Sources say that the reshuffle may address the Secretary-level vacancies arising up to February-end, creating a sizeable space for the 1992 batch officers. 

Four secretary-level posts are already lying vacant and a fifth would fall so by the end of this month. The Secretary-level posts on offer include the departments of Border Management, Health & Family Welfare, Ex-Servicemen Welfare and Defence Production. 

The fifth key position of Secretary, Ministry of Cooperation, will be available for a new incumbent when Gyanesh Kumar (IAS: 1988: KL) retires in the next couple of weeks. This post has high stakes for two reasons: one, the new man in will also have the same challenging task of working under Amit Shah, and two, very few have understood the significance of the newly formed Ministry of Cooperation so far, with the toughest taskmaster in NaMo 2.0 in its charge.

Although unpredictability is the hallmark of the current regime, most of the insiders believe that the Department of Defence Production will continue to work with ad hoc arrangement. 

The reshuffle in the offing offers two more Secretary-level vacancies in the coming weeks. Arti Ahuja (IAS: 1990: OR) and Indevar Pandey (IAS: 1988: WB) are retiring from the Ministry of Labour and Employment and Ministry of Women and Child Development respectively next month. In all, this would create six vacancies by February 29, 2024 in effect. 

Well-placed sources say that a few more factors may decide the framework of the said reshuffle — the empanelment of IAS 1993 batch, vacancies in key positions in NHIDCL, IWAI etc, and the pressing need to fill up the vacancies by May to gel with the transition period for the seat of power in New Delhi.