Former secretary (HRD), information and broadcasting (I&B), Amit Khare, an IAS officer of the 1985 batch, was on Tuesday appointed as the advisor to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Khare retired as the secretary (higher education) on September 30.
The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet today approved appointment of Amit Khare as Advisor to the Prime Minister, Prime Minister's Office, in the rank and scale of Secretary to Govt of India, on contract basis, initially for two years or until further orders, whichever is earlier.
Who is Amit Khare?
Amit Khare (born 1961) is an Indian Administrative Service officer (1985 batch) from Bihar/Jharkhand cadre and is currently serving as the Secretary, Ministry of Education in Government of India. He is noted for his role in bringing to light the Fodder scam, in which Rs. 940 crores were embezzled in Bihar over many years, and successive chief ministers Jagannath Mishra and Lalu Yadav have been imprisoned.
Amit Khare's early life:
He was born in a religious Chitraguptvanshi Kayastha family and did his schooling from Kendriya Vidyalaya, Hinoo in 1977 and then finished his Bachelor's with Honors from St. Stephen's College, Delhi. He has an elder brother Atul Khare, who is an Indian Foreign Service officer.
Amit Khare's career:
In late 1995, Bihar was in a financial crunch. The then charismatic yet 'native' leader Lalu Prasad Yadav was the Chief Minister of undivided Bihar, where the then finance commissioner VS Dubey stumbled upon the financial irregularities of massive scale.
Khare, who was then District Magistrate at Chaibasa, noted that the district animal husbandry department had withdrawn Rs 10 crore and Rs 9 crore twice without giving any details. Even when questioned, there was no response from the animal husbandry department. Finally, in January 1996,Khare visited the office to investigate, and found it looking as if "someone had tried to destroy files in a hurry".[6] Many bogus bills were for amounts just under Rs. 10 lakhs (when there are more stringent authorization norms). It seemed that such payments had been going on for years. The next day, simultaneous raids conducted at Ranchi and elsewhere found similar practices.
