Former defence secretary Ajay Kumar takes oath as UPSC chairman

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• Newly appointed UPSC Chairman Ajay Kumar takes oath as he assumes office, in New Delhi, Thursday, May 15, 2025. (PTI Photo/Atul Yadav)

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• NEW DELHI — Former Defence Secretary Ajay Kumar on Thursday took oath as the chairman of Union Public Service Commission (UPSC).
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• The oath of office and secrecy was administered by Lt Gen Raj Shukla (retd), the senior most member of the Commission, an official statement said.
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• The post of UPSC chairman fell vacant after the completion of Preeti Sudan's tenure on April 29.
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• The UPSC conducts civil services examinations to select officers for the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Foreign Service (IFS) and the Indian Police Service (IPS), among others. Besides the chairman, it can have a maximum of 10 members.

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• At present, two posts of members are vacant in the commission.
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• A UPSC chairman is appointed for a term of six years or until attaining 65 years of age.
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• Kumar is 1985-batch former IAS officer of Kerala cadre.
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• During his illustrious career of more than 35 years, he has served in key positions in Kerala as well as at the Centre, said the statement issued by the Commission.
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• Some of his important assignments in the state were Managing Director, Electronics and Information Technology Department; Principal Secretary, Information Technology Department, it said. 
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• At the Centre, Kumar held the significant portfolios of Director, Science & Technology; Joint Secretary, Ministry of Communications and Information Technology; Director General, National Informatics Centre; Additional Secretary, Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology; Secretary, Defence Production, the statement said.
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• In his last assignment, he served as Secretary, Ministry of Defence.
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• After completing his Bachelor of Technology in Electrical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, Kumar did his Master of Science in Applied Economics from the University of Minnesota, US and PhD in Business Administration from Carlson School of Management from the same university, the statement said.
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• He has been instrumental in introducing several e-governance initiatives such as "Jeevan Pramaan" (digital life certificates for pensioners); myGov, Pragati (Prime Minister's video conference); Bio-metric Attendance System; OPD registration system in AIIMS; "Cloud First" policy for government for using cloud service providers, etc, it added.
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• Kumar has several publications to his credit in various national and international journals.