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24 Apr 2025

Namrata Gandhi Wins PM’s Award for Public Administration; Appointed Dy. Secy. in Cabinet Secretariat

Namrata Gandhi, IAS, has been appointed to the prestigious position of Deputy Secretary in the Cabinet Secretariat, for a four-year tenure beginning mid-April 2025. In the same month, she also received the Prime Minister’s Award for Excellence in Public Administration for a GIS-based water conservation project she spearheaded as District Collector of Dhamtari in Chhattisgarh. The award was handed over at a function presided over by the Prime Minister on April 21, which is celebrated as Civil Services Day.

Namrata is the daughter of Mita and Hemendra Gandhi and granddaughter of Sarojben and Shantilal Gandhi and Renukaben and Vinubhai Bhansali.

A member of the IAS batch of 2013 in the Chhattisgarh cadre, Namrata was District Collector of Dhamtari in the same state just prior to moving to Delhi. She began her career in IAS as Assistant Collector in Rajnandgaon, and later came into the limelight as CEO of District Panchayats in Kanker, Surguja, and Dhamtari and then as Collector of Gariaband and Gaurela-Pendra-Marwahi (GPM) districts in Chhattisgarh.

During her last posting in Dhamtari, she focused on two key areas —water conservation and the upliftment of Particularly vulnerable tribal groups (PVTGs), describing some of the schemes she initiated as “my dream projects.”

One of these was the ‘Jal Jagar’ a water conservation initiative under the Prime Minister’s Jal Shakti Abhiyan. The administration worked with local communities, involving people in awareness campaigns to deliver remarkable results, especially in tribal areas. Under it, 26 large ponds each spanning 10 acres were developed in the district to boost water conservation capacity. Alongside, the shift from water intensive paddy cultivation to millets and chana further boosted groundwater levels. She also pursued urban water management schemes in conjunction with industries to enforce rainwater harvesting structures and sewage treatment plants.

Similarly, the schemes under the banner of Empowering Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG focused on the Kamar tribe with the aim of ensuring that government schemes reached every household. Over 100 school dropouts were brought back to education while enrolment at nutrition and rehabilitation centers for malnourished children rose.

Namrata’s efforts were rewarded and she was selected as a recipient of “The Prime Minister’s Awards for Excellence in Public Administration”, which since 2021 has been focused on encouraging constructive competition, innovation, replication and institutionalisation of Best Practices. It emphasises good governance, qualitative achievement and last mile connectivity, rather than only on achievement of quantitative targets.

Earlier, Namrata completed her graduation in Political Science from St Xavier’s College in Mumbai in 2010 securing 2nd Rank in the University. Subsequently, she appeared for the Civil Services Exam, and though successful on her first attempt, qualifying for the Indian Postal Service, she decided to reappear as she had set her sights on the more elite Indian Administrative Service (IAS), a goal she achieved in 2013.