The government reappointed retired Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Ajit Doval as National Security Adviser, according him a Cabinet rank. According to one official, the decision was taken since Mr. Doval leads strategic dialogues with many countries and a Cabinet rank will facilitate his interactions with the most senior officials. “A case in point is China, where there has been a mismatch between him and the Special Representative for boundary talks, who is normally a State councillor of Cabinet rank. On foreign policyAccording to another official, the need to bestow a Cabinet rank on Mr. Doval was felt in the wake of the appointment of former foreign secretary S. Jaishankar as the External Affairs Minister last week. The other civil servants in the present Cabinet like Hardeep Puri, Arjun Ram Meghwal, and R.K Singh have an MoS rank.

Source: The Hindu June 03, 2019 09:56 UTC