Rajiv Bansal, an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer, has been the Secretary of Civil Aviation since October 1, 2021. Prior to that, he was the Chairman and Managing Director of Air India, at the time of take-over of Air India by the Tata Group. Bansal has said that Indian aviation should be at the pole position by the turn of the decade, “Two countries are ahead of us in many parameters, but in seven years, we should be able to beat them.” Bansal is a 1988 batch IAS officer of the Nagaland cadre. He has held many posts including Additional Secretary of Petroleum & Natural Gas; Joint Secretary, Electronics & Information Technology; Secretary, Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC); and Joint Secretary, Heavy Industries & Public Enterprises. He has also held several key positions in the Government of Nagaland including as Commissioner & Secretary, Health & Family Welfare; Commissioner & Secretar y, School Education Department; Commissioner & Secretary, Finance Department, Nagaland, etc.