The senior most IAS officer of Madhya Pradesh cadre, Anurag Jain, has been appointed the new Chief Secretary of Madhya Pradesh on Monday. He will take the place of Veera Rana, an MP cadre IAS officer of 1988 batch, who retired as the state's Chief Secretary on 30 September, after having received two extensions of six months each.
An officer of the 1989 batch of the IAS, he was till now posted in New Delhi on central deputation, as the Secretary in the ministry of road transport and highways. Earlier, he was also posted as the Joint Secretary in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO).
Anurag Jain, who will be the 35th Chief Secretary of the state, is due to retire on August 31, 2025.
Anurag Jain is not the only IAS sent from centre to be the chief secretary
Jain is not the only IAS officer who has been sent from centre to hold the top position in state cadre. Earlier Sudhansh Pant chief secretary of Rajasthan, Manoj Ahuja chief secretary of Odisha and Amrit Lal Meena chief secretary of Bihar have been sent from centre to helm their respective positions. Sudhansh Pant was union medical and health secretary, Ahuja was agriculture secretary and Amrit Lal Meena was coal secretary.
While being in Madhya Pradesh, Jain served as the Collector of various important districts including the state capital Bhopal. Having earlier served twice as the secretary to former MP CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan, he is highly regarded for his expertise in financial management.
In 2019, former Congress CM Kamal Nath appointed Jain as the head of the state's finance department. From December 2013 to February 2014, he served as the Acting Chairman and Managing Director of the Export-Import Bank of India (EXIM Bank) too.
Anurag Jain did his B.Tech Honours in Electrical Engineering from IIT Kharagpur in 1986. After coming into service, he did an MA in Public Administration from the Maxwell Institute in the USA. An excellent tennis player, he has won 11 national level awards in the game.
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