The new Chief Secretary

The BJP-led government headed by Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal must be lauded for having chosen yet another Assamese officer as the Chief Secretary of the state after the attainment of superannuation of Kumar Sanjay Krishna on Saturday. The selection of Jishnu Barua, an IAS officer of the 1988 batch is significant from several aspects. Most importantly, he is a highly efficient, courageous and spotless officer, who has always handled every assignment entrusted to him during his 32-year-long career with tremendous proficiency. Moreover, the state's interests are best served when the administration is headed by a local person. It is a fact that he was not immediately behind Kumar Sanjay Krishna in the list of IAS officers of the Assam-Meghalaya cadre in terms of seniority.

In fact, there were as many as twelve others who are senior to him, of whom three will retire within December 2020. That the Chief Minister decided to choose Barua over twelve others (practically over nine others, because three will retire in the next three months) is in itself a bold step. There were speculations that a few of the others had even tried to exert pressure on the Chief Minister through various forces, including through Nagpur, which the latter reportedly resisted with success. A worthy successor to Kumar Sanjay Krishna, the people of the state will now definitely look forward to Jishnu Barua leading the state administration and guiding the government through the right path as did his predecessor. Having the experience of handling the Home department on more than two occasions, it will be expected of the new Chief Secretary to take bold steps against all law-breakers and criminals, whether within the government system or outside.

Also well-versed with Assam's inter-state boundary problems with the neighbouring states, one of the first tasks of the new Chief Secretary will be to take a call on the on-going friction on the Assam-Mizoram boundary, identify the trouble-makers belonging to the Barak Valley, ensure that criminal elements do not hold a land-locked hill state like Mizoram to ransom by blocking the supply lines, and re-establish cordial relationship between the people of the two states. Yet another very serious matter that the new Chief Secretary probably needs to look at is the large-scale anomalies that had crept into the process of preparation of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) including the fact that a large number of persons of doubtful credentials had found themselves enrolled in it through fraudulent means.

It is common knowledge that a larger number of persons of doubtful citizenship had managed to procure various government documents through the help of section of corrupt officers and employees of the Assam government itself, and the new Chief Secretary will be doing a great service to the future security of the country's North-eastern region by initiating the process of setting things right. With the Assam Legislative Assembly elections only a few months away, the new Chief Secretary will also be required to ensure smooth conduct of the elections. But in the run-up to the elections, he will also be expected to ensure that the various welfare schemes intended at benefiting the villagers, farmers, the poor, elderly, women, children and different able are implemented without the interference of power-hungry politicians. Barua will get a tenure which will be close to 22 months as Chief Secretary. Hence the people of the state have every reason to look forward to his leadership in the state bureaucracy, which in turn will also leave a lasting impression on the overall performance of the government and a long-lasting impact on the lives of the people.