How Much Do you Know About The Team Deciding Union Budget 2018?

The Indian Ministry of Finance consists of Five Departments. The members of these departments help with concerns related to taxation, financial legislation, financial institutions, capital markets, center and state finances, and the Union Budget.These departments are:

1. Department of Economic Affairs
2. Department of Expenditure
3. Department of Revenue
4. Department of Financial Services
5. Department of Investment and Public Asset Management

The secretaries of these departments who form the finance minister Arun Jaitley's chief members in planning the Union Budget, 2018 are:

Dr. Hasmukh Adhia, Finance Secretary (in charge of Department of Revenue)

An IAS (Indian Administrative Services) Officer belonging to Gujarat cadre, has served various important positions in the Gujarat and Union government. He is 59 years old.

He was one of the key members involved in the planning and roll out of GST (Goods and Service Tax). He has also served the transport and Education Department.

He has Ph.D. in yoga from Swami Vivekanand Yoga University in Bangalore. His thesis was titled, "Impact of Yoga on Management." He is also a gold medalist in One Year Post Graduate Programme in Public Management and Policy for Government and Non-Government Executive (PGP-PMP) from IIM Bangalore and has M.Com and B.Com degrees from Gujarat University.

 

Subhash Chandra Garg, Secretary of Economic Affairs

He is an IAS office aged 57 of Rajasthan Cadre (1984 batch), Garg has LLB and BCom degree from Rajasthan University. He is also a qualified Company Secretary (CS) and Cost and Works Accountant. He was serving as an Executive Director in the World Bank for three years before being appointed as Economic Affairs Secretary of India in June 2017.

Ajay Narayan Jha, Secretary of Expenditure

Ajay Narayan Jha replaced Ashok Lavasa as Secretary of Expenditure in October 2017. He is an IAS Officer of Assam-Meghalaya cadre (1982 batch). He previously served as the environment secretary.

One of the major activities of this department is a pre-sanction appraisal of major schemes or projects (both Plan and non-Plan).

 

Rajiv Kumar, Secretary of Financial Services

Rajiv Kumar is an IAS officer of 1984 batch of Jharkhand cadre. The Department of Financial Services includes the financial institution, functioning of banks, insurance companies, and the national pension system.

During his prior position as the Special Secretary and Establishment Officer, Ministry of Personnel, he introduced the 360-degree system to assess the suitability of officers for senior-level jobs. He is also credited for the online system for recording of the bureaucrat's annual performance appraisal report.

 

Neeraj Kumar Gupta, Secretary of Dept of Investment and Public Asset Management

Neeraj Kumar Gupta is an IAS Officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre, the batch of 1982. He has previously served as Special Secretary, Department of Public Enterprises under Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises.