Rajiv Kumar assumes charge as Chief Election Commissioner

Former finance secretary Rajiv Kumar took charge as the 25th chief election commissioner CEC on Sunday and the first major task before him will be to hold the President and the Vice President elections which are due shortlyKumar said the Commission will follow the timetested methods of consultations and consensus building in bringing about any reforms and will not shy away from tough decisions according to an Election Commission EC statementThe elections to the post of President and Vice President are to be held in JulyAugust The 2024 Lok Sabha polls and several assembly elections will also conducted under the watch of Kumar whose tenure is till February 2025Kumar was part of the poll panel as an election commissioner since September 1 2020 and was appointed the CEC on Thursday He succeeds Sushil Chandra who demitted office on Saturday eveningAccording to the EC statement after assuming charge as CEC Kumar said he is honoured to have been given the responsibility to lead one of the finest institutions gifted by the Indian Constitution the institution that reinforces our democracyHe said that a lot has been done during the last seventy years by the EC to give citizens free and fair elections ensure the purity of the electoral rolls prevent malpractices and enhance the quality of electionsThe Commission will follow the timetested and democratic methods of consultations and consensus building in bringing about any major reforms he saidHe asserted that the EC will not shy away from tough decisionsKumar also said that technology will further be made the major instrument for simplification of processes and practices for bringing about transparency and ease of voter services for better election management and operationsKumar is known among his colleagues and juniors as a hard taskmaster with a practical approach and penchant for honesty and integrityIn his previous assignment as the Financial Services Secretary and Finance Secretary he worked for promoting transparency technology and protection of hardearned money of the poor and vulnerable sections of the society two senior officials who worked with him saidAn official recalled that many wrongdoers in the financial sector space faced the wrath of the law in his pursuit to clean up the banking system struggling with NPAsSome of the big names who faced the heat were Chanda Kochhar Nirav Modi Mehul Choksi Kapil Wadhawan Rana Kapoor and Dheeraj Wadhawan among othersKumar proved his mettle even during the most challenging times of Covid19 when he was appointed chairperson of the Public Enterprises Selection Board PESB in April 2020Despite lockdown and restrictions due to the outbreak of Covid19 more than 40 selections were made in just two months through the virtual and physical interview process another official saidSome of the reforms undertaken during his two and half years tenure as the Financial Services Secretary demonstrate that cleaning up of banking sector was undertaken in a massive way while equal attention was paid towards furthering financial inclusion with the objective of banking the unbanked funding the unfunded and financially securing the unsecuredA digital pipeline which acted as a platform for the transfer of record direct benefits transfer under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana during the Covid19 period seamlessly was laid during his regimeThe technology platform created for getting a loan sanctioned online by a bank in less than one hour is being expanded to bring ease of banking to the postCovid worldThe passage of the Banning of Unregulated Deposit Schemes Act 2019 that provided muchneeded protection to poor depositors from the menace of illicit deposit taking schemes and an amendment in the Banking Regulation Act to strengthen the Regulatory Powers of RBI over Multi State Cooperative Banks to avoid PMC Bank like frauds were among the efforts towards ringfencing gullible depositorsDuring his regime bank deposit insurance cover was hiked five times to Rs 5 lakh per depositorBefore joining the finance ministry in September 2017 Kumar was the Establishment Officer EO in the Personnel MinistryTo foster transparency in bureaucracy he played a key role in designing a 360degree appraisal system for the promotion and empanelment of senior bureaucrats during his stint in the Personnel MinistryKumar was also instrumental in streamlining the promotion and appointment process done by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet ACC they saidHe was also a member of the Taskforce for restructuring of NITI Aayog and based on its report the present structure of the apex public policy think tank was approvedThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever