India’s Labour Secretary Apurva Chandra was handed a new assignment Thursday by the government when he was transferred to the high profile Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) as secretary replacing Amit Khare, who was in his second stint in the Ministry and was holding a dual charge along with the Ministry of Education.

A 1988 batch Maharshtra cadre Indian Administrative Service officer, Chandra has wide experience in the field of administration having worked in diversified sectors from labour to energy. He has worked with both the State and federal governments.

Chandra’s predecessor Khare, appointed as MIB secretary in May 2018, came to New Delhi after having a stellar work experience in the State of Jharkhand and earlier Bihar where he was credited with carrying on anti-corruption cases against local politicians.

In December 2019 Khare was shifted to the then HRD Ministry (now called the Education Ministry) and Ravi Mittal took over from him at MIB.

In April 2020, Khare was handed additional charge of MIB and is said to have presided over the new digital regulations under the stewardship of Minister Prakash Javadekar, who, incidentally, also had additional charge of the Ministry of Environment.

It was expected that with a new Minister, Anurag Thakur, at MIB, some officer level changes could come about.

Meanwhile, an earlier PTI report, while detailing Chandra’s career, had said Chandra was serving as Special Director General, Defence Acquisition, Ministry of Defence, before he was shifted to the Labour Ministry.

A civil engineer by training, Chandra obtained his bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering and Masters’ in Structural Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi.

Chandra has spent more than seven years in the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas, according to the PTI report, and was involved in framing policies with regard to fuel supplies to industries, supply logistics, transportation, storage, distribution of fuel products etc.

Chandra comes to MIB at a time when the Ministry is handling some crucial regulatory matters relating to the media and entertainment sector — with specific focus on linear TV and digital video businesses — and the Ministry is also expected to take the message of government initiatives to the masses in an effective way leading up to the crucial up and coming State elections in the northern State of Uttar Pradesh.