Know Your Babu: New steel secretary and former Punjab chief secretary Rakesh Singh

IN A major bureaucratic reshuffle last week, former chief secretary of Punjab and 1978 batch IAS Rakesh Singh was brought to the Centre, making him the next steel secretary after incumbent steel secretary and 1979 batch Odisha cadre IAS G Mohan Kumar was sent to South Block as secretary in the department of defence production. Currently, Rakesh Singh has been serving as…
principal resident commissioner of Punjab Bhawan, a post considered to be a mere parking lot for a bureaucrat of his seniority and experience. Singh will retire in September next year.
A masters in history, Singh later got another post-graduation degree from an UK university. Singh hails from Uttar Pradesh.
In late 1980s, he was deputy commissioner in Ferozepur district. But a key point of his career was his posting as Managing Director in at least eight state corporations. Singh was MD in Chandigarh Industrial and Tourism Development Corporation (CITCO), SUGARFED, Punjab Agro Industries Corporation (PAIC), Punjab Alkalies and Chemical Ltd (PACL), Punjab Small Industry and Export Corporation (PSIEC), Punjab Small Industrial Development Corporation (PSIDC) to name a few.
He was also the secretary in Punjab housing and urban development department.
At the Centre, Singh was joint secretary first in the department of revenue and then in financial services, both come under the ministry of finance. As additional secretary, Singh served two departments: communication and financial services. For over two years, i.e. between March 2012 and June 2014, Singh was chief secretary of Punjab.