Senior bureaucrat Usha Sharma was appointed the Chief Secretary of Rajasthan on Monday following the retirement of Niranjan Arya, who has been made an adviser to Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot. Ms. Sharma is the second woman to hold the top bureaucratic post in the State.
Ms. Sharma, a 1985-batch IAS officer, has been on the Central deputation in New Delhi since 2012. She was the Secretary of the Sports and Youth Affairs Ministry and she earlier served as the Additional Director General of Tourism and Director General of Archaeological Survey of India.
The first woman Chief Secretary of Rajasthan was Kushal Singh, who served in that position from February 2009 to October 2009 during the Congress regime. She was appointed Chairperson of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) in 2013 following her retirement.
Ms. Sharma was transferred to her parent cadre in Rajasthan by the Centre on the State government’s request on Sunday. She said after taking over the charge of office in the State Secretariat here that she would ensure public participation in the administration and resolve people’s grievances on priority.
