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Journalism of Courage
Navneet Sehgal, a 1988-batch IAS officer who retired last July, has been perhaps the most sought after bureaucrat in Uttar Pradesh’s power corridors over the last two decades. Now, he is set to take over as the Prasar Bharati chairman, a post that had been lying vacant for four years.
“Prasar Bharti is known as the most reliable broadcaster. We will keep making efforts to give credible and unbiased news to people through Doordarshan and Aakashwaani,” Sehgal said in his first reaction over his new job.
Having served in almost all key posts in the UP government, Sehgal had been a popular bureaucrat with every chief minister cutting across party lines since 2002.
Though he had been sidelined after governments changed hands in 2012 and 2017, his absence was felt and within months he was brought back to the centre-stage of bureaucracy.
A Chandigarh native, Sehgal first came to the limelight when he was appointed the district magistrate of Lucknow by the then CM Mayawati of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) during her brief tenure between 2002 and 2003. He was on the Central deputation during the succeeding Mulayam Singh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party (SP) government. But soon after the BSP won the 2007 Assembly polls with a majority, Sehgal returned to his home cadre and cemented his utility to the extent that he remained one of the most powerful UP bureaucrats until his retirement.
Under the Mayawati government during 2007-2012, Sehgal’s prominence rose and helped him build a network of friends across states in diverse fields including politics, sports and films.
Known to be Mayawati’s most trusted bureaucrat, Sehgal held key posts as the secretary to the CM, and in the departments of urban development and estates, among others. At one point, he was in charge of 12 key departments in the government. He also served as the managing director of the UP Power Corporation.
Given his proximity to Mayawati, when the SP came to power in 2012, then CM Akhilesh Yadav removed him from all key posts and appointed him as the principal secretary of the Department of Religious Affairs, considered a “punishment posting”. However, he made this department a coveted post by implementing government schemes for prominent temples and introducing train pilgrimage facilities for the elderly.
Within a year-and-a-half, Akhilesh brought him back as the head of the Information and Public Relations Department, which helped him build his identity as an officer who knew how to boost a government’s image. He went on to oversee Akhilesh’s dream project, the Lucknow-Agra Expressway, for which he was appointed as the CEO of the UP Expressways Industrial Development Authority, in addition to several other key posts he already held.
In 2017, when Yogi Adityanath took charge as the CM after the BJP stormed to power, he was initially sidelined once again with his appointment as the principal secretary of the Khadi and Village Industries Department. But soon afterwards, he was given the additional charge of the MSME Department.
In October 2020, when the BJP government’s image was dented during the Covid-19 pandemic, Sehgal was again appointed as the head of the Information Department.
After the BJP came to power under Adityanath for a second time in 2022, he was removed from all other posts and appointed as the additional chief secretary of the Department of Sports. Sehgal later formulated the Sports Policy 2023, which was later approved by the government. The policy gives significant benefits to athletes, including quota in admissions and jobs. At the time of his retirement, he was holding this post.
