Neeraj Mittal becomes new telecom secretary, S Krishnan moves to MeitY
Neeraj Mittal the new telecom secretary and S Krishnan secretary at the ministry of electronics & information technology, among a spate of high-profile central appointments.
Among other key appointments cleared by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet and announced Friday, Arunish Chawla will take over as secretary at the Department of Pharmaceuticals after October. He is now an officer on special duty in the same department.
Vumlunmang Vualnam, who is additional secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, has been elevated to the rank of secretary and appointed at the ministry of civil aviation.
VL Kantha Rao, additional secretary, Department of Telecommunications (DoT), has been promoted to secretary, ministry of mines.
A 1992-batch Indian Administrative Service officer, Mittal takes charge at DoT at a time when the government is busy finalising the Telecom Bill. He will also be involved in key upcoming decisions around the allocation mode of satellite/6 GHz spectrum as well as airwaves in E & V bands.
Decisions around spectrum allocation modes will entail delicate balancing of diverse stakeholder interests, cutting across telcos, tech companies and satcom biggies.
Mittal's appointment also comes at a time when DoT has set the ball rolling for the next 5G spectrum sale.
Krishnan, a 1989-batch IAS officer, has taken charge from outgoing MeitY secretary Alkesh Kumar Sharma, who retired on August 31.
The new IT secretary is likely to oversee the next phase of implementation of India's big-ticket semiconductor mission that aims to foster a homegrown chip and supporting component ecosystem. He is also likely to spearhead the rollout of the recently enacted Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 implementation
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