As a strong signal of woman empowerment, IAS officer Sujata Saunik was appointed as the Chief Secretary of Maharashtra.
The decision to appoint Saunik, who was superseded twice earlier, was in line with the BJP-Shiv Sena-NCP Maha Yuti's mission to empower women – which also reflects in the budget presented last week.
An IAS officer of 1987-batch Sujata Saunik is the 45th Chief Secretary of Maharashtra since 1960, when the state was carved out – and the first woman to occupy the top bureaucratic post. She replaced Dr Nitin Kareer, who was on a three-month extension.
Among other two contenders were Additional Chief Secretary (Revenue) Rajesh Kumar Meena and Additional Chief Secretary (Chief Minister's Office) Dr Iqbal Singh Chahal.
Sujata Saunik has been serving as Additional Chief Secretary heading the General Administration Department besides Home Affairs. Incidentally, Dr Kareer had taken over as Chief Secretary from Manoj Saunik, the husband of Sujata Saunik.
Sujata's husband Manoj Saunik is presently serving as Principal Advisor to the Chief Minister post retirement. Both husband and wife have now attained the top post of bureaucracy in state.
Incidentally, this is also for the first time in the state that the two top civil services posts are held by women – Sujata Saunik as Chief Secretary and Rashmi Shukla as Director General of Police.
Sujata Saunik has three decades of experience in public policy and governance experience in healthcare, finance, education, disaster management, and peacekeeping at the district, state, and federal levels and in international organizations as part of the IAS.
In the past, she had assumed important posts like Advisor and Joint Secretary to the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), Executive Director, Central Social Welfare Board, Ministry of Women & Child Development. She had also been MunicipalAdministrator and Civil Affairs Officer, United Nations' Mission in Kosovo. She had also been Civil Affairs Officer and Election Monitor for Cambodia.
The BuckStopper, run by a group of seasoned journalists, holds the powerful accountable. The buck stops with them, as they cannot shrug off their official responsibilities.
