Divisional Commissioner, Jabalpur Division (September 2020 – April 2023)

Supervision of Collectors of eight Districts in Jabalpur Revenue Division. Function as Revenue Appellate and Criminal Court with jurisdiction over Jabalpur Division.

Vice Chancellor Madhya Pradesh Medical Sciences University, Madhya Pradesh: (August 2021- September 2022)

Took over as VC at a stage when the University was unable to fulfil the mandate given to it by the state legislation, mostly affected by the Covid-19 Pandemic. Conducted all the pending examinations of Medicine, Dental, Ayush, Homoeopathy, Unani, Nursing and Paramedical course in Madhya Pradesh. Issued all pending results. The process of affiliation of colleges has been brought on track. Introduced an end-to-end University Management System, where all the functions of the University, including the Affiliation of Colleges, Enrolment of Students, Conduct of Examinations, Evaluation of Answer Scripts, Preparation and Declaration of Results, printing and issuance of marksheets and degree certificates, are carried out on one integrated online platform, with quality and timeliness.

Chairperson, Jabalpur Development Authority (September 2020 – April 2023)

Developing infrastructure such as roads, open spaces, civic amenities for the planned and systematic development of the city of Jabalpur.

Administrator, Jabalpur Municipal Corporation (September 2020 – August 2022)

Acted as administrative head and Mayor in Council for the Municipal Corporation. Major responsibilities, inter alia, include, maintenance of drinking water supply, sewerage and sanitation, waste collection and its management, internal roads and street lights, city transport, waterbodies, gardens, playgrounds, schools, and other civic amenities in the city of Jabalpur.

Commissioner Tribal and SC Development Madhya Pradesh State Government, Bhopal. (March 2020 – September 2020)

Implementing all the schemes of the Central and State Government for the Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Caste. This, inter alia, includes, running of schools from grade one to twelve in the tribal Scheduled Areas in 20 Districts, implementing all the Scholarship Schemes for the ST and SC students in the state, implementing livelihood programmes for the ST and SC families.

Director, Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of Good Governance and Policy Analysis, Bhopal. (April 2020 – September 2020)

Carrying out research in various aspects of good governance, analysis of policies of the government and recommending improvements.

Executive Director State Agency for Public Services, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh

Providing government services online to citizens under the Madhya Pradesh Public Service Guarantee Act and Government Process Re-engineering. Created a unified portal called ‘mplokseva’ for the delivery of the government services online to the citizens with a single sign on facility. Also started a programme called ‘Samadhan Ek Din’ which aimed at providing government services across the counter, on the same day so that the citizens do not have to visit the office again. This is a paradigm shift in the public delivery system in the state of Madhya Pradesh.

Secretary Chief Minister’s Secretariat, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, Bhopal (July 2017 – March 2020)

Assisting the Chief Minister in the policy/administrative decision making process. Conceptualized and drafted the social security scheme for the labourers in unorganized sector in the State of Madhya Pradesh. The scheme was launched in July 2018 and has become one of the largest multidimensional social security schemes in India with over 21 million registrations in a matter of six months. Known by the name CM Jankalyan Yojna (now Sambal yojna), it provides social security in the areas of education, health, both natural and accidental deaths, pregnancy and delivery, etc.

Managing Director, State Electronics Development Corporation, Bhopal. (July 2017 – November 2018)

Providing necessary IT related services to all the departments of the State Government. Managing and maintaining state of the art ‘State Data Centre’ catering to the requirement of the state government.

Mission Director, SAMAGRA, Department of Social Justice, Bhopal. (July 2017 – November 2018)

Maintaining and upgrading the SAMAGRA data base and portal, providing useful data to all the departments. It was instrumental in ensuring fast implementation of DBT schemes of the government as it provided readily available data for the purpose of benefit transfer.

