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.
