Jishnu Barua (born 1 September 1962) is an Indian civil servant and historian serving as the 6th Chairperson of the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission since 2023. He previously served as the 49th Chief Secretary of Assam from October 2020 to August 2022. In a career spanning over three decades, Barua has held various positions in the Assam state government and Indian national government.
Barua is the son of former Chief Secretary of Manipur Dwijendra Nath Barua and of author Prativa Barua. Through his mother, he is a descendant of the Ahom dynasty and is the third great-grandnephew of the last Ahom King Purandar Singha. Barua studied at St. Stephen's College, Delhi where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in philosophy and a Master of Arts in history. He became an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of the Assam-Meghalaya cadre in 1988. Barua served as the deputy commissioner (DC) of the North Cachar Hills from 1994 to 1995 and then as the DC of Jorhat from 1996 to 1997. He moved to work in central deputation in 2001 as private secretary to Minister Satyabrata Mookherjee, and then served as the director of police in the Ministry of Home Affairs until 2006. He then earned a Master of Philosophy in Defence and Strategic Studies from the National Defence College before returning to the Assam state government as Commissioner and secretary to the Chief Minister, Tarun Gogoi. In 2009, he was given the additional charge of home and political affairs, before becoming Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Gogoi and the Borders Area Department.
In 2014, Barua returned to central deputation as Joint Secretary in the Department of Personnel and Training, serving until 2017. He then returned to the Assam government as Principal Secretary to the Power Department, before being promoted to Additional Chief Secretary. He then served as Additional Chief Secretary in various departments, lastly in the Home and Political and Revenue and Disaster Management Departments from January to October 2020.
In October 2020, Barua was appointed the 49th Chief Secretary of Assam, succeeding Kumar Sanjay Krishna. As Chief Secretary and chairman of the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA), he oversaw the Assam government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic. He was also Chief Secretary during the 2020 Bodoland Territorial Council election and the 2021 Assam Legislative Assembly elections. His tenure also encompassed several border disputes between Assam and states; in July 2021 he signed an agreement in the Assam-Nagaland dispute and reached an agreement in the Assam-Mizoram dispute. He retired as Chief Secretary in August 2022, and was appointed the Chairperson of the CERC in February 2023.
Early life and education
Ancestry and family Jishnu Barua was born on 1 September 1962, the son of Dwijendra Nath Barua (1931–1996) and Prativa Barua. His father, Dwijendra, was a civil servant who served as the Chief Secretary of Manipur from 1981 to 1987 and later as Chairman of the Assam Public Service Commission from 1989 to 1993. His mother, Prativa Barua, is a descendant of the Ahom dynasty and author; her works include a travelogue Neel Sagaror Upokulot Ahezar Din (2001), a compilation of articles Nishar Sadhu (2003), an essay collection Jatra (2012), and her novel Jiwan Juddhar Setu (2021). Prativa is the granddaughter of Chandra Narayan Singha, the great-nephew of the last Ahom King Purandar Singha.
His younger brother, Paul Barua, is also a civil servant served as the deputy commissioner of Dima Hasao and later of Charaideo. His paternal uncle, Bhupendra Nath Baruah, was the first director of Sports and Youth Welfare in Assam.
Education Barua studied at St. Stephen's College, Delhi where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in philosophy and a Master of Arts in history.
Civil service career (1988–2020)
Early career Barua became an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of the Assam-Meghalaya cadre in 1988. He went on to serve as a Sub-Divisional Officer (SDO) of Abhayapuri (Civil) in the Bongaigaon district of Assam.
From 1994 to 1995, Barua served as the deputy commissioner (DC) of the North Cachar Hills. He then served as the DC of Jorhat from 27 May 1996 to 18 June 1997. Barua then was the managing director of Assam Industrial Development Corporation (AIDC) from 1997 to 2001.
National government and studies From 2001 to 2006, Barua served in central deputation. He served as Private Secretary to Satyabrata Mookherjee who was the Union Minister of State for Commerce & Industry and Minister of State for Atomic Energy and Minister of State for Space until 2004. He later served as Director (police) in the Ministry of Home Affairs until 2006.
In 2006, Barua earned a Master of Philosophy in Defence and Strategic Studies from the National Defence College.
Return to state government
Commissioner After returning to the Assam state government, Barua served as Commissioner and secretary to the Chief Minister, Tarun Gogoi. On 9 September 2009, he was given the additional charge of home and political affairs. As Home Commissioner under Gogoi, Barua took up an incident where the Nagaland Police had attacked All Assam Students' Union (AASU) activists with his Nagaland counterpart, and was dispatched by Gogoi to oversee the security situation there. He also signed a memorandum of settlement in New Delhi to upgrade the Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council, an agreement that had been formalised after seven years of dialogue. In September 2011, Barua for the Assam government signed a tripartite agreement for the suspension of operations of the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) along with ULFA and the Indian government.
