Bhopal: Soon after taking over as chief minister of Madhya Pradesh on 13 December, Mohan Yadav, in one of his first bureaucratic reshuffles, appointed 1997-batch IAS officer Raghvendra Kumar Singh his principal secretary.
Described by colleagues as a go-getter and effective coordinator among officers, Singh, who served as collector of Indore between 2010 and 2012, is credited with playing a crucial role in getting Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Infosys to set up their campuses in the city’s Super Corridor. The state government had to overcome resistance from a section of the bureaucracy to allocate the land, according to an official.
“During the meeting with the then chief minister, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, senior government officials were hesitant over land being allocated to TCS and Infosys at nominal rates, but it was Raghvendra who put his foot down to ensure the project went through,” the official, who was part of the meeting, told ThePrint.
“He (Singh) was supported by Chouhan, who in that meeting — citing the land allocated by the Gujarat government for Tata’s Nano plant — had said, “Agar Gujarat de sakta hai toh hum kyu nahi. Zameen de rahe hai, koi chori daikaiti thodi kar rahe hai (If Gujarat can allocate land, why can’t we? We are giving land, not doing any theft or robbery),” the official recounted.
With job creation and providing employment being the top priority of the Mohan Yadav-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Madhya Pradesh, Singh’s experience of getting mega industries in Indore played a crucial role in him being taken up as the principal secretary.
According to BJP leaders in the state, another important reason for Singh’s appointment as principal secretary is the need to ensure effective coordination not only with different aspects of the administration but also with Chouhan.
“Sarkar toh wahi hai bas sardar naya hai (The government is the same, but the leader is new),” said a BJP leader.
Singh, who comes from Ballia in Uttar Pradesh, studied engineering at Rewa Engineering College in Madhya Pradesh before joining the civil service in 1997.
Having started his career in Narmadapuram (Hoshangabad) as a sub-divisional officer (SDO), Singh has had at least eight postings in Indore and spent about a decade there serving in various capacities, in tenures that coincided with Indore’s transformation into an industrial hub.
His postings include sub-divisional magistrate of Mhow, CEO of the zila panchayat, GST commissioner for the Indore circle, Indore district collector and commissioner of Indore division. He has also been managing director of the MP Industrial Development Corporation in Indore twice.
Singh was the GST commissioner when the new taxation regime was being implemented and worked to address discontent among the trader community through various information workshops, lecture series and seminars on the taxation system under the new law.
Soon after completing his tenure as Indore collector, Singh was made the managing director of the MP Tourism Corporation in 2011, at a time when Yadav, now chief minister, was its chairman. According to officials, the two enjoyed a cordial relationship and Singh continued to be in his good books.
“Even though Mohan Yadav had served a stint as chairman of Ujjain Development Authority, in many ways, Singh, who was MD tourism, was the first bureaucrat he worked with as the chairman of the MP Tourism Board,” said another government official from MP.
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Singh’s tenure under Chouhan
Singh was considered an important officer under the Chouhan-led BJP government. After taking over as CM in 2005, Chouhan had appointed him collector of his own home district, Sehore, in 2006. It was during his tenure that the Trident Group procured nearly 800 acres of plant directly from farmers to establish a textile factory in Budhni, Chouhan’s constituency.
According to a third state government official, “The task was seamlessly achieved despite the then Land Acquisition Act having no provision for a private party to procure land from farmers.”
“The farmers were all taken into confidence through effective coordination and given four times the asking price. Similarly in Indore, Singh understood that investment came with trust, and he was effective in clearing all the hurdles for industries to be set up in Indore,” the official added.
After the Congress government led by Kamal Nath came to power in 2018, Singh was made commissioner for higher education in 2019 under then education minister Jitu Patwari, now the Congress’s state chief.
Then, after the BJP returned to power with the help of Jyotiraditya Scindia and his loyalists in 2020, Yadav became a minister for the first time, receiving the higher education portfolio, and Singh continued under him as commissioner.
In 2021, he became commissioner of the Department of Public Relations (DPR), and after that was moved to the mining department as its principal secretary, with the additional charge of heading the Bhopal-based Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of Good Governance and Policy Analysis.
A bureaucrat with a ‘yaarana attitude’
At a time when civil servants in MP are identified as belonging to the Gwalior Administrative service (those close to Scindia), the Indore Gharana (those close to Kailash Vijayvargiya) or Camp Shivraj based on their loyalties to politicians, Singh has the distinction of being affiliated with none.
In the corridors of Vallabh Bhawan, he is described as an official with a ‘yaarana (friendly) attitude’, who would not hesitate before walking up to a subordinate to enjoy a cup of tea.
Having learnt cooking in his engineering days, Singh is known for hosting friends and acquaintances at home on special occasions where he has been the chef. According to people who have worked with him, Singh also enjoys Hindi literature while going about his daily routine.
There were murmurs in the corridors of power about Chouhan’s then principal secretary Manish Rastogi, a 1994-batch IAS officer, being a “reserved” person. Singh, on the other hand, is seen as the exact opposite — one who is easily accessible and ensures there is dialogue among various parties.
(Edited By Richa Mishra)