Senior bureaucrat Deepti Umashankar has been appointed as the new Secretary to the President of India in a major bureaucratic reshuffle announced by the Centre on Friday.

The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) cleared the series of high-profile bureaucratic appointments in various ministries, including defence and health.

Senior bureaucrat Rajesh Kumar Singh has been appointed as the new Defence Secretary. Singh, a 1989-batch Kerala Cadre IAS officer is the Secretary of the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade. He will first serve as Officer on Special Duty (OSD) in the Ministry of Defence before officially assuming the role on October 31, 2024, following the retirement of Aramane Giridhar.

In another key appointment, Punya Salila Srivastava has been named as the new Health Secretary. Srivastava, who is currently Special Secretary in the Prime Minister’s Office, will initially take over as Officer on Special Duty (OSD) in the Department of Health and Family Welfare. She will officially assume the Health Secretary position after Apurva Chandra retires on September 30.

Katikithala Srinivas, currently serving as Minority Affairs Secretary, will take over as the Secretary for Housing and Urban Affairs.

Vivek Joshi, the outgoing Financial Services Secretary, will move to the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) as its Secretary.

Nagaraju Maddirala, presently Additional Secretary in the Coal Ministry, will succeed Joshi as Financial Services Secretary.

Manoj Govil, IAS, Secretary in the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, has been appointed as Secretary, Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance. With Govil now steering the Department of Expenditure, he will oversee the allocation and management of government resources, further supporting India’s fiscal policies and public finance reforms.

Vandana Gurnani, IAS, currently in her cadre, has been appointed as Secretary (Coordination) in the Cabinet Secretariat.

Chandra Sekhar Kumar, IAS, Special Secretary, Ministry of Panchayati Raj, has been appointed as Secretary, Ministry of Minority Affairs, succeeding Katikithala Srinivas.

Neelam Shammi Rao, IAS, the Central Provident Fund Commissioner, will take on the role of Secretary, National Commission for Minorities, Ministry of Minority Affairs.

The Government of India has appointed Jafar Malik, IAS, to the post of Deputy Secretary in the Department of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce and Industry.