As Chief Secretary, I am the head of the administration in the state with a workforce of about 1,20,000 employees, I am also the Cabinet Secretary advising the State Cabinet on all matters to aid and assist decision making at the highest level in the State. I am also the Chief Executive Officer of Nagaland State Disaster Management Authority. At the last count, I am chair 67 distinct state level committees to coordinate, supervise and monitor implementation of Government Policies and programs in various departments of the state. As the Chief Executive Officer of the State, I am the principal interface between State Government and the Government of India and any foreign government or authority. With the help of more than 150 All India Service Officers and about 500 State service officers, I am principally responsible for smooth running of the Government.

Looked after the social, economic and educational development of six notified religious minorities constituting about 280 million population. Administered the affairs of 600,000 Waqf properties in the country as mandated under the statutory framework. Also managed the Haj Pilgrimage for 1,50,000 to 2,00,000 pilgrims every year in close coordination with Indian Embassy in Saudi Arabia and other national and State agencies within the country. Also looked after budgetary and administrative affairs of Maulana Azad Education Foundation that ran programs for overall educational development of educationally underdeveloped Muslims in India.

As Joint Secretary in charge of secondary education at the national level, I was responsible for overall secondary education management through regulatory bodies of the central government such as NCERT, CBSE, NIOS NCTE, etc. I was also responsible for administrative and budgetary control and proper functioning of central schools’ principal management bodies like the KVS running about 1200 high quality KVs or central schools, NVS running about 600 high quality fully residential schools called Navodaya Vidyalayas; I brought about major improvements in the functioning of these schools by expanding their numbers, improving school labs, and by better monitoring and better funding efficiency.I also looked after recognition and functioning of International schools in India; Administrative, budgetary and supervisory matters of National Council of Education Research and Training( NCERT). As JS incharge, I helped create an online national repository of educational resources, made NCERT books available online free of cost.Looked after CBSE and ICSE being the principal national level Boards of education having thousands of affiliated schools and other national and international boards of education. Served on the governing bodies of Sanskriti school Delhi and on the Lawrence schools Sanawar and Lovedale.During my tenure relaxed affiliation criteria for easier affiliation of private schools.As JS in charge of the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS), also functioned as its Chairman for many months. Regulatory and policy matters of teacher education under National Council of Teacher Education (NCTE). During the period, I coordinated and brought about new norms and standards for 11,000 Teacher Education Institutions (TEIs) in 2014 that brought about transformational changes in quality of teacher education in the country.Ran the world’s largest school feeding program that is the Midday Meal scheme that provides daily meals in 1.2 million government schools.

As Private Secretary to the Minister of Chemicals & Fertilisers and Steel Late Shri Ram Vilas Paswan, I worked as the administrative head of the Office of the Minister in the Ministry of C& F comprising of the departments of Fertilisers, Department of Chemicals& Petrochemicals, and Department of Pharmaceuticals as well as the Ministry of Steel. I was the principal interface between the Minister and concerned departments. I helped the Minister in deciding many important policy matters having far reaching implications.In the fertilisers sector, strengthening of fertiliser PSUs and Cooperative companies; longterm contracts for raw materials for manufacturing DAP and Potash fertilisers, ensuring timely and adequate supply of fertilisers were key achievements.The department of pharmaceuticals was created, scheme of government supported retail stores for supply of essential medicines called Jan Aushadhi Kendras was started, new NIPERs were got approved and started in six locations and work on bringing a new pharmaceutical policy was completed.In chemicals and petrochemicals, the scheme of special industrial zones were started besides promoting the sector at international level.In the steel sector, all the Steel PSUs embarked on major expansion drives in line with new steel policy goals. Various initiatives to improve performance of steel companies including providing key raw materials through long term contracts and improving operating efficiency of steel plants and iron ore mines were taken.The PSUs were made to spend at least 2% of their profits on CSR activities- an initiative that became national policy later.Steel Companies were also encouraged to secure iron ore and coal mines abroad for which a joint stock subsidiary company was floated. During the period, progressive policies ensured that all these core sectors flourished like never before and registered record annual growth rates that contributed significantly to national growth rates.

As JDGFT North Zone, I headed the CLA Delhi office having about 20 senior officers and about 100 other support staff. I was responsible for issuing Import Export Code, implement foreign trade policies on the ground, disburse licenses, permits, concessions, incentives and special import licences and implement provisions of FTDR Act, Exim Policy, and processes, as laid down by the GoI and the DGFT. My job entailed disposal of exporters and importers applications well in time and providing hassle free services to the exporting and importing companies. The job also involved interacting with industry representatives and sorting out their problems and also to give policy inputs to DGFT. I also coordinated with other central government agencies like customs, IT, DRI, CBI etc. to prevent leakage of government revenue and misuse of the incentives. My initiatives in this assignment included simplifying the process of issuing IEC codes and to automate the system of applications etc. This assignment gave me invaluable insights on the working of Exim policy on the ground and the kind of problems and challenges faced by exporters and importers.

During this period, I functioned as the administrative head of the departments of Industry and Commerce and Sericulture. I also worked as government nominee Director on the board of six State Government PSUs and one Subsidiary of a central PSU. I worked on rationalisation of the PSUs and closed down on state PSU that is Nagaland Sugar Mills Co due to its unviable operations besides reviving several other PSUs. I also worked as MD of Nagaland Industrial Development Corporation the main arm of the government to provide concessional finance for industrial units for some time. I also formulated the first ever industrial policy for the state that continued for the next 22 years. Other initiatives included creation of industrial infrastructure, opening of international trade centres on Indo Myanmar border, branding and marketing of Naga Handlooms, and to implement central government’s NE Industrial Policy. This assignment gave me very valuable insights into the challenges of industrial development in industrially backward and trouble torn regions with little or no entrepreneurial traditions.It also gave me the experience of working closely with the political leadership and the top echelons of the state bureaucracy. Further, it gave me first hand insights of the problems faced by budding entrepreneurs and the challenges faced by the support agencies working in the sector such as banks and financial institutions, regulatory bodies and other service providers.

In this short stint, i worked as the head of a division in the State Finance Department that looked after treasury operations across the state, small savings, loans and guarantees , coordination with Banks and establishment matters of government departments. This assignment gave me the experience of seeing functioning of the state finances and the various intricacies involved in it. Cadre management of the directorate Treasuries and Accounts was streamlined besides working on improving the operations of district treasuries which had manual systems of account keeping and worked under very difficult conditions common to insurgency affected areas.

As DC and DM, I headed the undivided district of Tuensang which comprised of the present districts of Tuensang, Longleng, Kiphere, Noklak and Shamator then. The district located on the Indo Myanmar border was passing through a volatile law and order and security situation at that time. I was responsible for coordinating the security agencies for law and order and CI Ops, maintaining law and order, coordinating and supervising development administration and deal with all land related matters, as well as judicial matters in my capacity as the district judge. It was a challenging assignment dealing with very serious inter factional violence, inter tribal conflicts while ensuring that the fragile Ceasefire agreement started in 1997 is not violated. Close coordination with tribal leaders, student bodies, church leaders and village authorities was ensured. Conduct of one of toughest elections in 1998 and rehabilitation of people displaced due to inter tribal and inter factional conflict were major achievements that won me Governor’s Commendation Certificate in 1998- a rare honour in those days.My leadership and coordination skills were shaped by these very tough conditions in the district. But a steadfast but humane approach to deal with people’s problems earned me the respect and affection of the local people.