Retired DG of BSF Pankaj Kumar Singh appointed Deputy NSA

Deputy National Security Adviser

Retired director general of the Border Security Force (BSF), Pankaj Kumar Singh was appointed as the Deputy National Security Adviser in National Security Council Secretariat for a period of two years. Singh, a 1988-batch IPS officer of the Rajasthan cadre, has been appointed on a re-employment contract. Singh had retired as the BSF chief on December 31, 2022. When Singh took charge of the BSF on August 31, 2021, he had created history of a son and a father holding the top post of a paramilitary force during their services. His father and retired IPS officer of the 1959-batch, Prakash Singh, had also headed the BSF from June, 1993 to January, 1994. Singh holds LLB and MPhil degrees, besides MBA from the IIM, Ahmedabad.

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Currently, retired IPS officer Dattatray Padsalgikar, former R&AW chief Rajinder Khanna and retired IFS officer Pankaj Saran also served as Deputy National Security Advisors.

Earlier Posting

• Singh had earlier served with the Union government as Inspector General of the CRPF in Chhattisgarh and IG (Operations) at CRPF headquarters in Delhi.
• Before becoming BSF DG, he also served in the BSF as chief of the Eastern Frontier, he played an instrumental role in bringing down cattle smuggling through West Bengal and Assam borders.
• Between 2015 and 2021, cattle smuggling on the Indo-Bangla border dropped by 87%. When he became DG of the BSF, he had to negotiate the contentious amendment to BSF jurisdiction which was increased to 50km from the border as many states opposed it.
• He has served in the Rajasthan Police as well as in the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), during which he cracked an infamous sex scandal that had rocked Jammu and Kashmir, besides being involved in solving several cases related to corruption.
• His idea to celebrate the Raising Day of the BSF in Jaisalmer, Rajasthan, in 2021, appealed to the government so much that it has now directed all paramilitary forces and even the Army to celebrate their foundation and raising days out of Delhi.

Important takeaways for all competitive exams:

• 5th and current National Security Advisor (NSA): Ajit Kumar Doval;