New Delhi,Senior IPS officer Rajiv Singh on Friday took charge as secretary (security) in the Cabinet Secretariat, following a challenging tenure as the DGP in strife-torn Manipur, where he was widely credited for reunifying a state police force that had become deeply divided along ethnic lines.
The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) last month cleared Singh’s appointment to the post, which has administrative control over the Special Protection Group (SPG), the elite agency responsible for the proximate security of the prime minister and immediate family members residing at the official residence.
A 1993-batch Indian Police Service (IPS) officer of Tripura cadre, Singh took over from Parag Jain, the chief of the Research and Analysis Wing, who had been holding additional charge in the Cabinet Secretariat since November 12 last year.
After serving as IG (Operations) in the CRPF, Singh was sent to Manipur on June 1, 2023, less than a month after devastating ethnic violence erupted between the Meitei and Kuki communities following a ‘tribal solidarity march’ on May 3.
The clashes have since claimed 260 lives besides displacing thousands of people.
Singh assumed charge of a 45,000-strong police force, which was then vertically split along ethnic lines, with Meitei personnel fleeing to the Imphal valley and Kuki personnel escaping to the hills for safety.
Faced with massive internal desertions, with nearly 1,200 personnel missing from duty, and allegations of police partiality, Singh implemented many unconventional strategies to stabilise the force, and tracked down and reintegrated more than 1,150 missing personnel by allowing them to report back to duty wherever they felt safe.
In a rare administrative innovation, Singh used videoconferencing to host a unified passing-out ceremony for 304 freshly recruited constables from both the warring factions, allowing them to take their oaths remotely before deploying them to their respective shelter zones.
He also enforced strict punishment against the looting of police armouries, heavily fortified vulnerable checkpoints, dismantled cross-border militant bunkers, and provided coordinated police protection to neutral farmers working in the high-risk foothills.
Despite the deep communal divisions that dominated his tenure in Manipur, Singh, who was initially considered an outsider in the state, drew widespread and rare praise from across the political and ethnic spectrum.
Taking to X, Manipur Chief Minister Khemchand Yumnam wrote, Bid farewell to Shri Rajiv Singh, IPS, former DGP, Manipur, today. I sincerely appreciate his dedicated service and significant contributions towards maintaining law and order and strengthening peace and stability in the state.
Deputy Chief Minister Nemcha Kipgen thanked Singh for his balanced governance during a period of intense polarisation.
I would like to express my sincere gratitude and deep appreciation for your fair, impartial, and unbiased approach… I am sure it was not always easy for you during the challenging times in Manipur, especially amid the communal tensions, but you remained fair and transparent throughout, Kipgen said.
Even key leadership figures within the Meitei community expressed their gratitude for Singh’s openness.
A top Meitei leader praised Singh’s accessibility and said that while differences in opinion are natural in public service, your sincerity in striving to do what was best for the state was always evident . PTI SKL
