Nina Singh takes charge as CISF’s first woman chief
The first female director general of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), Nina Singh, brings experience in social programme evaluation and evidence-based decisioning to the role, having co-authored two papers with Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo, the co-founders and co-directors of the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) and Nobel Laureates in economics.
Senior IPS officer Nina Singh on Friday took over as the first woman Director General of CISF in New Delhi, a central force that guards civil airports and other vital installations.
Singh, who served as DG in-charge of CISF after her predecessor Sheel Vardhan Singh retired on August 31, was accorded a guard of honour at the CISF headquarters. Among those present was her husband, IAS officer and Union consumer affairs secretary Rohit Kumar Singh.
The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) issued an order for her appointment to the post on Thursday. Originally from Bihar, Singh studied at the Patna Women’s College before obtaining Master’s degrees from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) and Harvard. “She is also trained in the evaluation of social programmes at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA and co-authored research papers with Economics Nobel laureates Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo, both from MIT on evidence-based police reforms initiatives,” CISF chief PRO Shrikant Kishore said.