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Centre: IAS Kathikala Srinivasa Appointed New Housing Secy

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The Union Government has lately appointed senior IAS Kathikala Srinivasa as the Secretary in the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (Housing Secretary of India). Officer Srinivasa, a 1989-batch Gujarat cadre IAS officer, had last served as the Secretary in the Ministry of Minority Affairs.

In his more than three-decade stint with the Indian bureaucracy, Officer Srinivasa served in various capacities including the Director of the Lal Bahadur Shastri Nation Academy of Administration (LBSNAA). He served as the Joint Secretary in the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) from May 2017 to August 2018, and before that, he was posted as the Principal Secretary to the Government in the Revenue Department of Gujarat from June 2015 to May 2017.

Officer Srinivasa held numerous coveted designations in the Government of Gujarat including the Secretary to the Government and Joint Managing Director of the Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam (SSNNL) and also headed the Parivartan Cell, a Change and innovation Management Unit within the Chief Minister’s Office in Gujarat.

Deliberations on Financial Self-Reliance of Local Bodies, Practical Suggestions from State Finance Commission Dehradun: Chief Secretary Anand Bardhan, along with the Chairman and members of the 6th State Finance Commission N. Ravishankar, held detailed discussions on enhancing the financial self-reliance, administrative capacity, and overall contribution of municipal bodies (Municipal Corporations, Municipal Councils, Nagar Panchayats) and Zilla Panchayats to the state economy. The meeting highlighted that despite multiple opportunities for financial independence, local bodies are not achieving the expected level of self-reliance due to administrative and policy gaps. Constraints include limited local revenue sources, traditional slow work culture, lack of clear bylaws, inadequate land management, and excessive political centralization. The Chief Secretary urged the Finance Commission to provide practical, timely, and implementable suggestions to strengthen the financial capacity of urban and district local bodies. The Commission recommended interventions in land management, revenue-generating bylaws, work culture, adoption of innovations, and effective execution. It also suggested shifting district plan allocations from a distribution-based approach to a need-and-outcome-based model. Commission members P. S. Jangpangi, M. C. Joshi, Secretary Nitesh Jha, Dilip Jawalkar, and Dr. R. Rajesh Kumar, along with relevant officials, attended the meeting.

February 26, 2026 No Comments
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