April 20, 2025: This is the first time the Union government has appointed a Scheduled Tribe (ST) member as Finance Ministry Secretary from the Northeast.
Manipur cadre IAS officer of the 1992 batch, Vumlunmang Vualnam, a Paite from the Kuki-Zomi-Hmar community, was named the new Expenditure Secretary, while K. Moses Chalai, a 1990 batch Manipur cadre officer from the Mao Naga community, was appointed Secretary, Department of Public Enterprises, under the Finance Ministry.
Sixteen other IAS officers were appointed to fill key posts in finance and other ministries, including commerce and aviation, as part of the reshuffle that happened last week.
Apart from Vualnam and Chalai, IAS officer Rajesh Agarwal, who has been appointed as Officer on Special Duty (OSD) in the Commerce Ministry, is also from Manipur, which has been in turmoil since ethnic clashes broke out nearly two years ago. Agarwal, a 1994 batch officer, will take over as Commerce Secretary after incumbent Sunil Barthwal retires on 30 September.
Before Moses Chalai, Ameising Luikham, a Tangkhul Naga from Manipur, was appointed Secretary (Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises) for a little over a year. But this was before Public Enterprises were demerged from Heavy Industries and made a separate department under the Finance Ministry in July 2021.
While the maximum age limit for the Civil Services exam for general category candidates is 32 years, the upper age limit is relaxed by five years for SCs and STs, meaning they can appear till the age of 37 years. This gives candidates from the SC/ST community more time to appear for the UPSC. But qualifying at a late age makes it difficult for such candidates to rise to the post of Secretary before they retire.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has previously attacked the NDA government over a dearth of OBC and SC/ST representation in the top echelons of the bureaucracy.
Serving and retired civil servants told ThePrint the Union government rarely appoints Secretaries from the ST community in the Northeast. Previously, in 2017, Shakuntala Doley Gamlin, a 1984 batch AGMUT (Arunachal Pradesh-Goa-Mizoram-Union Territories) cadre IAS officer, was the Secretary in the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities. She was from Assam’s Mishing tribe.
Former Secretary (Coordination) in the Cabinet Secretariat, James Michael Lyngdoh, a 1961 batch IAS officer from the Bihar cadre, belonged to Meghalaya’s Khasi tribe. He went on to become the Chief Election Commissioner of India in June 2001.
(Agencies inputs)
