Senior Indian Information Service (IIS) officer Maushami Chakraborty has been appointed Director General (News) of Akashvani or All India Radio (AIR).

Chakraborty, a 1991-batch IIS officer, will take charge in April, succeeding Vasudha Gupta. Akashvani, till sometime back also known as All India Radio is India’s public broadcaster, along with sibling Doordarshan. Both are managed by Prasar Bharati Corporation.

A PTI report also stated that senior IIS officer Sheyphali B Sharan has been appointed as the government’s new  spokesperson, as per a Ministry of Information and Broadcasting statement.

A 1990-batch officer, Sharan will “look after” the charge as Principal Director General of the Press Information Bureau (PIB) after incumbent Manish Desai’s superannuation on March 31.

Sharan had earlier served as the spokesperson of the Election Commission and the Finance Ministry.

She is the fifth woman officer to head the PIB after Neelam Kapur, Deepak Sandhu, Shakuntala Mahawal and N J Krishna. The ministry notified the appointments on Saturday.