Textiles Secretary Anant Kumar Singh, who had recently said that irregularities worth around Rs 200 crore were detected in the National Handloom Development Corporation (NHDC), was on Thursday transferred to the land Resources Department in a minor top-level bureaucratic reshuffle. Culture Secretary Raghvendra Singh would be new Textiles Secretary in place of Singh. Arun Goel will be new Culture secretary. He is at present special secretary, Ministry of Culture.
Anant Singh, a 1984 batch IAS officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre, was appointed secretary, Ministry of Textiles, which is headed by Union Minister Smriti Irani, in May last year.
He has been appointed in the vacancy caused by the superannuation of Dinesh Singh on June 30, 2018. According to sources, Singh's sudden transfer was necessitated as he and Textiles Minister Smriti Irani reportedly "did not get along."
Interestingly, this is the second time that the Textiles Secretary has been moved out after Irani was shifted to the Ministry from the high profile Human Resources Development (HRD) Ministry. Earlier, Rashmi Verma was transferred as Textiles Secretary. Verma, a 1982 batch IAS officer of Bihar cadre and sister of Cabinet Secretary P K Sinha, worked as Textiles Secretary from January 1, 2016 to May 10, 2017, according to her service records.
Raghvendra Singh, a 1983 batch IAS officer of West Bengal cadre, was in November 2017 appointed secretary in the Ministry of Culture.
Arun Goel, Special Secretary, Ministry of Culture, has been made full-fledged Secretary in the Ministry . Goel is a Punjab cadre IAS office of 1985 batch.