Dilip Rath takes charge as interim chairman of NDDB

DoPT gives Rath, now MD, NDDB, additional charge until appointment of a regular incumbent

After T Nanda Kumar quit as chairman of the Anand-headquartered National Dairy Development Board (NDDB), managing director of the organisation Dilip Rath, who is an erstwhile joint secretary of the Department of Animal Husbandry, GoI took over as chairman from Monday, August 1 until the appointment of a regular incumbent.

The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), Govt of India has given Rath additional charge of the post until the appointment of a regular incumbent.

Nanda Kumar had put in his resignation on June 29, which was accepted by the Appointments Committee of Cabinet on Wednesday, July 27, and he is to be relieved from duty from August 1. He was the first bureaucrat chosen for the top job at NDDB, and his premature exit, about two and a half years ahead of tenure, made speculations rife that there was trouble brewing between the head of the corporation and Krishi Bhawan.

Nanda Kumar himself had hinted at an uneasy exit in his parting letter to his colleagues; "There comes a time in everyone's life when one's value system comes into serious conflict with the external environment. A point of no compromise becomes a point of no return."

Rath took premature retirement from the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) to join NDDB as managing director in 2011. He joined the Indian Administrative Service in 1979 and served in different capacities under the state governments of West Bengal, Odisha and the Central Government. He was joint secretary in the Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries, Government of India (GoI) from 2008 to 2010 and Director on the board of NDDB.

An NDDB statement read, "He was instrumental in implementing various schemes of the Central Government, viz., National Project on Cattle and Buffalo Breeding,Intensive Dairy Development Programme, Clean Milk Production, Assistance to Cooperatives, besides being the divisional head of 12 cattle development organisations under Central Government."

He was also the chairman of the Delhi Milk Scheme's management committee and he was also responsible for monitoring country's milk situation in the context of inflation of essential commodities.

After receiving the Master's degree in Economics from Jawaharlal Nehru University, Rath went on to complete MSc in Economics from the London School of Economics.