The government reappointed retired Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Ajit Doval as National Security Adviser (NSA),according him a C abinet rank. He becomes the first NSA to get Cabinet Status in the table of precedence. In his previous stint as an NSA, he had the stature of a Minister of State (MoS). According to one official, the decision was taken since Mr. Doval leads strategic dialogues with many countries and a Cabinet rank would facilitate his interactions with the most senior officials. According to another official, the need to bestow a Cabinet rank on Mr. Doval was felt in the wake of the appointment of former Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar as the External Affairs Minister Last week. In the Past, the two have differed on various issues pertaining to foreign policy.The other civil servants in the present Cabinet like Hardeep Puri, Arjun Ram Meghwal, and R.K Singh have an MoS rank. Mr. Jaishankar , a 1977 batch IFS officer, was appointed as Foregin Secretary in January...
