NEW DELHI: Ashwini Vaishnaw is no stranger to the corridors of power, having been a deputy secretary in the office of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, albeit briefly. Soon after his induction into Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Council of Ministers in 2019, Vaishnaw made his intentions quite clear to the babudom. He was picked to perform and to that end, he would extract fruitful work, even if that meant being harsh – an earful here or an admonishment there – if only to drive the voluminous work at Railway Bhavan and the Communications and Electronics and Information Technology ministries.
On Saturday, too, he served an ultimatum to BSNL employees, saying that non-performance would invite compulsory retirement and they would be sent home packing. However tough a taskmaster he may be, sources close to Vaishnaw say the 1994-batch Odisha cadre IAS officer is also a thoroughbred gentleman who is schooled not only in the labyrinthine ways of India’s bureaucracy but also in the corporate world of efficiency. His competence shone through a few days ago when, in the backdrop of the government’s withdrawal of the 2019 Personal Data Protection Bill, he said that he was “almost” ready with the new draft legislation.
While the 2019 Bill was withdrawn on the grounds that there were 81 suggestions for amendments, Vaishnaw promised that the fresh draft will uphold the principles of the Right to Privacy. The 2000 IT Act will also undergo tweaks. The two legislations will, the minister said, build a solid legal framework for the digital economy. More recently, Vaishnaw presided over successful 5G spectrum auction that garnered Rs 150,173 crore.
Vaishnaw is as driven at Rail Bhavan. Last month, he unveiled a five-point plan to transform the Railways and enable it to move a billion people safely and sustainably in the years to come. His vision for the transport behemoth includes world class stations, modern trains for comfort and speed, automatic train protection based on Kavach technology, moving more cargo to reduce logistics cost and the bullet train project. However, given the sheer size of the Indian Railways, Vaishnaw’s bureaucratic and managerial trainings will be put to severe test.
Hailing from Rajasthan’s Pali district, Vaishnaw grew up in Jodhpur where he graduated in engineering from MBM Engineering College in 1991 and did his M.Tech from IIT-Kanpur. Vaishnaw realised his dream to be an administrator, cracking the UPSC Civil Services examination in 1994, securing 27th rank. He soon found himself as district magistrate of Balasore and Cuttack on Odisha. He made a mark for himself when, relying on varied data that he collected in the aftermath of the 1999 cyclone, the state government could devise safety measures for the affected people. In 2003, he moved to Delhi on deputation, serving as a deputy secretary in Vajpayee’s PMO.
He remained in government service for seven more years. Before calling it a day, he served a two-year stint as deputy chairman of Mormugao Port Trust. In 2008, he moved to the US to pursue MBA at the prestigious Wharton School of Business in the University of Pennsylvania. Vaishnaw went on to work for General Electric and Siemens AG before turning an entrepreneur in 2012, setting up Three Tee Auto Logistics Pvt Ltd and Vee Gee Auto Components Ptv Ltd in Gujarat.
‘GENTLEMAN’
Sources close to Vaishnaw admit that the 1994 batch Odisha cadre IAS officer is a thoroughbred gentleman who is schooled not only in the labyrinthine ways of India’s bureaucracy but also in the corporate world of efficiency.