New Delhi: The government has appointed Odia physicist and director of the Bhabha Atomic Research Center (BARC) Dr Ajit Kumar Mohanty as the chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission and secretary of the Department of Atomic Energy.
According to the government order issued on Saturday, Kumar Will remain in this post till the age of 66 years or till 10 October 2025. The decision was taken by the Appointments Committee of the Union Cabinet.
The Department of Atomic Energy comes directly under the Prime Minister’s Office, and since its establishment in 1954, has been “engaged in the development of atomic energy technology, applications of radiation technologies in the fields of agriculture, medicine, industry and basic research,” its According to website.
The Atomic Energy Commission is a decision-making body with “full executive and financial powers, modeled, more or less, on the lines of the Railway Board,” its preamble said.
Mohanty will succeed the outgoing Secretary and President Dr Kamlesh Nilkanth Vyas, who has reached the age of superannuation.
Mohanty’s appointment has been widely praised, including from Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, who tweeted, “Congratulations to noted Odia scientist Dr. Ajit Kumar Mohanty on being appointed as the Secretary of @DAEIndia and Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission . Wish him a successful tenure.”
Union Minister for Education, Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Dharmendra Pradhan also congratulated Mohanty on his appointment. “May he strengthen our indigenous capabilities and lead India towards self-reliance in nuclear energy and technologies,” Pradhan said on Twitter.
Mohanty was appointed as the BARC chairman on 12 March 2019, prior to which he was the director of the Physics Group of BARC and the Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics in Kolkata.
He was born in 1959 in Odisha. He obtained a bachelor’s degree from MPC College, Baripada in 1979 and a master’s degree in physics from Ravenshaw College, Cuttack in 1981. After graduating from the organization’s training school, in 1983, he joined the Nuclear Physics Division of BARC.
Mohanty is also the recipient of several awards including the Young Physicist Award from the Indian Physical Society in 1988. He was also awarded the Young Scientist Award and the Homi Bhabha Science and Technology Award by the Indian National Science Academy in 1991. Department of Atomic Energy in 2001.
(Edited by Smriti Sinha)