Srinivas R. Katikithala serves as Director, Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, the premier civil services
capacity building organisation of India since September 2021. A member of the 1989 batch of the Indian Administrative Service, he
has risen to the rank of Secretary to the Government of India after rendering thirty two years of a rich tapestry of service. He
is deeply influenced by the immortal words of Sardar Patel that ‘an efficient, disciplined, and contented service assured of its
prospect as a result of diligent and honest work is the sine qua non of a sound administration’.
He believes that a Civil
Services career gives rich opportunities for public service, in a manner that no other can. Speaking from his own life, he holds
that he has been enriched by a profuse mosaic of experiences and asserts that he will not exchange it for any other. A passionate
civil servant whose formative years were grounded in the Gandhian tradition which imbued his cadre state, he firmly believes in
the tenet of ‘Service Before Self’ and in the motto of the Academy- ‘Sheelam Param Bhushanam’- Character is the highest
embellishment.
He served in the Governments of India and Gujarat in various important assignments, contributing to policy
formulation, legislation and large project implementation. In his previous assignment as Establishment Officer & Secretary to the
Appointments Committee of the Union Cabinet, he helped structure the path breaking Mission Karmayogi, Government of India’s
Flagship Civil Service Capacity Building Program.
In his cadre state of Gujarat, he is credited with numerous public policy
reforms in Revenue Administration, Personnel Administration, Urban Affairs; and in the building & management of Public
Infrastructure. He had the unique honor of implementing the iconic tribute to the Iron Man of India and the Patron Saint of Civil
Services, Sardar Patel’s Statue of Unity.
Srinivas Katikithala led the humanitarian response to the Gujarat Earthquake in
Ahmedabad and implemented the award-winning Gujarat Earthquake Rehabilitation Program (GERP) which rebuilt 14 earthquake struck
cities of Saurashtra-Kutch during the years 2004- 07. In addition, several other innovative projects such as GIFT CITYGujarat,
Kutch irrigation, etc. were also led by him.