Senior IPS officer Ravi Sinha, an expert on neighbouring nations and operations was named the next head of R&AW on Monday as the four-year term of Samant Goel, comes to an end on June 30.
The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the nomination of 59-year-old Sinha, an IPS officer from Chhatisgarh’s 1988 batch, as the Secretary, RAW for a two-year term, according to a directive from the ministry of personnel.
Sinha, who has had an over two-decade-long stint in the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW), is at present the second-in-command in the organisation. Before being promoted, he was looking after the operations wing.
The appointment of Sinha, who is regarded as an expert on the nations that make up India’s immediate neighbourhood, comes at a time when Pakistan is politically and economically unstable, Sikh extremism is being fanned from overseas, and attempts are being made in the northeast to incite unrest.
Sinha has served in Jammu and Kashmir, the northeast and foreign countries in the past.
In June 2019, his predecessor Goel was named R&AW chief for a two-year term. Later, he received two one-year extensions, one in June 2021 and the other in June 2022.
Goel, a specialist in issues pertaining to Jammu and Kashmir, is thought to have been crucial in the preparation of the surgical attack in Pakistan’s Balakot in February 2019.
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