New Delhi: Apurva Chandra, IAS (Maharashtra: 1988) on Monday assumed charge as Secretary in the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting. A Civil Engineer by education, Chandra obtained his Bachelor’s Degree in Civil Engineering and Masters in Structural Engineering from IIT Delhi.
Apurva Chandra has earlier served as Secretary, Ministry of Labour & Employment since 01.10.2020 with the mandate to implement the Labour Codes passed by the Parliament in September, 2020 expeditiously. Under his guidance rules have been framed for all four Labour Codes after extensive consultations with all stakeholders. The Atmanibhar Bharat RozgarYojana has been launched to provide employment opportunities to 78.5 lakh workers in the formal sector with a budget of Rs. 23,000 crores.
He has also worked as Director General (Acquisition) in Ministry of Defence w.e.f. 01.12.2017 with the mandate of strengthening the Indian Armed Forces by expediting the acquisition process. Several major contracts like S-400 missile system, Multi Role Helicopters, Assault Rifles, Naval ships, T-90 tanks etc. were signed during the period. He chaired the Committee to draft the new Defence Acquisition Procedure.
Chandra has worked for over four years between 2013 and 2017 as Principal Secretary (Industries) in the Government of Maharashtra. Maharashtra led the country in attracting FDI and other investments over the period. He was instrumental for a slew of new policies like Electronic Policy, Retail policy, Single Window Policy to attract new Investments. The first smart industrial township under the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) has been operationalised at Aurangabad in Maharashtra under the leadership of Shri Chandra.
