Giridhar Aramane takes charge as defence secretary

New Delhi, Nov 01: Giridhar Aramane took over as defence secretary, Ministry of Defence, in New Delhi on Tuesday.

Aramane is a 1988-batch IAS officer of the Andhra Pradesh cadre. He took over the charge following the superannuation of Ajay Kumar on Monday.

Before taking over, Aramane laid wreaths and paid tribute to the bravehearts of the Indian Armed Forces at the National War Memorial. He saluted the bravehearts who sacrificed their lives while protecting the nation.

During his visit to the National War Memorial, Aramane said, "We draw inspiration from these bravehearts and promise to work towards fulfilling their dream of making India a safe & prosperous country," according to a statement by the ministry of defence.

Aramane has held various important portfolios in the Central Government as well as Andhra Pradesh government in his 32 years of experience as an IAS officer.

Prior to his current assignment, Aramane was Secretary at Ministry of Road Transport and Highways.

Earlier, he was Additional Secretary in the Cabinet Secretariat. Apart from Cabinet Secretariat, Aramane looked after Exploration Division in the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas and was Executive Director in-charge of inspections in Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority.

In the Andhra Pradesh Government, Aramane had served as Principal Secretary in Urban Development Department; Managing Director of AP State Finance Corporation and Secretary (Finance Department). He also held the post of the Collector and DM of Chittoor and Khammam districts.

Aramane did B Tech in Civil Engineering from Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, Hyderabad and M Tech from IIT, Madras. He is MA (Economics) from Kakatiya University, Warangal.