Ajit Doval reappointed NSA, P K Mishra to continue as principal secretary to PM
New Delhi, Jun 13: Spymaster Ajit Doval and seasoned bureaucrat P K Mishra were on Thursday re-appointed to the post of National Security Adviser and principal secretary to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a fresh five-year term.
Both Doval and Mishra worked on their respective crucial posts during the last two tenures of the governments headed by Modi.
With the fresh appointment, Doval has become the first NSA to be appointed to the key post for three consecutive terms.
The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) has approved the two appointments with effect from June 10, 2024, the Personnel Ministry said.
Their appointment "will be co-terminus with the term of the prime minister or until further orders whichever is earlier", it said in identical orders.
Both Doval and Mishra will be assigned the rank of Cabinet Minister in the Table of Precedence and terms and conditions of their appointment will be notified separately, the ministry said.
Doval, who belongs to the 1968 batch of Indian Police Service, retired as Intelligence Bureau chief in 2005. He was appointed as the NSA for the first time on May 30, 2014, and re-appointed for another term on May 31, 2019.
During his first tenure, Doval is believed to have played a pivotal role in the surgical strikes on terror launch pads in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir after the Uri terror attack.
He has also been widely hailed for his contribution to the national security domain, including his role during the Balakot air strike after the Pulwama terror attack, officials said.
Doval was one of the main negotiators from India with the hijackers of Indian Airlines plane IC-814 taken to Kandahar in 1999.
He worked with the IB for more than 33 years in different roles and in areas including the Northeast, Jammu and Kashmir, and Punjab. He served in the United Kingdom as well.
Another key officer, Mishra has held various key positions at the Centre and in the Gujarat government.
He served as Additional Principal Secretary in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) in Modi's first term as the Prime Minister from 2014 to 2019.
Mishra, a 1972 batch retired Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of Gujarat cadre, was re-appointed to the same post with effect from May 31, 2019, during Modi's second term.
He was in September 2019 appointed as the principal secretary to the PM. His term was on a co-terminus basis with Modi's tenure.
Mishra had served between 2001 and 2004 as the principal secretary to Modi when he was the Gujarat chief minister.
A veteran bureaucrat, he was the secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture between December 1, 2006 and August 31, 2008.
After his retirement, Mishra was appointed the chairman of the Gujarat Electricity Regulatory Commission for a five-year term.
Meanwhile, the ACC has also approved the reappointment of former Indian Administrative Service officers Amit Khare and Tarun Kapoor as advisers to the PM for two years with effect from June 10, 2024.
Khare, a 1985 batch retired IAS officer of Jharkhand cadre, was in October 2021 appointed as adviser to Modi.
Kapoor, a 1987 batch retired IAS officer of the Himachal Pradesh cadre, was named as the adviser in May 2022.
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FIDE Women's World Cup final: Humpy draws with Divya in first game
Batumi (Georgia), Jul 26 (PTI): Young Indian International Master Divya Deshmukh held her nerves to hold stalwart Koneru Humpy to a draw in game 1 of the FIDE Women's World Cup final, with both players having their share of opportunities to take the lead here on Saturday.
The draw with black means Humpy, the two-time World Rapid champion, holds a slight edge going in the second and final game under the classical chess rules in the two-game mini-match, and should the deadlock continue, games of shorter duration will be played to determine the winner.
Humpy employed the Queen's gambit accepted as black and it turned out to be a pretty fascinating game right out of the opening as Divya, 19, came up with a piece sacrifice early to deny the black king the right to castle.
Humpy was the first to err and, according to computers, Divya had things under control on the 14th move. However in her bid to recover the extra material, the Nagpur girl, who has secured a place in the Candidates tournament with her sterling performance here, missed a promising continuation.
What followed the exchange of all minor pieces and the ensuing queen and rook endgame gave enough counter play to both players. The game was eventually drawn after Humpy sacrificed her rook to force perpetual checks.
"The game saw an extremely sharp battle with the game ending in a draw in 41 moves. On move 7, Divya made her aggressive intentions clear by offering another pawn,
which looked like home preparation. Humpy made a practical decision of refraining from taking the pawn and a balanced position was reached by move 10 by white," said Grandmaster Pravin Thipsay, an Arjuna awardee and the first Indian to get a chess Grandmaster norm.
"However, instead of developing the undeveloped Knight, Humpy retreated the centralised Knight on move 10, giving huge positional advantage to Divya. Divya could have gained huge positional advantage on the 12th move by moving a rook. However, she chose to play for King side attack by sacrificing a piece instead.
"Humpy, too, erred at this stage and instead of moving the King to Queen side, moved it to the King side. Divya, on move 14, could have obtained a crushing attack by threatening a mate by developing her Queen. Instead she chose to exchange a pair of Bishops first, which enabled Humpy to defend her King by returning the piece," said Thipsay.
"Players thus reached a balanced Queen and two Rooks ending. Divya continued to play ambitiously and tried to attack Humpy’s King but the latter defended accurately and the game was drawn in 41 moves by perpetual check," he added.
In the play-off for the third place, Chinese players Zhongyi Tan, the former women's world champion and top seed Lei Tingjie also decided to split points out of a Queen’s gambit declined game.
The opening raised visions of a close contest between the two but having been knocked out of title race in the previous round, none of them wanted to take any huge risk. It was still a middle game when the players shook hands.
With the top two positions sealed for the Indians, the berth to the next Candidates is also assigned, while the player finishing third will also get an entry to the premier event scheduled for 2026.
Results: Divya Deshmukh (Ind) drew with Koneru Humpy (Ind); Zhongyi Tan (Chn) drew with Tingjie Lei (Chn).
