Parameswaran Iyer, new Niti Aayog CEO, is an accidental bureaucrat

The man who helmed the Swachh Bharat mission once worked as a journalist and cut vegetables in a hotel

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was giving a speech in 2018 when he suddenly paused and said: “Government officials are usually supposed to work in anonymity. We do not get to know the names of the bureaucrats whose deeds may have won our admiration. But here, I would like to breach the protocol and introduce Parameswaran Iyer to all.” He then asked the TV channel crew to focus their cameras on Iyer, who was seated in the audience.

The colourful, multi-faceted retired IAS officer (1981 Uttar Pradesh cadre), the son of an Air Force officer, toyed with the career in professional