Govt Appoints PK Singh As New Manipur Chief Secretary

Nearly three weeks after the appointment Vineet Joshi, a 1992-batch IAS officer, as the Higher Education Secretary at the Centre, the government on January 11, 2025, issued an order repatriating 1993-batch IAS officer Prashant Kumar Singh to his home cadre Manipur and the state government has appointed him the Chief Secretary of the ethnic violence-hit state.

Singh, known to be a tough task master, succeeds Joshi in Imphal. Before shifting to Imphal Singh held the post of the Secretary, Ministry of New & Renewable Energy (MNRE).

He has his task cut out as Manipur has been witnessing intermittent violent incidents since May 3, 2023, as the two major ethnic groups – Kuki and Meitei – are at loggerheads with each other.           

According to an order issued by the Department of Personnel & Training (DoPT) it is said, “The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved repatriation of Shri Prashant Kumar Singh, IAS (MN:93), Secretary, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy to his parent cadre on the request of Government of Manipur.”

Soon after the DoPT order, the Government of Manipur issued an order appointing Singh as the new Chief Secretary of the state.

Before taking charge of the MNRE, Singh held the post of the Director and CEO of Government e-Marketplace (GeM), a special purpose vehicle (SPV) under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. 

Singh, who holds a Bachelor’s Degree in electrical engineering from IIT Delhi and a gold medal in his Master’s Degree in Public Policy and Sustainable Development from TERI University, New Delhi, served two terms earlier in the government of India in the ministries of Steel, and Petroleum & Natural Gas.

He also served as the Managing Director of the National Cooperative Consumers’ Federation of India.

Earlier, he also held several positions in his home cadre state Manipur.

Singh took charge of the MNRE at a time when the Government of India had set an ambitious agenda to install 500 GW of non-fossil fuel-based energy capacity by 2030.