Ministry of Mines Secretary Santha Sheela Nair, who has made her presence felt in India’s corridors of power, hasn’t let the proximity to power go her head and has called the shots effortlessly in a career span of 37 years. From being the first woman Home Secretary to the Tamil Nadu Government, to be the Secretary of the Ministry of Rural Development, the Managing Director of the Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply Board and then helming the hot seat in the Mines Ministry, this IAS officer (TN-73) has done it all and with élan. Often esteemed for her dour resolve, sixty-year-old Nair will soon call it a day as she superannuates from her post next month. This super bureaucrat gets into the groove with Bureaucracy Today to tell us more.
Sheela Nair’s career stint as Mines Secretary is dotted with some inspirational landmarks. She has been deeply involved in formulating the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Bill which, if passed, would bring about many reforms along with transparency and efficiency in the mining sector. Giving us a brief insight about the Bill, Nair says, “The Bill will also lay stress on the social element in the mining domain. That apart, the legislative framework known as Sustainability Development Framework would ensure stakeholder and community involvement to facilitate a ‘Social Licence’ to mine, promote scientific and environment-friendly mining practices, ensure mineral conservation and beneficiation and also ensure a technically sound administrative system to make proper mine planning certain. We are just waiting to get the Cabinet’s nod.”
But finalizing the final draft of the Bill was not easy. The revised Bill, that was first drafted on 17 November, 2009, had its own critics and during the whole process, Nair faced opposition to the hilt from various ministries and stakeholders. The major resistance came when Nair told different ministries and stakeholders that for the first time, mine closure would be open to public scrutiny. “I was constantly on my toes, held innumerable meetings to convince the stakeholders and take decisive action on the Bill. When you draft a Bill, it is not necessary that there will be a consensus on it, but I had to take a decision,” she says. With a pause, she adds, “There will be no need to invoke the Right to Information Act for any disclosure. Everything will be in the public domain.” Nair minces no words and is candid to admit that the industry is plagued by illegal mining. “The Act will empower the State Governments to take action against illegal mining by giving officers powers to enter and inspect any mine, penalize transportation and storage of illegal mined materials and confiscate illegally mined minerals,” says she. The Mines Secretary says she chose to join the Civil Services as she always wanted to be in a domain which is ‘people-centric’. “I always had a knack to interact with different kinds of people and my job has given me that opportunity to do so. My journey has been entirely fulfilling and if given a chance, I would like to work more,” says she. Being a woman bureaucrat in the male bastion is a test of gustiness. Ask her what were the hurdles in her initial career and Nair says with a hearty laugh, “I never saw my job as a woman. A job is a job for me. But yes, being a woman, whenever I did a good job, it was highlighted much to the ire of my male counterparts. If it went with a small mistake, it would come to the notice of everyone.”
BLURB SANTHA SHEELA NAIR’S ACHIEVEMENTS
Has played an important role in the sanitation movement
Has helped in formulating the concept of providing ration cards with photos in Tamil Nadu
