In what has become a crucial pick to lead the state mechanism, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin has inducted reputed bureaucrat V Irai Anbu IAS as the next Chief Secretary of Tamil Nadu. Irai Anbu brings in vast administrative experience and goodwill as one of the able bureaucrats who aspire to a change and people-oriented governance. Through appointing Irai Anbu, Stalin has displayed that he is committed to building a robust administration in addressing the pandemic and other forms of crisis. 

The order of nominating Irai Anbu has come hours after MK Stalin sworn-in as the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. Governor Banwarilal Purohit has administered the oath of office and secrecy to Stalin and 33 cabinet ministers. By replacing Rajeev Ranjan, Irai Anbu will be assuming the office of the state's highest bureaucracy at a high time when there would be no time to relax as the state's mechanism must respond to the horrendous second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.   

His role would be involving in coordinating with the district administrations and the Central government in addressing and expediting the measures to contain the pandemic. As Irai Anbu is elevated as the Chief Secretary, Rajeev Ranjan has been appointed as the Chairman and Managing Director of the Tamil Nadu Newsprint and Papers Ltd. In the press release, the government said, "Dr V. Irai Anbu, IAS, Additional Chief Secretary/ Director, Anna Institute of Management and Director General of Training is transferred and posted as Chief Secretary to Government". 

The press release further stated that "Dr Rajeev Ranjan, IAS, Chief Secretary to Government, and Vigilance Commissioner and Commissioner for Administrative Reforms (in charge) is transferred and posted as Chairman and Managing Director, Tamil Nadu Newsprint and Papers Ltd." The transfer order has come into effect immediately and Irai Anbu has assumed the role in the evening hours of Friday after meeting Chief Minister MK Stalin.

Irai Anbu was one of the three IAS officers on the final card in the race for the Chief Secretary and Stalin has picked Irai Anbu as his choice to lead the administration of the government. Irai Anbu has become the Chief Secretary of Tamil Nadu for the first time and he took part in the first cabinet meeting convened by Stalin on Friday evening in the Chief Secretariat. Irai Anbu had interacted with the District Collectors over the containment measures to curb the pandemic. Let's tour Irai Anbu's life journey and his rise to lead his home state, 

Born on June 16, 1963, in Kattur village in Salem district, Irai Anbu is the 1987-batch IAS officer. Irai Anbu has completed BSc (Agriculture), MA (English), MA (Labor Management), MSc (Psychology), PhD (Business Administration), and PhD in Comparative Literature. After clearing UPSC, he cleared civil services to become an IAS Officer in 1987. He began his career as the Deputy Collector of Nagapattinam. Through his able and proactive leadership, Irai Anbu had indeed become a symbol of how bureaucracy must function.

After executing a remarkable role in his starting point of civil services, Irai Anbu rose to grow and decorated several offices with various disciplines. In his public service career, he had held the posts of joint commissioners of municipal administration, director of information and public relations, secretary of information and tourism department, additional secretary of the Chief Minister at Secretariat, and he also served as the district collector of Kancheepuram. 

Irai Anbu had won the Best Collector's Award in 1998 for his work in civil services and he also had won several commendations and recognitions. Initially, after completing his Bachelor's degree in Agriculture, Irai Anbu started his career as an agricultural officer in Ranakottai in the Krishnagiri district, and in his first civil service examination, he received the Indian Revenue Service (IRS) and trained as Assistant Commissioner of Income Tax. In the 1987 Civil services examination, he was ranked 15th at the all-India level and the first in Tamil Nadu. 

He became Deputy Collector in 1990 after receiving training at Lal Bahadur Shastri National Administrative Academy. He had worked as the District Collector of Kanchipuram district from 1997-1999 and he also had held crucial roles in the government departments. He had served as the Principal Secretary to the Tamil Nadu government's Department of Environment and Forests and headed the Tamil Nadu Tourism Development Corporation. Throughout his three-decade-long career in civil service, Irai Anbu has also exercised various dimensions other than being an able bureaucrat. 

He has also been a motivational speaker for the younger generations, an author, and a social activist who always had searched and aspired a change. Being a popular face among the masses, Irai Anbu had authored over 80 books and had personally trained more than 100 candidates to succeed in the civil service examination. He has always kept his journey close to serving the people and vowed it to be his utmost priority. He is one of the bureaucrats that we can count on over discharging legitimate and people welfare administration.

Irai Anbu was serving as the Director of Anna Institute of Management and his expertise in bureaucracy, sound knowledge in running the administration, the vivid picture of what needs to be done to revive the state from the crises, and his life journey are enough for Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Stalin to pick him as the Chief Secretary to lead the state administration and to address the ordeal lying before the state. It must be noted that Irai Anbu's brother Thiruppugazh was also an IAS officer of Gujarat cadre. Ever since the news of Irai Anbu's elevation as the Chief Secretary has headlined, thousands of people from across and beyond the borders have been expressing wishes to him for attaining the much-deserved post and marking a remarkable feat in his journey of a committed bureaucracy.