The Union government on Thursday re-appointed Ajit Doval as the National Security Adviser and PK Mishra as the Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister.
The Department of Personnel and Training, in two separate orders, said their appointments would be “co-terminus with the term of the prime minister or until further orders whichever is earlier”. Both Doval and Mishra have been assigned the rank of Cabinet ministers.
Doval, a 79-year-old former Intelligence Bureau chief, has been appointed as the National Security Adviser for the third term. He first took over the post in 2014.
Doval oversaw the Balakot air strike after the Pulwama terror attack in February 2019, and the 2016 surgical strikes following the Uri attack.
In recent years, he has been involved in discussions with China to reduce bilateral tensions that erupted after clashes between Indian and Chinese soldiers in the Galwan Valley of Ladakh in June 2020.
Mishra, a 75-year-old former Indian Administrative Service officer, was first appointed as the Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister in September 2019. He also served in the prime minister’s office from 2014 to 2019, when he was the Additional Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister.
Mishra’s association with Prime Minister Narendra Modi dates back to October 2001, when Modi took over as the Gujarat chief minister and the bureaucrat was appointed as his principal secretary.
On Thursday, the Appointment Committee of the Cabinet also named former Indian Administrative Service officers Amit Khare and Tarun Kapoor as Advisors to the Prime Minister, The Indian Express reported. They have been appointed for two years with effect from June 10 or till further orders, whichever is earlier.
Also read: Why Indian politicians choose powerful bureaucrats to run their governments
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