PK Mishra is PM Modi’s new Principal Secretary in big change at PMO

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday elevated retired IAS officer Pramod Kumar Mishra as his Principal Secretary and appointed former cabinet secretary PK Sinha as Principal Advisor to the Prime Minister. Both the appointments are co-terminus with the term of the Prime Minister or until further orders, whichever is earlier, said the statement.

The two big changes come after the exit of Nripendra Misra from the Prime Minister’s Office. Nripendra Misra, who had been one of the first bureaucrats to be appointed to the PMO when Narendra Modi came to Delhi in 2014, had resigned as Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister last month.

PK Mishra, who had been Additional Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister for the last five years, and PM Modi have known each other for nearly two decades. Back in 2001 when Narendra Modi was first sent to Gujarat by his party to take charge of the state, PK Mishra was his top aide in the Chief Minister’s Office and stayed in this post for the next few years. In this role, senior officials recall that it was PK Mishra who had introduced Narendra Modi to the intricacies of the bureaucracy and government.

An alumnus of Delhi School of Economics, PK Mishra had specialised in development economics from the University of Sussex. He later also picked up his doctoral degree on the same topic.

Mishra has experience in the management of programmes relating to agriculture, disaster management, power sector, infrastructure financing, and regulatory issues. He possesses an outstanding career profile comprising research, publications, policy formulation and programme, and project management.

After the latest round of appointments at the PMO, Principal Secretary PK Mishra, National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and Principal Advisor to Prime Minister PK Sinha will form PM Modi’s core group at the PMO.