NEW DELHI, Oct 24: In a major move, the central government has cleared the empanelment of 27 IAS officers of the 1990 batch for holding secretary-level posts, including that of Pankaj Jain belonging to Meghalaya cadre.
Jain currently is the Additional Secretary, Department of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance. He was Principal Resident Commissioner, Meghalaya House New Delhi, prior to his moving to Finance Ministry.
Jain, who served in various capacities during his career, is an alumnus of Shri Ram College of Commerce from where he has a Bachelor’s degree in Commerce followed by an MBA from FMS Delhi. He is also an Associate of the Institute of Cost Accountants of India.
In Meghalaya, Jain served as District Magistrate at Shillong and Tura along with assignments in the Secretariat and State Corporations. He oversaw departments of Power, Planning, Information Technology, Livelihood Promotion and Industries as well as the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises.
Jain’s work experience also includes a three-year stint with the British International Aid Agency – the Department for International Development (DFID). He worked as Governance Adviser and Senior Program Manager of the DFID.
The senior bureaucrat’s areas of interest include Intellectual Property Rights where he has collaborated with UNIDO to develop an IPR guide for the Indian Toy Industry. He has also been a consultant to the Commonwealth Secretariat and the Asian Productivity Organisation on adoption of IT by small and medium enterprises in India and Bangladesh.
Among others, Ravi Shankar Prasad from Meghalaya cadre and K. Moses Chalai from Manipur, who is secretary to the prestigious Northeast Council under Ministry of DoNER, were also promoted.