Rajiv Gauba on Thursday took charge as Secretary to the Government of India in the Ministry of Home Affairs. Gauba had joined the Ministry of Home Affairs as Officer on Special Duty on June 27, 2017 and took charge as the Union Home Secretary upon the retirement of Rajiv Mehrishi.
Gauba is a 1982 batch IAS officer of Jharkhand cadre. Earlier, he had served in the Home ministry as joint and additional secretaries. He had looked after crucial Naxal division, among many other responsibilities. Last year, Gauba was appointed as Secretary to Government of India in the Ministry of Urban Development, after the retirement of Madhusudhan Prasad.
According to PIB, Gauba has wide-ranging experience in senior positions at policy making and programme implementation in the Central and State Governments and in international organisations. Born in Punjab in 1959, Gauba had graduated in Physics from Patna University. He served Jharkhand as Chief Secretary for 15 months before joining the Central government last year. Gauba has also served in the Central government’s ministries of Home, Defence, Finance, Environment and Forests and Department of Electronics and Information Technology at senior positions.
Gauba has represented India on the board of International Monetary Fund for four years. In Bihar, Gauba served as Collector and District Magistrate for 7 years in Gaya, Nalanda and Muzaffarpur.
As the Union home secretary, some of the issues Gauba will be handling include internal security, militancy in Jammu and Kashmir and the Northeast, Maoist problems in the central and east India.
As a part of a major reshuffle of top officials of the country, as many as 16 secretaries have been appointed to various Central government departments recently. The portfolios of some officials have also been regiged.