Ex-home Secy Ajay Bhalla named Manipur Governor
Source: Chronicle News Service

Imphal, December 24 2024: Former union home secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla has been appointed as the Governor of Manipur, according to an official notification issued by Rashtrapati Bhavan on Tuesday.

The announcement came as part of a series of appointments of Governors approved by President Droupadi Murmu.

Ajay Kumar Bhalla, a retired IAS officer pf Assam-Meghalaya cadre 1984 batch, has extensive administrative experience.

He hails from Jalandhar, Punjab, and served as union home secretary from August 23, 2019, to August 22, 2024 .

During his tenure as home secretary, Ajay Kumar Bhalla managed several critical national challenges and complex issues.

He oversaw the implementation of changes following the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019 that grants special status to Jammu & Kashmir, managing the government's response to the nationwide protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), and leading India's fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

Bhalla coordinated lockdown measures and collaborated with state governments to address the unprecedented health crisis.

He also handled security con cerns arising from the farmers' protests in Delhi and the Manipur conflict.

Before his role as union home secretary, Bhalla held various key positions in the government.

These include serving as secretary in the ministry of power, director general of for eign trade, additional secretary in the department of commerce, joint secretary in the ministry of coal, and director (Ports) in the department of shipping.

The reshuffle also saw Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan appointed as the new Governor of Bihar, while former Army Chief Vijay Kurpar Singh has been named the Governor of Mizoram.

Current Mizoram Governor Hari Babu Kam-bhampati has been transferred to Odisha, with President Mur-mu accepting the resignation of Odisha Governor Raghubar Das.

Meanwhile, the newly appointed Governor of Mizoram, General Vijay Kumar Singh (Retd), is a former four-star General of the Indian Army.

He served as the 24th Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) from 2010 to 2012, marking a notable career in military leadership.

Following his retirement, General VK Singh entered politics, joining the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 2014.In the same year, he was elected as a Member of Parliament from the Ghaziabad constituency in Uttar Pradesh.

He retained his seat in the 2019 elections.

During his tenure in the central government, he served as the minister of state in the ministry of road transport and highways and the ministry of civil aviation in the second term of the Modi government.

Previously, in the first Modi government, he held roles as the MoS for external affairs, MoS (Independent Charge) for development of north-eastern region, and MoS for statistics and programme implementation.

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