Government appointed Shaktikanta Das as Revenue Secretary

On 14th June, a crucial meeting had been scheduled by the Prime Minister's Office. The meeting was to be attended by the secretaries of commerce and revenue, and was to revisit the plan for special economic zones, which were envisaged as enclaves of manufacturing excellence to spur exports but have failed to take off.

Hours ahead of the scheduled meeting, revenue secretary Rajeev Takru, aGujarat cadre officer, was moved out to the ministry of development for the north eastern region. Fertiliser secretary Shaktikanta Das, a 1980 batch IAS officer of the Tamil Nadu cadre, who is also a finance ministry veteran, was brought in as the new revenue secretary. Das, incidentally, was also the man behind Tamil Nadu's successful SEZs and industrial policy.

Das, known for his objectivity and for being polite yet firm, is expected to help the new government turnaround the scheme more effectively while he ensures continuity at the finance ministry because of the wealth of budget experience he has at the Centre of economic decision making. He has been away only about six months since he became fertiliser secretary at the end of December 2013.

He is more likely to go by the book and is well equipped to meet the pressures of the new profile.

He withstood political pressure to allot government land to private IT companies in Tamil Nadu without a bidding process. It's another story that he had to suffer its consequences by going without any posting for three months after being shifted as land revenue secretary of the state.

He played a key role is resolving the muddle after the department of industrial policy and promotion initiated a move to clamp up foreign direct investment (FDI) in the pharmaceuticals sector. Being the additional secretary in-charge of the FDI policy in the department of economic affairs, he had surprised many by visiting the Foreign Investment Promotion Board secretariat soon after being given the charge. His over 12 years' experience in finance, including budget making both at the Centre and state, means that he will hit the ground running when the finance ministry is in the thick of budget preparations.

On 14th June, a crucial meeting had been scheduled by the Prime Minister's Office. The meeting was to be attended by the secretaries of commerce and revenue, and was to revisit the plan for special economic zones, which were envisaged as enclaves of manufacturing excellence to spur exports but have failed to take off.

Hours ahead of the scheduled meeting, revenue secretary Rajeev Takru, aGujarat cadre officer, was moved out to the ministry of development for the north eastern region. Fertiliser secretary Shaktikanta Das, a 1980 batch IAS officer of the Tamil Nadu cadre, who is also a finance ministry veteran, was brought in as the new revenue secretary. Das, incidentally, was also the man behind Tamil Nadu's successful SEZs and industrial policy.

Das, known for his objectivity and for being polite yet firm, is expected to help the new government turnaround the scheme more effectively while he ensures continuity at the finance ministry because of the wealth of budget experience he has at the Centre of economic decision making. He has been away only about six months since he became fertiliser secretary at the end of December 2013.

He is more likely to go by the book and is well equipped to meet the pressures of the new profile.

He withstood political pressure to allot government land to private IT companies in Tamil Nadu without a bidding process. It's another story that he had to suffer its consequences by going without any posting for three months after being shifted as land revenue secretary of the state.

He played a key role is resolving the muddle after the department of industrial policy and promotion initiated a move to clamp up foreign direct investment (FDI) in the pharmaceuticals sector. Being the additional secretary in-charge of the FDI policy in the department of economic affairs, he had surprised many by visiting the Foreign Investment Promotion Board secretariat soon after being given the charge. His over 12 years' experience in finance, including budget making both at the Centre and state, means that he will hit the ground running when the finance ministry is in the thick of budget preparations.