New Delhi: In what may be a clear message by the Narendra Modi government that they need officials in the top bureaucracy who will be upto speed with the government’s fast paced outlook on crucial issues of governance, Rajiv Mehrishi was named as the new Home Secretary today.
The present Home Secretary LC Goyal was removed within six months.
Goyal was replaced with outgoing Mehrishi who gets a two year term. Mehrishi who performed well in the Finance Ministry and was due to retire today as Finance Secretary will now handle the crucial Home Ministry. He will now move on the other side of the North Block. His role will be to ensure pushing a key ministry, which is integral to Modi’s scheme of things to speed up economic progress, and balancing the internal security issues.
Goyal who was brought in February after his predecessor Anil Goswami, was asked to resign following his name getting entangled in the Matang Singh affair.
Earlier too in South Block, former Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh was removed in the middle of her term and replaced by S. Jaishankar who was upto speed with the quick decision making style of Narendra Modi.
Sources say that while the move will bring in some amount of fear factor in the bureaucracy with a quick change of guard in the crucial ministry, Mehrishi will have to ensure that he balances national security priorities and displays some out of the box thinking as he works closely with the Prime Minister’s office.