IPS officer Ravi Sinha appointed RAW chief replacing Samant Kumar Goel

New Delhi: Senior IPS officer Ravi Sinha, widely respected in the intelligence community for his professional competence and an expert on India's neighbouring countries, was appointed as the head of external spy agency RAW on Monday. He will succeed Samant Goel who completes his four-year stint on June 30.

Being the number two in the organisation, where he has served for more than two decades, Sinha has been credited with making a significant progress in employing modern technology in the process of intelligence gathering.

In his new role, Sinha is expected to integrate technological and human intelligence dimensions to address the challenges of today's times.

The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the appointment of 59-year-old Sinha, a 1988-batch IPS officer of Chhattisgarh cadre, as the Secretary RAW for a tenure of two years, according to an order issued by the Ministry of Personnel.

Considered a specialist on countries in India's immediate neighbourhood, Sinha's appointment comes at a time when Pakistan is politically and economically unstable, Sikh extremism is being fanned from abroad and attempts are being made in the northeast, especially in Manipur, to promote violence.

Sinha is at present heading the operations wing of the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW). His batchmate Tapan Deka is heading the Intelligence Bureau.

An alumnus of St Stephen's College in Delhi, Sinha has worked in a wide range of fields and brings to his new role an impressive bank of experience and knowledge.

He is known to have a sound grip on developments in India's neighbourhood, besides Jammu and Kashmir, Northeast and areas hit by the Left Wing Extremism where he has severed at different points in time.

His predecessor Goel was appointed RAW chief for two years in June 2019. He was later given two extensions of one year each in 2021 and June 2022.

Goel, an expert on matters related to Jammu and Kashmir, is believed to have played a key role in planning the February 2019 surgical strike in Pakistan's Balakot.

The surgical strike was carried out in response to the Pulwama terror attack, in which 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were killed by a suicide bomber of Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM).

The Indian Air Force had struck a JeM terrorist training camp in Balakot on February 26, 2019.