The government on Tuesday appointed former defence secretary Dr Ajay Kumar as the chairman of the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC), filling the vacancy caused by former chairperson Preeti Sudan’s retirement on April 29. An order issued by the Department of Personnel and Training said, “The President is pleased to appoint Dr Ajay Kumar as Chairman, Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) under Article 316 (1) of the Constitution of India. The tenure of Dr Ajay Kumar will commence from the date he enters upon the office of Chairman, UPSC.” Members of the commission have a term of six years or till they attain the age of 65 years. Kumar, a 1985 batch IAS officer of Kerala cadre, retired as defence secretary in 2022. His term as UPSC chairman would be till October 2027, when he turns 65. During his tenure as defence secretary, the government created the Chief of Defence Staff post in 2020 and launched the Agniveer scheme in 2022. An alumnus of the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, Kumar went on to complete his PhD in business administration from the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota. According to his profile on the IIT Kanpur site, “Prior to joining Ministry of Defence, Dr. Kumar served in different capacities in electronics and information technology sector including holding key positions as additional secretary in the Ministry of Electronics and IT, Government of India; Director General, National Informatics Centre; Principal Secretary in Government of Kerala and Managing Director of KELTRON.” The profile adds that Kumar is credited with implementing key Digital India initiatives under Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014, including UPI, the world’s largest digital payment system; Aadhaar, the world’s largest biometric digital identity system; myGov, a government e-marketplace; Jeevan Pramaan; and several others.
