India’s new urbanization drive. The budget allocation of the ministry has been increased by 133%, giving a clear indication where new government’s priorities lie.
Agarwal, who was collector of Ballia district of Uttar Pradesh between 1989 and 91, had also worked in UP Textiles Corporation and UP State Cement Corporation. In Central deputation, he was a director in DoPT and joint secretary in the ministry of small and medium enterprises. Between 2003 and 2005, he was the chief vigilance officer (CVO) of Indian Oil Corporation. Agarwal also worked as MD of UP State Road Transport Corporation.
Agarwal is an M.Tech in computer engineering.