Who is Pradeep Kharola, chosen National Testing Agency chief amid paper leaks row
Who is Pradeep Kharola, chosen National Testing Agency chief amid paper leaks row
The central government on Saturday appointed senior bureaucrat Pradeep Singh Kharola as the new head of the National Testing Agency (NTA), replacing its current Director General Subodh Singh amid the row over alleged irregularities in competitive exams NEET and NET.
Kharola, who is the Chairman and Managing Director of the India Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO), has been given the additional charge of the testing agency, which conducts examinations including NEET, until the appointment of a new Director.
Earlier, Kharola handled the responsibility of Air India before the airline's privatization. He was the Chairman and Managing Director of Air India.
He was brought to head Air India at a time when the government was finalizing the modalities of the strategic disinvestment of the national aviation company.
He had also served as the Managing Director of Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation (BMRC).
Kharola is a 1985 batch IAS officer from Karnataka. He was the Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister of Karnataka in 2012-13. He has also headed the Urban Infrastructure Development and Finance Corporation (KUIDFC) in Karnataka, which raises funds from international institutions for building infrastructure in cities.
The 62-year-old bureaucrat had also served as a Joint Secretary of the National Administrative Reform Commission.
In his decades-long career, Kharola has gained experience in urban governance, urban public transport, and policy-making. He is considered an expert in taking public transport companies out of losses and making them profitable. He brought Bangalore's city bus service, Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation, out of losses and into profit in the year 2000.
In 2012, the officer received the National Award for e-governance. He also bagged the Prime Minister's Outstanding Public Administration Award in 2013.
Kharola, a native of Uttarakhand, obtained a mechanical engineering degree from Indore University in 1982. After this, he did a Post Graduation in Industrial Engineering from IIT Delhi in 1984, where he emerged as a topper.
Additionally, he has done a Masters in Development Management from the Asian Institute of Management in Manila, Philippines.
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