Dr. Aryal named Chief Secretary, Bairagi national security advisor

Kathmandu, June 16: The government has appointed Secretary of the Nepal government Dr. Baikuntha Aryal as the 26th Chief Secretary of the civil service and incumbent Chief Secretary Shanker Das Bairagi as an advisor to the National Security Council (NSC). 

A meeting of the Council of Ministers held at the Office of Prime Minister and Council of Ministers (OPMCM) on Thursday morning, took decisions to this effect, according to Minister for Foreign Affairs NP Saud after the Cabinet meeting. 

Dr. Aryal, who was working as a Secretary at the Prime Minister’s Office, was retiring from his five-year tenure as Secretary on June 17. He became the 26th Chief Secretary of Nepal.

Earlier, he has worked at the Ministry of Information and Communication; Industry, Commerce and Supply; National Planning Commission, among others. After the Cabinet decision, Chief Secretary Aryal assumed the office on Thursday reaching the PMO, Singha Durbar.

Meanwhile, the government has appointed incumbent Chief Secretary Shanker Das Bairagi as the advisor to the NSC. The Council operates under the direction of Prime Minister and Council of Ministers. 

For the smooth functioning of NSC by specifying the roles of NSA, the government had already decided to bring the National Intelligence Department under the PMO. 

The NSA will apprise the PM of matters related to national security and foreign policy including the internal security situation. The ministerial level post having oversight of foreign, home and defence affairs and the security agencies will report on matters related to national security and foreign policy. 

With this new appointment of Bairagi as NSA, there will be no separate foreign policy adviser to the PM.

Before his appointment, outgoing Secretary Bairagi had first tendered his resignation from the post, and then, the government endorsed his resignation to appoint him as the advisor to the NSC. 

Although Bairagi had his term to lead the top bureaucratic post as Chief Secretary till October 1, 2023, he resigned from the post before four months to take up new responsibility. 

It has been said that government has appointed him to the post with perks and facilities on a par with minister level. On Thursday, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' administered the oath of office and secrecy to Bairagi as NSA. 

NSA Bairagi's bio

Born on January 26, 1966 in Parbat, Bairagi joined the civil service under Nepali Foreign Service in December 1987. He became the 25th Chief Secretary of the government on October 1, 2020. He had become Foreign Secretary of the government in October, 2015. 

Before appointment as Foreign Secretary, he had experience of over three decades in Foreign Service and held variety of positions in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Nepali Missions abroad. 

As Nepal’s Ambassador to WTO, Bairagi served as the Coordinator of the Consultative Group of the Least Developed Countries in WTO in 2013. During his tenure as Ambassador/Permanent Representative, Bairagi led the Nepali delegations to the UN Human Rights Council, World Health Assembly, WIPO Assemblies, and Executive Committee of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, IOM Council and Trade and Development Board of UNCTAD. 

Bairagi worked previously as Second/First Secretary, Embassy of Nepal in New Delhi (August 1995-May 1998).

Who is Chief Secretary Dr. Aryal?

Born in Pharping of Kathmandu and economist by education, Dr. Aryal had entered the civil service from the postal service. He started his service at Ramechhap Post Office as a branch officer on July 2, 1992. 

Before assuming the office of Commerce and Supplies Secretary in August 2019, he had served as the Secretary of National Natural Resources and Fiscal Commission. Working in the Commission for nearly 20 months, he led the entire process of devising formula for fiscal transfers to province and local levels. Further, he played a lead role to assist the Commission to devise the formula for distribution of royalties from natural resources to the province and local level.

After becoming the Joint Secretary in September 2009, he was deputed at the Ministry of Home Affairs for few weeks and then transferred to Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers. While working in the Prime Minister's Office for nearly 20 months, he was instrumental to digitising the official communication and document management. 

He was then transferred to Ministry of Finance, where he worked for six and half years with the responsibility of Economic Affairs and Policy Analysis Division, Economic Policy Analysis Division, Budget and Programme Division and International Economic Cooperation Coordination Division. 

He was involved in various system reforms in the Ministry of Finance including introducing Line Ministry Budgetary Information System, Document Management System and Data Management for Public Expenditure Review.

As an Under Secretary, he served the National Planning Commission for 10 years from July 1999 to September 2009. 

After that, he worked in the Prime Minister's office for some time. He again worked as Secretary in the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology. During his stay in the Ministry of Communication, he started the work of creating a digital office especially for the federal ministries. 

He started the paperless system of exchanging notes, files and letters in the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology. Last March, Dr. Aryal was transferred from the Ministry of Communication to the Prime Minister's Office.