By Pervez Bari, TwoCircles.net
Bhopal : India's Defense Secretary Shekhar Dutt has been appointed as Deputy National Security Advisor to the Government of India, according to a Press release issued by Press Information Bureau.
Dutt will hold this post of Deputy National Security Advisor in the National Security Council Secretariat for Strategic and Defense related subjects. He will be in the rank and pay of Secretary to the Government of India and will hold the post for a period of two years in the first instance or until further orders, whichever is earlier, the release said.
He was appointed as Defense Secretary in July 2005. Prior to this appointment, he was Secretary Defense Production. He is an IAS (Indian Administrative Service) officer of the 1969 batch of the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh cadre. He has also served in the Army and for his role in the Western Sector during 1971 War; he was awarded Sena Medal for gallantry.
In his long and distinguished career in the Indian Administrative service, Dutt held several key posts, which include Director General Sports Authority of India and Principal Secretary in the Department of Tribal and Scheduled Caste Welfare and Principal Secretary, Departments of School Education, Sports & Youth Welfare both in the Government of Madhya Pradesh. Dutt also held the appointment of Secretary, Department of Ayurveda, Yoga, Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha & Homeopathy in the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare.
During his tenure in the Sports Authority of India, Dutt played a pivotal role in the successful conduct of the First Afro-Asian Games in November 2003. As the Principal Secretary, Tribal Welfare Dutt was instrumental in drawing up a number of schemes including special projects concerning area development, collection and marketing of minor forest produce and forest village development through joint forest management mechanism.
In his capacity as Principal Secretary in the Departments of School Education, Sports & Youth Welfare, Dutt was credited with the introduction of an innovative program called Education Guarantee Scheme in which the community panchayats owned and administered the schools. The scheme helped in universalizing elementary education in Madhya Pradesh to a great extent. ([email protected])