Naresh Chandra Saxena is an Indian bureaucrat who served as a member of the Planning Commission of India.[1]

Naresh Chandra Saxena
Alma materAllahabad University
Occupation(s)Member, NAC
SpouseNaomi Saxena
ChildrenJhilmil Breckenridge

College edit

After going to Allahabad University for earning his First Masters in Physics[2] while still in his teens, he went on to earn a Doctorate in Forestry from University of Oxford, in 1992. He was awarded honorary Ph.D from the University of East Anglia (UK) in 2006.[3]

Career edit

Saxena is a former IAS officer. He served as a member of the National Advisory Council.

After his first inclination of teaching, in the early 1960s went poorly, due to groupism’, ‘casteism’ and ‘dirty politics’ in teaching, he went to the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) examination in 1963. When the results were announced for the UPSC examinations, on 4 April 1964, his senior, RS Gupta, told him, despite how his interview went, Saxena had topped the IAS examination at the all India level. Saxena was so surprised, that he went to a Newspaper, where they announced the top 10 civil services examination scores were posted, to confirm the news.[2] He was the youngest to join the 1964 batch at Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, at the age of 22. After graduation, he believed in continued studies, and started publishing papers through journals and newspapers, through his various postings over 15 years. In 1980, he became Secretary, Land Reforms Department, in Uttar Pradesh. He had various different ideas, some of which were shot down.

From 1985 to 1987, he was Joint Secretary in Union Ministry of Environment and Forests, and following this posting, he went to Oxford to get a Doctorate in Forestry, between 1989 and 1992.

He headed a planning commission panel on rural poor and recommended rank-based system including automatic inclusion and exclusion of poor families.[4]

On 16 August 2010, a committee headed by him warned that plans by Vedanta Resources to mine on Dongria Kondh land in eastern India threaten the survival of the tribe.[5] This led to the Indian government refusing clearance to the project.[6]

As a Consultant with UNICEF, UNDP, and various other organisations, to help raise awareness for Social Issues, like Climate Change, and how it affects India. He has written over 200 reports.[7] on Social issues, on topics like Forest Management, to how Government Policy and Administration impact the poverty scheme. He has also written a few articles for the Newspaper, the Economic and Political Weekly.[8]

Books edit

In 2019, he wrote a book titled, What Ails the IAS and Why It Fails to Deliver[9]. A look inside the IAS, and how it can be improved. A list of other books he has either written himself, or written with others:

  • To the Hands of the Poor, Written mainly by Robert Chambers, but N. C. Saxena, and Tushaar Shah were editors.[10]
  • India's eucalyptus craze, completely written by N.C. Saxena [11]
  • Land Subsidence, written by B. Singh, N.C. Saxena[12]
  • Mine Closures written by N.C. Saxena [13]
  • What Ails the IAS and Why it Fails to Deliver [9]

References edit

  1. ^ "Plan panel's Jadhav is also in NAC". Hindustan Times. 2010. Archived from the original on 16 June 2010.
  2. ^ a b Tyagi, Anil. "First Stirrings : Man of Ideas". gfilesindia. Retrieved 14 April 2019.
  3. ^ N. C. Saxena Biography from the United Nations Development Program, in India. Link
  4. ^ "Dynamic poverty list to help target aid". The Economic Times. 13 May 2010.
  5. ^ N C Saxena; S Parasuraman; Promode Kant; Amita Baviskar (2010). Report Of The Four Member Committee For Investigation Into The Proposal Submitted By The Orissa Mining Company For Bauxite Mining In Niyamgiri (PDF).
  6. ^ "Environment Ministry says no to Vedanta - NDTV Profit". 25 August 2010. Archived from the original on 25 August 2010. Retrieved 29 April 2018.
  7. ^ "N.C. Saxena - Google Scholar Citations". scholar.google.com. Retrieved 14 April 2019.
  8. ^ "Naresh Chandra Saxena". Economic and Political Weekly. 5 June 2015. Retrieved 14 April 2019.
  9. ^ a b Saxena, N. C. (Naresh Chandra) (5 August 2019). What ails the IAS and why it fails to deliver : an insider's view. New Delhi. ISBN 9789353286491. OCLC 1111800476.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  10. ^ Chambers, Robert, 1932- (1989). To the hands of the poor : water and trees. Saxena, N. C., Shah, Tushaar. London: Intermediate Technology Publications. ISBN 185339047X. OCLC 22153734.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  11. ^ Saxena, N. C., 1942- (1994). India's eucalyptus craze : the god that failed. New Delhi: Sage Publications. ISBN 0803991665. OCLC 29600992.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  12. ^ Land subsidence : International Symposium, 11-15 December 1989. Singh, B. (Bhagwant), 1931-, Saxena, N. C. (Naresh Chandra), Central Mining Research Station (Dhanbad, India), International Symposium on Land Subsidence (1989 : Dhanbad, India). Rotterdam: A.A. Balkema. 1991. ISBN 9061911281. OCLC 25511428.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  13. ^ Saxena, N.C. (Naresh Chandraa) (2008). Mine Closure. Scientific Publishers. ISBN 978-9387741188.