Govt appoints new RAW, IB chiefs

The government on Wednesday named chiefs of two top intelligence agencies of the country appointing Samant Kumar Goel as head of foreign intelligence agency, Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), and Arvind Kumar as Director of Intelligence Bureau, internal intelligence agency.

Goel, who was earlier Special Secretary in the Cabinet Secretariat, succeeds A K Dhasmana whose tenure ends on June 29.

Goel's appointment, which was approved by the Appointments Committee of Cabinet (ACC), is for two years, according to an official statement.

The ACC also approved elavation of Arvind Kumar from Special Director to Director of the Intelligence Bureau. He replaces Rajiv Jain whose tenure will end on June 30.

Besides the two appointments, the ACC approved extension of Amitabh Kant's tenure as Chief Executive Officer of the NITI Aayog for a period of two years till June 30, 2021.

The development comes after Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved the reconstitution of the policy think tank. Kant is a 1980 batch IAS officer of Kerala cadre.

He was appointed the Chief Executive Officer of the government think tank on February 17, 2016 for a two-year term.