Retd. IAS officer Raghvendra Singh appointed as Culture Secretary

Retired Culture Secretary Raghvendra Singh, who is presently the Chief Executive Officer of Development of Museums and Cultural Spaces, was on Friday appointed Culture Secretary once again.

Incumbent Culture Secretary Anand Mohan has been shifted to National Commission for Backward Classes in the same rank while S Aparna was appointed Chemical and Fertilisers Secretary and Apurva Chandra has been promoted as Labour Secretary in a minor reshuffle in the top bureaucracy of the Narendra Modi government.

Mohan, a 1988-batch IAS officer of Kerala cadre, will be replacing 1984-batch Bihar cadre Ajoy Kumar, who is retiring this month-end. Aparna will replace P D Vaghela while Chandra, who is presently Special Secretary and Director (Acquisition) in the Ministry of Defence will replace Heera Lal.

The orders of new appointments have been issued by the Department of Personnel and Training following approval from the Prime Minister-led Appointments Committee of the Cabinet.

Singh, a 1983-batch retired IAS officer of West Bengal cadre who is considered close to the Modi regime, had retired last year and was appointed as the CEO Development of Museums and Cultural Spaces. He also held additional charge of e director of Nehru Memorial Museum and Library (NMML).

Singh, whose first tenure as Culture Secretary was between 1 December 2017 to 9 August 2018, was earlier given the charge of setting up a museum for all Indian Prime Ministers at Teen Murti Bhavan.

According to the order, Singh has been appointed on contract "on usual terms and conditions applicable to be re-employed central government officers" for a period of one year from the date of assumption of the charge of the post or until further orders, whichever is earlier.

Singh will also continue to hold the charge of the post of CEO of the Development of Museums and Cultural Spaces.