Who among the following was the Former Secretary (HRD), Information and Broadcasting (I&B) and has been appointed as the advisor to the Prime Minister of India in October 2021?

Correct — A. Amit Khare retired at the end of September 2021 as Secretary in the Ministry of Education, the former HRD ministry, and had earlier served as Secretary, Information and Broadcasting.

He was appointed Adviser to the Prime Minister in October 2021, immediately on retirement. The stem's two-department clue, HRD together with I&B, fits one name in the list, and option (a) is that name.

Why the others are wrong

• (b)
  PK Sinha — PK Sinha came to the PMO from the Cabinet Secretariat, having been Cabinet Secretary — not the HRD and I&B pairing the question describes.
• (c)
  Amarjeet Sinha — Amarjeet Sinha's background is rural development, and he too served as an adviser in the PMO, which makes him the strongest wrong option here.
• (d)
  Shri Apurva Chandra — Apurva Chandra served as Secretary, Information and Broadcasting, so he matches one half of the clue, but not the HRD half.

An Adviser to the Prime Minister is an appointment inside the Prime Minister's Office, usually of a recently retired senior civil servant, made for a fixed term at a rank the government specifies in the order.

The post is not a constitutional one and runs no ministry. Its holder advises on the subjects the PMO assigns, which is why such appointments are read as a signal of the policy areas the PMO wants reinforced.

Key facts

• Amit Khare was appointed Adviser to the Prime Minister in October 2021.
• He had served as Secretary, Information and Broadcasting, and later as Secretary in the Ministry of Education.
• The Ministry of Human Resource Development was renamed the Ministry of Education in 2020.

Common traps

• Picking Amarjeet Sinha because he was also an adviser in the PMO.
• Matching only the I&B half of the clue and choosing the serving I&B Secretary.

No directly related past PYQ was found.