Parameswaran Iyer, the former secretary of the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, has been appointed as the new NITI Aayog chief to replace Amitabh Kant whose tenure will end on June 30, reported The Times of India on Saturday.

Iyer was approved for the post by the the appointments committee of the Union Cabinet on Thursday. His will hold the post for two years unless his tenure is extended by the Centre.

A retired 1981-batch Indian Administrative Service officer of the Uttar Pradesh cadre, Iyer had spearheaded the Centre’s Swachh Bharat Mission.

During his stint at the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Iyer had entered a twin-pit toilet to empty it at a Telangana village in 2017 to help residents overcome the taboo of cleaning toilets. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had called the act remarkable during one of his Mann Ki Baat programmes.

Iyer had joined the drinking water and sanitation department in 2016. He resigned as the department’s secretary in 2020. He then went on to work with the World Bank, reported The Indian Express.

The IAS officer is also a professor of management practice at Indian Institute Of Management, Ahmedabad. He has written two books – The Swachh Bharat Revolution: Four pillars of India’s Behavioural Transformation and Method in the Madness: Insights from my career as an insider-outsider-insider.

Kant, meanwhile, had taken over as the NITI Aayog chief in 2016. He got a two-year extension in 2019 and then for one more year in June last year.

A 1980-batch retired IAS officer of the Kerala cadre, Kant has worked in fields of industrial development, technology and investment. He also has played a key role in Centre’s Make in India scheme.

Tapan Deka made Intelligence Bureau chief

Special Director in the Intelligence Bureau Tapan Kumar Deka has been appointed the new chief of the agency, reported The Indian Express. He will replace Arvind Kumar after his tenure ends on June 30.

Deka, a 1988-batch Indian Police Service officer of the Himachal Pradesh cadre, will have a fixed tenure of two years. He has decades of experience in counter-terrorism.

Meanwhile, Samant Goel got another extension of one year as the chief of Research and Analysis Wing.

Goel is a 1984-batch IPS officer of the Punjab cadre. He was appointed as chief the chief of the foreign intelligence agency in 2019 and was granted an extension last year.