Nidhi Tewari, a young IFS officer, has been appointed as the Private Secretary to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. She is an Indian Foreign Services officer from the 2014 batch.
The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet approved her appointment with immediate effect, according to the memorandum issued by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) on March 29.
Tewari had secured the 96th rank in the Civil Services Examination, 2013. She hails from Mehmurganj in Varanasi – that happens to be the Prime Minister’s Lok Sabha constituency since 2014.
Tewari has been serving as a Deputy Secretary in the Prime Minister’s Office since January 6, 2023. She joined as an Under Secretary in the PMO in 2022.
In her stint at the Ministry of External Affairs earlier, Tewari served in the Disarmament and International Security Affairs Division.
Tewari has hence served over three years at the PMO. Before clearing the Civil Services Examination in 2013, she was working as Assistant Commissioner (Commercial Tax), Varanasi and prepared for the examination along with her job.
At the PMO, so far, she has worked as Deputy Secretary in the ‘Foreign and Security’ vertical that reports to National Security Advisor Ajit Doval.
She specifically took care of areas such as External Affairs, Atomic Energy and Security Affairs, as well as the state of Rajasthan.
The Prime Minister has had two Private Secretaries so far – Vivek Kumar and Hardik Satishchandra Shah.
Source: India Today