G Mohan Kumar, a 1979-batch IAS officer of Odisha cadre, on Friday was appointed as the new Defence Secretary for a two-year tenure. At present serving as Secretary, Department of Defence Production, Kumar will replace incumbent RK Mathur who retires this month-end.
The Appointments Committee of Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved Kumar’s appointment as the Defence Secretary. He has served in Commerce Ministry besides stints as Additional and Special Secretary in Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation between 2010 and September 2013.
Kumar, who hails from Kerala, has also served as Steel Secretary before taking over as Secretary in Department of Defence Production on September 1, 2014. His new appointment comes days before he was to turn 60 and retire by this month end.
As per government directives in practice for last two decades, Defence and Home Secretaries serve two-year stint. Intelligence Bureau and Research and Analysis Wing(RAW) chiefs are also covered by this directive. Arun Kumar Gupta, a 1981 batch IAS officer of Tamil Nadu cadre will take over as the new Secretary Defence Production. He is serving as Special Secretary in the same department as of now, officials said.
Kumar takes over as the Defence Secretary at a time when the NDA Government has cleared defence projects worth over Rs1.60 lakh crore with special focus on ‘Make in India’ to give a boost to nascent Indian defence industry.
He will have to ensure that these projects take off in a time-bound manner to send positive signals to foreign and Indian industry that the Government is keen to have joint ventures in a transparent manner. Moreover, Kumar will have to see to it that the armed forces get state of the art weapons without delay to maintain operational preparedness. This issue is critical as the Services feel that the bureaucracy takes long in clearing projects.