Secretary to the Government of India, often abbreviated as Secretary, GoI, or simply as Secretary, is a post and a rank under the Central Staffing Scheme of the

Government of India The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, c ...

. The authority for the creation of this post solely rests with the

Union Council of Ministers The Union Council of Ministers Article 58 of the ''Constitution of India'' is the principal executive organ of the Government of India, which is responsible for being the senior decision making body of the executive branch. It is chaired by t ...

. The position holder is generally a career civil servant, mostly from the

Indian Administrative Service The Indian Administrative Service (IAS) is the administrative arm of the All India Services of Government of India. Considered the premier civil service of India, the IAS is one of the three arms of the All India Services along with the Indian ...

, and a government official of high seniority. Secretary is either from

All India Services The All India Services (AIS) comprises the Indian Administrative Service, Indian Police Service and Indian Forest Service. A unique feature of the All India Services is that the members of these services are recruited by the centre (Union gover ...

(deputation; on tenure, after empanelment) or Central Civil Services (Group A; on empanelment). All promotions and appointments to this rank and post are directly made by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet. In the structure of the

Indian government The Government of India (ISO 15919, ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the Government, national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy lo ...

, a secretary is the administrative head of a ministry or department, and is equivalent to chief secretaries or additional chief secretaries of state governments and Vice Chief of the Army Staff, General Officers Commanding in Chief of Army Commands, and their equivalents in the

Indian Armed Forces The Indian Armed Forces are the military forces of the Republic of India. It consists of three professional uniformed services: the Indian Army, Indian Navy, and Indian Air Force.—— Additionally, the Indian Armed Forces are supported by ...

, and are listed as such on the

Indian order of precedence The order of precedence of the Republic of India is a list in which the functionaries, dignitaries and officials are listed for ceremonial purposes and has no legal standing and does not reflect the Indian presidential line of succession or the c ...

, ranking twenty-third.

History

C H Bhabha inaugurating meeting of the Indian Oilseeds Committee

In mid-1930s, the Central Secretariat contained only twenty-ninesecretaries, who were all members of the

Indian Civil Service The Indian Civil Service (ICS), officially known as the Imperial Civil Service, was the higher civil service of the British Empire in India during British rule in the period between 1858 and 1947. Its members ruled over more than 300 million ...

. The salary for a member of this rank and post was fixed at annum in the 1930s. As per warrant or precedence of 1905,As per published records and book named "The India List and India Office List 1905" as published by India Office and

India Office Records The India Office Records are a very large collection of documents relating to the administration of India from 1600 to 1947, the period spanning Company and British rule in India. The archive is held in London by the British Library and is public ...

. secretaries to the Government of India was listed together with joint secretaries to the Government of India and were ranked above the rank of chief secretaries of provincial governments.

N. Gopalaswami Ayyangar Diwan Bahadur Sir Narasimha Gopalaswami Ayyangar (31 March 1882 – 10 February 1953) was an Indian civil servant and statesman, who served as the Prime Minister of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir (princely state), Jammu and Kashmi ...

had once suggested " secretary should not be immersed in files and burdened with routine. It is essential that he should have time to grasp the overall picture, size up the problems facing the government in the field allotted to his charge, and think and plan ahead. All these are his proper functions and must be efficiently performed. Failure to make adequate provision in this respect cannot be compensated by a mere increase in the establishment under his control." The

Administrative Reforms Commission The Administrative Reforms Commission (ARC) is the committee appointed by the Government of India for giving recommendations for reviewing the public administration system of India. The first ARC was established on 5 January 1966.

Powers, responsibilities and postings

A secretary to the Government of India is the administrative head of a ministry or department and is the principal adviser to the minister-in charge on all matters of policy and administration within the ministry or department. The role of a secretary is as follows: * To act as the administrative head of the ministry or department. The responsibility in this regard is complete and undivided. * To act as the chief adviser to the minister on all aspects of policy and administrative affairs. * To represent the ministry or department before the Public Accounts Committee of the

Parliament of India The Parliament of India (International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration, IAST: ) is the supreme legislative body of the Republic of India. It is a bicameralism, bicameral legislature composed of the president of India and two houses: the R ...

. The

prime minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

-led Appointments Committee of the Cabinet is the final authority on posting and transfer of officers of secretary level. Secretaries report to their ministerial

cabinet minister A minister is a politician who heads a ministry, making and implementing decisions on policies in conjunction with the other ministers. In some jurisdictions the head of government is also a minister and is designated the ‘prime minister’, � ...

and to the

Position

In the

, secretaries are the head of the departments or ministries of the government and hold positions such as

Finance Secretary The Finance Secretary () is the administrative head of the Ministry of Finance. This post is held by senior IAS officer of the rank of Secretary to Government of India. T. V. Somanathan is the incumbent Finance Secretary. As a Secretary to Go ...

Defence Secretary A defence minister or minister of defence is a cabinet official position in charge of a ministry of defense, which regulates the armed forces in sovereign states. The role of a defence minister varies considerably from country to country; in som ...

Foreign Secretary The secretary of state for foreign, Commonwealth and development affairs, known as the foreign secretary, is a minister of the Crown of the Government of the United Kingdom and head of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. Seen as ...

Home Secretary The secretary of state for the Home Department, otherwise known as the home secretary, is a senior minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom. The home secretary leads the Home Office, and is responsible for all national ...

, Chairperson of the Railway Board and members of the Telecom Commission. According to the report of the SeventhCentral Pay Commission of India, seventy-one out of ninety-one secretaries to the Government of India are from the

Emolument, accommodation and prequisites

All secretaries to the Government of India are eligible for a

diplomatic passport A passport is an official travel document issued by a government that contains a person's identity. A person with a passport can travel to and from foreign countries more easily and access consular assistance. A passport certifies the personal ...

. Secretaries are allotted either type-VII or type-VIII

bungalows A bungalow is a small house or cottage that is either single-story or has a second story built into a sloping roof (usually with dormer windows), and may be surrounded by wide verandas. The first house in England that was classified as a bu ...

in areas like New Moti Bagh and Lutyens' across

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...

by the

Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) is a ministry of the Government of India with executive authority over the formulation and administration of the rules and regulations and laws relating to the housing and urban development in Ind ...

' Directorate of Estates. The salary and emolument in this rank is equivalent to chief secretaries of state governments and to Vice Chief of the Army Staff, General Officers Commanding in Chief of Army Commands, and their equivalents, in the

, which is to say Level 17 of the Central Pay Matrix.

List of current secretaries to the Government of India

Reforms

Media articles and others have argued in favour of lateral entrants being recruited to this rank/post to infuse fresh energy and thinking into an insular, complacent and archaic bureaucracy. Non-IAS civil services have complained to the Government of India because of lack of empanelment in the rank/post of secretary on numerous occasions.

References

Bibliography

* * * * * {{Union ministries of India Civil Services of India Indian government officials Indian Administrative Service officers Indian Foreign Service officers