National Security Advisor Ajit Doval.
Credit : PTI file photo
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has chosen to repeat his trusted aides former IAS officer P K Mishra as his Principal Secretary and former IPS officer Ajit Doval as National Security Advisor.
Both the former bureaucrats have been serving in the Prime Minister's Office since Modi assumed power in May 2014.
Doval, a 1968-batch IPS officer who was former Intelligence Bureau Director, is becoming the NSA for the third consecutive time, while Mishra, a 1972-batch IAS officer who has been Principal Secretary since September 2019, has been with Modi's office as Additional Principal Secretary from his first term.
Both Doval and Mishra have been given the rank of Cabinet Minister in the Table of Precedence. Their appointments are co-terminus with the term of the Prime Minister or until further orders, the Department of Personnel and Training, which issued the orders, said.
Their appointments have come into effect from June 10.
Ex-bureaucrats Amit Khare and Tarun Kapoor will function as Advisors to the Prime Minister. The decisions were taken by the Prime Minister-led Appointments Committee of the Cabinet and notified on Thursday. They have been accorded the rank and scale of Secretary and their appointment is on contract basis for a period of two years from June 10 or until further orders.
Both Doval and Mishra have been important cogs in the wheels of the Modi administration.
As the NSA, Doval is responsible for all national security-related issues while Mishra will be dealing with administrative issues
Doval had retired as Intelligence Bureau (IB) chief in 2005 and was appointed as the NSA for the first time on 30 May, 2014, and re-appointed for another five-year term on 31 May, 2019.
A former Kerala cadre officer, Doval had worked with the IB for around 33 years in areas including the Northeast, Jammu and Kashmir, Sikkim and Punjab.