The new boss

Civil Services Day, celebrated in April this year, was quite different from earlier celebrations. There were new faces and a new thrust. The Secretary, Department of Administrative Reforms, Alok Rawat, and Special Secretary Arun Jha were in full command, managing the show with finesse. Being the seniormost among civil servants, Cabinet Secretary AK Seth was present most of the time and was seen observing and instructing wherever needed. Amitabh Kant, Secretary, DIPP, Navtej Sarna, Secretary, External Affairs, Saurabh Chandra, Secretary, Petroleum, Sanjay Kothari, Secretary, DoPT, and Madhav Lal, Secretary, MSME, were actively participating and interacting with fellow colleagues. The real power centre with the change of guard was PK Mishra, Additional Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister. A retired 1972-batch IAS officer of the Gujarat cadre, Mishra was sitting in the front row and closely observing the proceedings. Most of the top bureaucrats were seen whispering to him. Some of them were seen waiting quietly for their turn to just say hello or introduce themselves to the new boss in the set-up. Mishra politely listened and met everybody patiently. He kept a very calm, humble and low profile during the occasion.