Know more about new UPSC member Dr TCA Anant

Dr TCA Anant, former chief statistician of India and ex-secretary in the ministry of statistics and programme implementation, took the oath as Member, Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) in New Delhi on Monday. A PhD from Cornell University and masters in economics from Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi, Anant served as professor at Delhi School of Economics for more than a decade before…

joining the government and becoming the country’s chief statistician. As the chief statistician of India, he was the final authority before releasing the crucial GDP numbers.

Anant also served in a number of expert panels of various ministries and agencies of the Government of  India, apart from being in the boards of a number of universities. His publications in the field of labour, industry and economic theory have appeared in a number of international and national journals, according to a press statement issued by the UPSC on Monday. 

He was also the joint managing editor of the journal of quantitative economics.

Meanwhile, in an unrelated development, Ms Ansuli Arya, a 1989 batch Bihar cadre IAS officer, was on Monday appointed as the administrator of Universal Service Obligation Fund (OSOF), an agency that comes under the department of telecommunications (DoT). She will hold the rank of a GoI additional secretary. She will replace 1987 batch Madhya Pradesh cadre IAS, Sanjay Kumar Singh. The posting of Singh will be issued separately, the same order mentioned. 

Universal Service Obligation Fund, for the record, helps provide widespread and non-discriminatory access to quality telecom services at affordable prices to people in rural and remote areas, among others. 

Meanwhile, the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) on Monday appointed Dr NK Sahu, a private person as the Officer-on Special Duty (OSD) to the minister of tribal affairs Jual Oram at the level of a deputy secretary. He has been appointed on a contract basis.