N.C. Saxena

Former Secretary, Planning Commission of India

Development Policy

Topper of his batch (1964) in the IAS, Dr. Saxena retired as Secretary, Planning Commission in 2002. He also served as Secretary, Ministry of Rural Development (1997-99) in Government of India. During 1993-96 he was Director, National Academy of Administration, Mussoorie, which trains civil servants.

On behalf of the Supreme Court of India, Dr Saxena monitored hunger based programmes in India from 2001 to 2017. He was a Member of National Advisory Council from 2004-08 & 2010-14, and contributed to formulating Rights-based Legislations for the disadvantaged in India. He has chaired several government committees, such as on ‘Women’s Land Rights’, ‘Identification of poor families’, ‘Implementation of Forest Rights Act’, ‘Joint Review Mission on Elementary Education’ and ‘Bauxite Mining in Orissa’.

He has worked on development issues in Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, East Timor, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, and Afghanistan. He regularly advised UNICEF, UNDP and the World Bank between 2002 and 2017. He was a Visiting Professor to Regional Community Forestry Training Centre, Bangkok 1993-98 and Member, Governing Council, ADB Institute, Tokyo, 2002-04.

Dr Saxena did his Doctorate in Forestry from the Oxford University in 1992. He was awarded honorary Ph.D from the University of East Anglia (UK) in 2006.