Collector and District Magistrate, District Ratlam, Madhya Pradesh. (May 2015 – June 2017)

Designed and Implemented ‘Entitlement Campaign’ by the Name ‘Sadhikar Abhiyan’. the Idea Was to Provide Benefits to Eligible People as a Matter of Entitlement and Reach Out to the Most Needy and the Poorest Who Did Not Apply for Benefits Due to Lack of Awareness and Illiteracy. The Campaign Included Reaching Out to the Door Step of All the Households Eligible to Receive Benefit Under 24 Government Schemes but Who Had Been Left Out Due to Lack of Awareness and Application.165 thousand Poorest and Most Needy Citizens Were Benefited Under the Campaign. the State Government of MP Took up the Campaign and Implemented It in the Entire State. Developed a Re-densification Project for the City of Ratlam, Including New Construction of 300 Bed Hospital Building, 1000 Seat Auditorium, Collector Office Building, 50 Residential Quarters, and a Gems and Jewellery Park. These Infrastructural Projects Were Taken up by Monetizing Unused Government Land on PPP Mode.

Collector and District Magistrate, District Jhabua, Madhya Pradesh. (April 2014 – May 2015)

Started ‘Continuous Teachers Training’ Institutes at Block Level to Ensure Teachers Training and Improving Quality of Education. Started Dress Code for the Teachers and Designed and Developed an SMS Based School Monitoring System to Ensure Teachers and Students Attendance and Mid-day Meal.

Managing Director MP State Dairy Development Federation, Bhopal. (February 2014 – April 2014)

Devised and implemented a system of monitoring milk procurement process by Village level Dairy Cooperative Societies. Took the milk procurement to the highest in the history of the Federation in two months’ time.

Collector and District Magistrate, District Balaghat, Madhya Pradesh. (March 2013 – February 2014)

Balaghat is LWE affected District. Designed and implemented a programme called ‘Bharosa’ (meaning faith) in the 65 difficult to reach naxal affected villages. The idea was to instil peoples’ faith in the administration by providing development scheme benefits to the people in those villages. The programme included building access roads, building Anganwadi and School buildings, ensuring drinking water availability, ensuring immunization of children and visit of paramedics and doctors to the villages, ensuring teachers’ attendance, livelihood for youths, etc.

Collector and District Magistrate, District Betul, Madhya Pradesh. (June 2011 – March 2013)

Improved the Routine Immunization of Children and Modernized the District Hospital. Also ran a Family Planning Campaign and more than 30000 LTT/NSVT operations were done during that period. Designed and implemented project ‘Betul Muskan’. Project included low-cost manufacturing of sanitary napkins by the women residing in shelter homes for victims of domestic violence. Sanitary napkins were distributed to BPL (Below Poverty Line) adolescent girls in villages free of cost, through Anganwadi Centres. The outcome was livelihood for victims of domestic violence and hence better chances of their integration back with their families. It introduced sanitary napkins to village girls who couldn’t afford it and improved their reproductive health. Also developed consolidation of schools project which was later on taken up by the State Government for entire state.

Collector and District Magistrate, District Dindori, Madhya Pradesh. (July 2009 – June 2011)

Carried out large scale development work in the LWE vulnerable ‘Baiga Chak’ area which is inhabited by primitive tribe ‘baiga’. The works included, access roads, bridges and culverts, Anganwadi buildings, school buildings, Sub Health Centres, Electrification, drinking water schemes, etc. Provided livelihood to baiga families through sericulture and set up a processing plant for minor millets. Organized ‘Baiga Olympiad’ to engage youth of the area which resulted in bonding between administration and the tribal youth which in turn helped keeping the Naxals at bay. Took up a large -scale plantation work along the Jabalpur-Amarkantak road, one of the most successful plantation works in the state.

