Rao assumed charge as the new CS on Thursday, a day after he was elevated from the rank of Additional Chief Secretary, bypassing three senior IAS officers -- Dilip Rau, Neerja Rajkumar and Usha Ganesh.
He hails from Dakshina Kannada, while his wife Nirupama Rao, also an IAS officer is presently the Indian Ambassador in China.

He joined the service after Masters in Economics from Delhi University. He also has a Masters degree in Public Administration from the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. He was the Minister of Economics in the Embassy of India during the years 1996 to 2000.

On his first day in office, he shared his plans for the State administration and views on addressing the crying demand for upgrading infrastructure, especially in Bangalore, with P M Raghundandan of Deccan Herald.

Excerpts from the interview:

What will be the priority area in your administration?
My priority is infrastructure development and maintaining law and order. I also want to focus on the farm sector. I will try to ensure that infrastructure and agriculture get the maximum share in the 2008-09 State budget. Besides, we need to give a much-needed push to tier-II and III cities in the State by encouraging investments.

Administrative machinery is often blamed to be very sombre and that it has its own pace of working. How will you make it really effective?
I want to set an example on running the State administration. I will encourage officials to do their work and ensure that there is proper co-ordination among all departments. A little bit of co-operation is enough to make a big difference.

Some of your predecessors talked of taking the administration to the villages and directed officials to compulsorily visit villages. What is your take on this?
There are clearly laid-down rules and guidelines of running the administration. There are chief executive officers at the ZP level and Deputy Commissioners at the district level. Expecting the whole system to change overnight is not practical.

There have been allegations that the Centre is meting out step-motherly treatment to the State on all aspects of administration. What do you have to say about it?
It is just an allegation. If there is any area where assistance from the Centre is not forthcoming, we will try to push it and convince Delhi.

Bangalore is crying for better infrastructure. What are your plans to tackle this nagging problem?
We need to address the infrastructure inadequacies of Bangalore immediately. The city has taken a bad name mainly because of traffic. In terms of power, water and connectivity, the city is okay. But the roads and traffic are in a mess and needs to be addressed on top priority. With the emergence of knowledge sectors like IT, time has become very precious. Fortunately, Bangalore is still a premier city in the country.

Major projects like the BMIC have been planned to ease the mounting pressure on Bangalore. But they are not moving at all. What would you like to do in this regard?
Big projects like BMIC are planned to spread Bangalore’s development and reduce the pressure on the core city. I want to examine why they have not been moving and what should be done to make them move fast.

Senior IAS officer Dilip Rau has moved the Central Administrative Tribunal challenging your appointment, bypassing three officers who are senior to you. What do you have to say about it?
The decision to have me in this chair is not mine. The administration will take up the issue. It is between Dilip and the administration.