Rajiv Gauba named new home secretary

Will have two-year fixed tenure

Amid challenges of Kashmiri militancy and consolidation of gains made against the Maoists, a new bureaucrat stepped into the administration of the Home Ministry.

Rajiv Gauba, a 1982-batch officer from Jharkhand, took over the reigns of the crucial ministry on Thursday from Rajiv Mehrishi who had retired on the same day after being Home Secretary for two years.

Like his predecessor, Gauba will also have a two-year fixed term.

The government announced two months ago that Gauba would follow Mehrishi and brought him to the Ministry of Home Affairs as an Officer on Special Duty (OSD).

Gauba takes over at a time when security remains tight in Kashmir and an investigation is underway against the separatist leaders on terror funding.

One of the important tasks before 58-year-old Gauba, a physics graduate from Punjab, is to steer the security establishment in Kashmir to keep separatists and militants in check.

Though the central and state governments claim that the law and order situation in Jammu & Kashmir has markedly improved, Gauba knows too well to remain wary of the situation that proved 

volatile.

The government is also claiming that it made significant gains against the naxals, but Home Minister Rajnath Singh himself has warned against complacency.