Ease of doing business for MSMEs: 1997 batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of Himachal Pradesh cadre Rajneesh has been appointed as the new Additional Secretary and Development Commissioner (AS & DC) in the ministry of micro, small and medium enterprises. The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) on Monday approved the appointment of “Rajneesh, IAS (HP:97), presently in the cadre, as Additional Secretary & Development Commissioner, Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises,” the official order from the Department of Personnel and Training under Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions read.
The DC office also confirmed the appointment to FE Aspire.
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In his previous role, Rajneesh was the Adviser, Industries and Urban Affairs of the Himachal Pradesh government in New Delhi and also the Principal Secretary, Rural Development, Panchayati Raj and Information Technology of the state government. He was also given the additional charge of the education department and was relieved of the charge of the Forest Department in July this year. Rajneesh will replace Shailesh Kumar Singh who was appointed as the AS & DC at MSME Ministry in January this year and assumed charge on February 7.
Among other appointments approved by the ACC on Monday were Ganji Kamala V. Rao, MD, India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC) as the new CEO of the Food Safety & Standards Authority of India (FSSA); Santosh Kumar Yadav, Addtional Secretary at Department of School Education and Literacy as the new Chairman of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI); 1995 batch IAS officer of Tamil Nadu cadre Hitesh Kumar S. Makwana as the new Additional Secretary, Department of Home at Ministry of Home Affairs; 1997 batch IAS officer of HP cadre Subhasish Panda as the new Vice Chairman of the Delhi Development Authority (DDA); and A Neeraja, Joint Secretary at Department of Fertilizers as its new Additional Secretary.
Currently, there are two Additional Development Commissioners in the MSME Ministry – Ishita Ganguly Tripathy who looks after MSME policy & its governance including Public Procurement Policy and National MSME Board and Sudha Keshari who is incharge of Autonomous Bodies (HR & Establishment) and (TC & Tool Rooms), Technology Centre System Programme (TCSP), Common Infrastructure (Cluster Development Programme), etc., according to DC office website.
Also, Bharat Prakash is the ministry’s Joint Development Commissioner looking Technology Centre Systems Programme (TCSP) – a World Bank Project for upgrading and expanding the network of MSME Technology Centres in India. He also looks at the ministry’s skill development initiative to boost entrepreneurship — Entrepreneurship Skill Development Programme (ESDP).