Principal Secretary Barua later served as Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi and the Borders Area Department. In the role, he attended meetings including on implementing the National Food Security Act in 2013, and improvements in the power sector under Gogoi, and was present for the release of the white paper on foreigners by Gogoi in October 2012.
Role in the Assam state archives During his tenure as Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister, Barua acted as the coordinator for the establishment of the Assam state Archives. A group of local historians approached the Chief Minister's office in 2012 to discuss the state of the archives, and Barua then began to managed the situation. At the time, the files were not catalogued properly and the building was in disrepair. Barua managed the archival development project and led the archives team in updating the catalogue. Renovation and modernisation of the archives began in May 2013.
In 2013, he revealed that 306,643 files from between 1774 and 1957, around 29,300 books and reports, and 2,419 maps had been preserved through modern scientific methods. He stated to The Telegraph that the project had incurred during 2013–14. Barua helped secure funding and public interest in preserving archival history. He convinced Gogoi to visit the archives in 2014, organised exhibitions and delivered lectures to students on the archive to bring them to public attention.
Return to Central Deputation In August 2014, Barua was appointed Joint Secretary in the Department of Personnel and Training in the Government of India. In April 2016, he was interviewed as a possible candidate to become Chairman of Oil India. He served as Joint Secretary until 2017. During his tenure in the position, he represented India at sixth session of the conference of the States Parties to the United Nations Convention against Corruption in St. Petersburg in November 2015.
Second return to state government
After leaving his position as Joint Secretary, Barua returned to the Assam cadre as Principal Secretary to the Power Department in 2017. As Principal Secretary to the Power Department, Barua went on a 2-day tour to Bhutan with Minister Naba Kumar Doley, where they met the Minister of Economic Affairs of Bhutan and discussed where the two regions could cooperate on in the future. Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal asked Barua as Principal Secretary to lead the shaping of the Assam solar power policy on a fast track basis ahead of the next cabinet meeting in October 2017.
On 10 August 2017, he was appointed Chairman of the Assam Power Distribution Company Limited (APDCL), Assam Power Generation Corporation Limited (APGCL), and the Assam Electricity Grid Corporation Limited (AEGCL). During his tenure as APDCL chairman from 2017 to 2018, the APDCL recorded collection efficiency of over 100% for the first time in its history.
In May 2018, he was promoted to Additional Chief Secretary for Power, Social Welfare, General Administration and Secretariat Administration. In October 2018, he was relieved from his additional charge as chairman of the APDCL, APGCL and AEGCL, and was posted as in addition to his current positions as Additional Chief Secretary for Labour Welfare and Tea Tribes Welfare. In September 2018, he was tasked with investigating an incident where a boat carrying 40 people capsized in the Brahmaputra river. He also participated in the felicitation ceremony for outgoing Chief Secretary T.Y. Das. In March 2019, Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal ordered Barua to conduct a one-person inquiry into the alleged irregularities in government appointments to the panchayat and rural development department. In May, the inquiry term was extended.
As Additional Chief Secretary for the Environment, Barua's department approved a proposal to create an eco-sensitive zone around Kaziranga national park, and sent the proposal to the national government. As Additional Chief Secretary for Social Welfare, he stressed the importance of creating awareness of welfare schemes and the timely utilisation of funds in Hailakandi.
In December 2019, following the appointment of Kumar Sanjay Krishna as Chief Secretary, Barua was appointed to Krishna's former position as Additional Chief Secretary Home and Political and Revenue and Disaster Management Departments, with Barua retaining his position in the Secretariat Administration (Archives) Department. Barua was relieved from his additional charge as Additional Chief Secretary for the Environment and Forest and Excise Department. He was relieved from his Social Welfare brief in February 2020, and his Revenue Disaster Management and Secretariat Administration (Archives) portfolios were placed as additional charge.
In September 2020, Barua travelled to Nagaland with, along with Chief Secretary Krishna and Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta and other officials, to discuss the inter-state border areas. In October, Barua met with his counterpart, along with Krishna and Mahanta, in Arunachal Pradesh following border dispute issues with Arunachal Pradesh and Assam.
Chief Secretary (2020–2022)
Appointment On 30 October 2020, Barua was appointed Chief Secretary of Assam, succeeding the outgoing Kumar Sanjay Krishna.
COVID-19 pandemic
Barua took office as Chief Secretary amidst the COVID-19 pandemic in India, and he also held the position of chairman of the state executive committee of the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA), which managed the COVID guidelines in Assam. In December 2020, Barua issued new guidelines which restricted large gatherings in enclosed spaces with no social distancing to prevent further spread of COVID-19 ahead of the New Year celebrations, until 10 January 2021. On 13 January, Barua visited the National Informatics Centre in Assam where he reviewed projects there and appreciated the developing of a variety of applications by the NIC to help fight COVID-19. In February, Barua ordered more strict adherence to COVID protocols following a rise in the number of viral infections across certain parts of the state, and also directed administrations to impose section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure to enforce social distancing.