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.

Senior IPS officer Nina Singh on Friday took over as the first woman Director General of CISF, 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.

“She is recipient of the President’s Police Medal for Meritorious Service in 2005, the President’s Police Medal for Distinguished Service in 2014 and the ‘Ati Utkrisht Seva Medal’ in 2020. She has also been honored with the Indira Gandhi Priyadarshini Award for outstanding contributions and the Nari Shakti Samman. She also earned the title of ‘Champion of Evidence-Based Policing’ from the Cambridge University Police Executive Programme, UK,” he said in a statement.

An MHA official said the decision to appoint Singh as the CISF chief was taken “on the basis of her vast experience” in the force. “She has been working in the CISF since 2021 — first as Additional DG and then as Special DG and DG in-charge since August 31,” the official said. Singh earlier served as Joint Director of CBI during 2013-2018. During her tenure, she

supervised many high profile cases relating to corruption, economic offences, bank frauds and sports integrity. She also headed the investigation of the Sheena Bora murder case.

A 1989-batch officer, Singh was the first woman IPS officer to be allocated the Rajasthan cadre, taking on several important assignments in the state. “With a distinguished career spanning 34 years, she has worked on various assignments across Rajasthan and acquired in-depth knowledge of the police administration, training, criminal investigation and maintenance of public order. She was the Member-Secretary of Rajasthan State Commission for Women,” CISF PRO Kishore said.

source/content: indianexpress.com (headline edited)