Sanjay Kumar Panda, a 1980-batch IAS officer of Manipur Tripura cadre, has been appointed as Secretary in Ministry of Textiles. He is presently serving in his cadre state.Panda will take over from Zohra Chatterji, who will retire on July 31 this year.
Panda is a resident of Cuttack, Orissa. He is a post-graduate in Chemistry from the Utkal University. Since May 2010, Panda is serving as Chief Secretary, Government of Tripura. Previously, he has handled various departments, including Home, Planning and Education, in the Tripura government. He is credited with conceptualizing the scaling-up of higher education system in Tripura.
Prior to that, he had handled Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy (AYUSH) scheme as Joint Secretary in the Government of India. In 1989-94, he was Director Textiles and Managing Director of State Silk & Tassar Cooperative Society in Odisha, during which he gave a fillip to sericulture activities in the state. In 1994-95, he served as Secretary in Textile Department, Tripura overseeing the textiles and handloom sectors. Panda has also published a book titled “Corporate Social Responsibility in India: Past, Present and Future” in 2008.
