Modi’s new adviser Amit Khare is IIM grad who exposed Lalu’s fodder scam, helped NEP launch

A 1985-batch IAS officer from the Jharkhand cadre, Amit Khare has earlier served as I&B secretary and higher education secretary. He retired in September.

File photo of retired IAS officer Amit Khare | Twitter/@PIB_India

KRITIKA SHARMA, The Print, 13 October, 2021, New Delhi: Former higher education secretary Amit Khare, who played a key role in implementing the new National Education Policy (NEP) and brought in key policy changes, was appointed as adviser to Prime Minister Narendra Modi Tuesday.

A 1985-batch IAS officer from the Jharkhand cadre, Khare has been appointed on a contractual basis for two years in the rank and scale of a secretary, according to the order issued by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet.

Khare, who also served as the information and broadcasting secretary in 2018-19, retired from service in September. He was re-appointed as I&B secretary in April 2020.

He was appointed as the higher education secretary in December 2019.

Apart from his role in the NEP, Khare was also at the forefront of important policy changes like the Academic Bank of Credit and the four-year undergraduate programme, which will be implemented in Delhi University in the next academic session (2022-23).

A BSc (Physics) graduate from St Stephen’s College, Khare holds an MBA degree from the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Ahmedabad.

JNU fees crisis, Bihar fodder scam

Khare took charge in the education ministry at a very crucial time, amid protests by Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) students over the issue of hostel fee hike.

According to ministry sources, former higher education secretary R. Subrahmanyam was transferred out after he was unsuccessful in resolving the JNU issue.

After taking charge, Khare met JNU Vice-Chancellor M. Jagadesh Kumar and the fee hike was partially rolled back within a month.

As I&B secretary, he played an important role in bringing about the IT Rules released earlier this year.

In the late 1990s, Khare was pivotal in exposing the fodder scam in undivided Bihar when he was posted as the deputy commissioner of West Singhbhum (now in Jharkhand).

On 27 January 1996, Khare raided the Animal Husbandry office in Chaibasa, which eventually led to the unearthing of the Rs 950 crore fodder scam. The then chief minister of Bihar, Lalu Prasad, was eventually convicted in the matter.

“I did not waste my time thinking of my career or of my family, or of my future. Otherwise, I would not have been able to take the decision of starting the inquiry into fodder scam,” wrote Khare in a 2017 column published in ThePrint.

“Then why did I do it? The answer is that most of us joined the civil services as a career with a dream of making a new India. And as deputy commissioner, who is the administrative head of the district, it was my duty,” he added.

(Edited by Rachel John)