Meet Preeti Sudan, retired IAS officer, ex-Union Health Secretary, appointed UPSC chairperson

Preeti Sudan, a distinguished IAS officer from the 1983 batch and former union health secretary, has been appointed as the new chairperson of the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC), succeeding Manoj Soni, who resigned from his post recently due to personal reasons.

Sudan brings a wealth of experience in public administration, having held various key positions in the Ministry of Women and Child Development, the Ministry of Defense, as a consultant to the World Bank, and also being in charge of finance, planning, disaster management, tourism, and agriculture in her cadre state, Andhra Pradesh. Her tenure as the Union Health Secretary was particularly notable during the COVID-19 period, where she played a crucial role in shaping the country’s health policies and response strategies.

After contributing to the creation of the National Medical Commission and laws and creating programs like ‘Beti bachao beti padhao’ and ‘Ayushman Bharat’, her next role will be strengthening the integrity and transparency of the examination process that many people believe to be lacking in recent times.