5 new secretaries appointed; Siraj Hussain in agriculture, Jugal K Mohapatra in rural development

THE Centre on Thursday night announced the appointment of five new secretaries including Siraj Hussain as agriculture secretary and Jugal Kishore Mohapatra as new rural development secretary. Who are those five new secretaries, and what are their backgrounds? Read here:

1. Siraj Hussain, 1979 batch UP cadre IAS officer, presently secretary in the ministry of food processing industries, has been appointed as secretary, ministry of agriculture in place of Ashish Bahuguna, 1978 batch Rajasthan cadre officer who is retiring on February 28, 2015.
Hussain was an MSc in bio-chemistry before getting into IAS. He has an MBA degree too.  He was a joint secretary in food and public distribution department and then became chairman of Food Corporation of India (FCI). He also served in agriculture ministry, first as additional secretary, then special secretary.
2. Rangalal Jamuda, 1981 batch Odisha cadre IAS officer, now special secretary in ministry of agriculture, has been appointed as secretary in ministry of food processing industries in place Siraj Hussain. Jamuda served as principal secretary in Odisha and then worked as additional secretary and special secretary in union agriculture ministry.
3. Ashok Kumar Angurana, 1980 batch Jammu and Kashmir cadre IAS officer, now secretary in the ministry of Panchayati Raj, has been appointed as secretary in department of animal husbandry, dairying and fisheries in place of Arup Kumar Thakur, 1979 batch Assam cadre IAS officer who is retiring on February 28, 2015. A post-graduate in political science before becoming an IAS, Angurana was earlier Managing Director of TRIFED.
4. SM Vijayanand, 1981 batch Kerala cadre IAS officer, now special secretary in department of rural development, has been appointed as secretary in the ministry of Panchayati Raj in place of Ashok Kumar Angurana. In mid-1990s, Vijayanand served as deputy secretary in rural development ministry. In his home state Kerala too, he became additional chief secretary in charge of rural development ministry. Since May 2012, he has been serving in union rural development ministry.
5. Jugal Kishore Mohapatra, 1979 batch Odisha cadre cadre IAS, now secretary in ministry of chemicals and fertilizer, has been appointed as secretary in ministry of rural development in the vacancy of R Goyal, 1979 batch Kerala cadre who was appointed as home secretary. A post-graduate in economics, Mohapatra was a joint secretary in rural development ministry between 2004 and 2009. He had also served as Odisha chief secretary before returning to the Centre to join as fertilizer secretary in July 2014.