Know Your IAS: New defence secretary Sanjay Mitra; 10 Things to Know

COME May 24, West Bengal cadre lAS of 1982 batch Sanjay Mitra will be India’s new defence secretary. He has already been appointed as officer on special duty (OSD) in the ministry of defence before he would formally take over as new defence secretary from incumbent G Mohan Kumar. Armed with rich administrative experiences — joint secretary in PMO, chief secretary in West Bengal and union secretary in the ministry of road transport and highways — Mitra has always been a much sought-after officer. Those who are close to Mitra further confirm that he was brought back to Kolkata at the behest of chief minister Mamata Banerjee. Here are 10 things to know about new defence secretary.

1. A Bengali from Delhi, Sanjay Mitra is a 1982 batch IAS officer belonging to West Bengal cadre.

2. Between 2016 and 2017, he was union secretary in the ministry of road transport and highways.

3. And on Wednesday (May 10, 2017) he joined the defence ministry as ODS. He will be elevated as defence secretary on May 24, according to an ACC order spelling out his appointment to South Block.

3. In 1980s, he was additional district magistrate at Bardhaman district of West Bengal before coming to Delhi on a Central deputation as under secretary in the department of economic affairs. 

4. Between 1991 and 1993, he was district magistrate in North 24 Parganas district before joining the Central government again — this time as deputy secretary in rural development ministry (1993-95).

5. Later, he was elevated as director in rural development ministry. 

6. He then proceeded on a foreign assignment — as consultant (at a director level) in United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). 

7. Between 2004 and 2011, i.e. for the entire period of UPA-1 and parts of UPA-2, Mitra was a powerful joint secretary in Manmohan Singh's Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).  

8. In July 2011, i.e. two months after Mamata Banerjee became chief minister of West Bengal, Mitra joined the government of West Bengal, first as principal secretary. 

9. Then, between September 2012 and December 2015, he was chief secretary of West Bengal. When he was appointed as the top bureaucrat of the state, there were 13 West Bengal cadre IAS officers — some of whom were on Central deputation, and all of them belonged to batches from 1981 to 1976, thus were senior to him. Those who he superseded included Jaya Dasgupta of 1978 batch who, if appointed, would have been West Bengal’s first woman chief secretary!

10. Mitra did post-graduation in three subjects —first in physics before getting into IAS and then in economics and public administration. He is a Harvard Mason fellow.