Collector and District Magistrate, District Alirajpur, Madhya Pradesh. (May 2008 – July 2009)

Worked for the improvement of quality of education in the bhil tribal areas. Was involved in successful rehabilitation of 27 villages that came under submergence of the Sardar Sarovar Dam. This involved facilitation of the relocation of families, large scale punitive actions against the corrupt revenue officials, re-development of rehabilitation sites, opening of satellite schools for the villages in transition, etc.

Project Director Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS), Department of Women and Child Development, Bhopal. (December 2007 – May 2008)

Worked for Improving the Coverage of ICDS Across the State. Developed Phase IV of the World Bank Project Under ICDS. 2007-12 – 2008-05 Executive Director Tejaswini (International Fund for Agriculture Development, IFAD), Bhopal, MP Designed the Tejaswini Project. The project was funded by IFAD and it aimed at rural development 2007-12 – 2008-05 through women SHGs. It included administrative support and hand-holding required for the SHGs to mature, generate livelihood for the SHG members and start participating in the village development process.

Chief Executive Officer Zila Panchayat, DRDA, District Sheopur. (April 2007 – December 2007)

Carried out large number of small irrigation projects under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. Took stringent actions against the corrupt engineers who had spent disproportionately higher amount of money than the actual work done.

Chief Executive Officer Zila Panchayat, DRDA, District Sidhi. (September 2005 – April 2007)

Implemented the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, in its very first year. Generated the maximum wage employment under the scheme for any District in the entire country. Made presentation in Vigyan Bhawan on successful implementation of NREGS in January 2007, in National Conference. Built large number of small irrigation projects, roads, bridges, dug wells, water harvesting structures in the District under NREGS and RSVY schemes.

Sub Divisional Magistrate, Sausar, District Chhindwara, Madhya Pradesh. (August 2004 – September 2005)

Issued a record number of caste certificates (over ten thousand) to the eligible students and people.

Managed Industrial disputes and difficult law and order problems.

Assistant Collector, District Khandwa, Madhya Pradesh. (June 2003 – August 2004)

Obtained practical field training for Indian Administrative Service.

Trainee IAS Officer LBS National Academy of Administration, Mussoorie. (September 2002 – June 2003)

Joined Indian Administrative Service. Completed training for Indian Administrative Service at the Lal Bahadur Shashtri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA)

Education:

• Bachelor of Engineering (BE), Nagpur University
• Master of Arts (Economics) (MA), Jabalpur University
• Bachelor of Laws (LLB), Barkatullah University, Bhopal.
• Certificate Courses and Trainings:
• Centre for International Development, Harvard University, USA. Certificate Course in EPoD, Evidence for Policy Design 2017
• Ecole National Administration (ENA, Paris, France) Certificate Course in Public Sector Management 2016
• Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) Mumbai Certificate Course in Ethics in Public Administration 2015
• Administrative Staff College of India (ASCI) Hyderabad Certificate Course in Finance Management in Large Scale PPP Projects 2014
• National Academy of Audit and Accounts, Shimla, Himachal Pradesh Certificate Course in Audit to bring accountability in Governance 2013
• Korean Development Institute, KDI, Seoul, South Korea Certificate Course in Understanding the Growth story of South Korea 2010
• Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Indore Certificate Course in Result Based Management 2008
• Disaster Management Institute (DMI) Bhopal A Certificate Course in Incident Command System (ICS) 2006

Awards/Recognitions/Books:

• A book published by Administrative Staff College of India (ASCI) on the work done by me on ‘Convergence in Rural Development’ in Dindori District, Madhya Pradesh.
• Prime Minister’s Award for Excellence in Public Administration, for Project “Betul Muskan” National Level.
• In 2010, decided not to apply for or receive any award for the work done in my official capacity. Wrote to the State Government about my decision and requested the Government not to consider me for any awards for the work done by me in my official capacity. I believe the real award is the happiness on the faces of people and the sense of fulfilment that one gets by doing one’s duty.

Hobbies/Interests:

• Writing (Fiction and Non-Fiction)
• Photography – wildlife and nature
• Fitness