National Conference of Chief Secretaries

In News: Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi will chair the second National Conference of Chief Secretaries in Delhi on 6th and 7th January, 2023. It will be another key step towards further boosting the partnership between the Centre and the State Governments.

• The first such Conference of Chief Secretaries was held in June 2022
• The second Conference of Chief Secretaries will be held in 2023 in Delhi.
• The three day Conference will focus on achieving rapid and sustained economic growth in partnership with the States.

• Focused deliberations would be held on four topics, viz. (i) Vocal for Local; (ii) International Year of Millets; (iii) G20: Role of States; and (iv) Emerging Technologies.

The Chief secretary of state:

• The Chief Secretary is the top-most executive official and senior-most officer of the Indian Administrative Service of the state government.
• It ranks 23rd on the Indian order of precedence.
• The Chief Secretary is the ex-officio head of the state Civil Services Board, the state cadre Indian Administrative Service and all civil services under the rules of business of the state government.

Appointment:

• Appointed by the Chief Minister of state.
• The Chief Minister after short-listing the names can have an opinion of the Union government related to the appointment but this consultation is not mandatory.
• Usually, these three factors are considered: Seniority, service record, and Evaluation of the Chief Minister.

Role:

• The Chief Secretary acts as the principal advisor to the chief minister on all matters of state administration.

• The Chief Secretary acts as an ex-officio secretary to the state cabinet, therefore called “Secretary to the Cabinet“.
• The status of this post is equal to that of a Secretary to the Government of India.
• A Chief Secretary functions as the central point of interdepartmental coordination at the departmental level.

Source: PIB