The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet headed by Prime Minister has cleared the appointment of 21 officers to Jt secretary rank post as follows: Srinivas Ramaswamy Katikithala (IAS:1989:GJ) appointed as Jt Secretary, DOPT for a period of five years by temporarily downgrading an Additional Secretary level post for 2 years. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Shantmanu (IAS:1991:JK) appointed as Development Commissioner (Handicrafts) (JS level), M/o. Textiles for a period of five years vice K Gopal (IAS:1992:TN) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Pramod Kumar Tiwari (IAS:1991:AM) appointed as Joint Secretary, Department of Food & Public Distribution of the charge of the post for a period of five years vice Deepak Kumar (IAS:1990:UP) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ms Nidhi Chhibber (IAS:1994:CG) appointed as Joint Secretary, Department of Defence for a period of five years vice Suresh Kumar (IAS:1986:JK) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Anil Srivastava (IAS::MP:1985) has been appointed as Advisor (JS level), NITI Aayog, on lateral shift basis for a combined tenure of seven years of central deputation upto 14 Feb 2019 Vice Ms Alka Tiwari (IAS:1988JH) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Jatindra Nath Swain (IAS:1988:TN) appointed as Joint Secretary, Ministry of New & Renewable Energy for a period of 05 years vice Santosh D Vaidya (IAS:1998:UT). ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ms Upma Srivastava (IAS:1988:SK) appointed as Joint Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation, for for a period of 05 years Anil Srivastava (IAS:1985:MP). ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ K Vinayak Rao (IRAS:(1987) appointed as Member (Finance) Delhi development Authority (DDA) for a period of 05 years Venkatesh Mohan (IA&AS:1983). ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Madhu Ranjan Kumar (IRSS:1984) appointed as  Joint Secretary, Dept of Higher Education for a tenure upto his superannuation on 30 June 2021. The post has temporarily been upgraded from Director level (vice Shri Alok Mishra, IIS:1998). Kumar currently serves as Secretary (JS level) NCMEI. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Pramod Kumar Pathak (IFoS:1986:KL) appointed as Joint Secretary, Ministry of AYUSH for a perio