In a bureaucratic reshuffle affected by the Indian government yesterday, the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet approved a series of appointments, including Ministries of Information & Broadcasting and Development of North Eastern Region.

According to official information, Chanchal Kumar, currently serving as Secretary in the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region, has been appointed Secretary in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. He will succeed Sanjay Jaju, who has been named Secretary in the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region.

Kumar, a 1992-batch IAS officer of the Bihar cadre, holds B.Tech. and M.Tech. degrees in Computer Science from Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur and a Ph.D. in Economics from Patna University. Known for his administrative experience, he has served in key roles in government and is fluent in English, Hindi and Maithili.

Jaju, a 1992-batch IAS officer of the Telangana cadre, had taken over as MIB Secretary on February 5, 2024, succeeding Apurva Chandra. Prior to that, he served as Additional Secretary in the Department of Defence Production.

Among other things, Jaju is credited with successfully coordinating the executing teams that gave shape to PM Modi’s vision for making India a global hub for entertainment activities that culminated in a grand show held in Mumbai from May 1 to 4, 2025 — WAVES or the World Audio-Visual Entertainment Summit.

In another key appointment, Abhishek Singh, currently Director General of the National Informatics Centre in the rank of Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, has been appointed Director General of the National Testing Agency under the Ministry of Education. The post will carry the rank and pay of Secretary to the Government of India through a temporary upgrade.

At Meity, Singh had been spearheading important initiatives, including AI, deepfakes and synthetically generated content.