DoT Secretary Aruna Sundarajan retires; Anshu Prakash named as new Telecom Secretary

The Department of Telecommunications, Ministry of Communications, has announced the retirement of its Secretary, Aruna Sundararajan, with effect from the afternoon hours of Wednesday, July 31st, 2019.

With her retirement, Additional Secretary Anshu Prakash will now take over as the new secretary in the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) from August 1st, 2019.

Under her tenure as DoT Secretary, from the year 2017, there has been a six-fold increase in public spending on telecom infrastructure and services. Sundararajan was responsible for the department to achieve major milestones including the five-plus times growth in broadband access and India becoming the highest mobile data consuming nation globally and more significantly the completion of BharatNet phase 1. She spearheaded the government’s Digital India program during her two-year service period at DoT. Sundararajan was also responsible for the roll-out of the National Digital Communications Policy in May 2018.

Aruna Sundararajan was the proud recipient of the Telecom Person of the Year 2018 by Voice&Data magazine.

Taking the baton from Aruna Sundararajan, Additional Secretary Anshu Prakash, who was transferred to the Department of Telecommunications in November 2018, will assume the post of Secretary, DoT, and will now be responsible to take forward the initiatives and mandates proposed in the Policy.

Prakash is a 1986-batch IAS officer of the Arunachal Pradesh-Goa-Mizoram and Union Territory (AGMUT) cadre. Reportedly as Delhi Secretary he is known to be at loggerheads with the Kejriwal government.