Abhishek Singh of IndiaAI mission named DG of NTA

Chennai: IndiaAI Mission CEO Abhishek Singh has been transferred to the National Testing Agency (NTA) as director general as part of a bureaucratic reshuffle, an order issued on Tuesday showed. Singh's transfer comes shortly after the IndiaAI Impact Summit in New Delhi in February, which drew top speakers from across the world, but was also criticised over logistical glitches and security issues. There was also an episode involving a university exhibiting a Chinese robot dog as an indigenous innovation.

The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) has yet to name a replacement for Singh's post at the MeitY, people privy to the matter told ET. Singh, a 1995-batch IAS officer of the Nagaland cadre, was also the director general of the National Informatics Centre (NIC) and was empanelled as a secretary in February. Other significant changes by the ACC include Chanchal Kumar being appointed as information and broadcasting secretary, replacing Sanjay Jaju.

Kumar, a 1992 batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of Bihar cadre, is currently secretary at the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER). Jaju will be the new DoNER secretary.


The ACC also appointed Sanjay Lohiya, additional secretary, Ministry of Mines, as special secretary, Department of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance. He will take over as the secretary after the superannuation of incumbent Nagaraju Maddirala on May 31. Bharat Harbanslal Khera, additional secretary, Department of Consumer Affairs, has been appointed as officer on special duty, Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises.

He will become the secretary after the superannuation of Subhas Chandra Lal Das on April 30, the order said.