Bhubaneswar: Two senior bureaucrats, who hail from Odisha, have found place in India Today’s High and Mighty Ultimate Power List of 2024.
P K Mishra, Principal Secretary to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das feature among 10 individuals, who wield influence and form the backbone of India’s governance structure.
While Mishra orchestrates policy across ministries, Das ensures India’s financial stability, it said.
The others in the list include National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, NITI Aayog Chief Executive Officer, Chief Justice of India and heads of the Enforcement Directorate and the CBI.
“These 10 people in high office demonstrate the distributed responsibilities and differing imperatives the task of running a complex country like India summons up. These officials sometimes act as executors, at other times as the conscience-keepers, or often as the brains trust of the political class,” it added.
ABOUT P K MISHRA
A native of Sambalpur, he was re-appointed as Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister in June 2024.
The 1972-batch Gujarat cadre IAS officer has been with PM Modi for the past decade after retiring as Agriculture Secretary to GOI. He was Additional Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister during 2014-19 before being appointed to the Principal Secretary post.
He graduated from GM College (Sambalpur University) in 1970 in first class with distinction in Economics. He was then the only one to get a first class in Economics among all the universities of Odisha. He studied PhD in Economics/Development Studies and MA in Development Economics from the University of Sussex and also completed MA in Economics with a first class from Delhi School of Economics.
Mishra has varied work experience in the management of programmes relating to agriculture, disaster management, power sector, infrastructure financing, and regulatory issues and has an outstanding career profile comprising research, publications, policy formulation and programme/project management. As Agriculture and Cooperation Secretary, he is credited for working on National Agriculture Development Programme and National Food Security Mission. He also introduced innovation and transformative changes in human resource management, particularly appointments to senior positions, during his tenure as Additional Principal Secretary.
He was conferred with the United Nations SASAKAWA Award 2019, the most prestigious international award in disaster management.
ABOUT SHAKTIKANTA DAS
A retired IAS officer of the Tamil Nadu cadre, Das originally hails from Odisha. He studied in the Demonstration Multipurpose School here in Bhubaneswar.
He the 25th Governor of the India’s central bank. He was appointed to the post on December 11, 2018. Prior to it, Das served as the Economic Affairs Secretary and India’s Sherpa to the G20 between November 27, 2017, and December 11, 2018. He also represented India at International Monetary Fund (IMF), the G20, and the BRIC
He was ranked as the top central banker globally for the second year in a row, receiving an “A+” rating in the 2024 Global Finance Central Banker Report Cards.
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