The New Logistics Messiah

Karnataka cadre officer N Sivasailam has been creating ripples with his no-nonsense approach to the critical logistics department. he’s the single window bureaucrat blue-pencilling the logistics matrix to take the economy to the uS$5 trillion trajectory over the next five years

- Ramesh Kumar

Short in size, tall in stature. That aptly sums up N Sivasailam, the first special secretary to be appointed for logistics in the Ministry of Commerce on November 2018, the special arm created for the first time by the government. Though there has been a clamor for a separate ministry of logistics to catapult the Indian economy into a much higher orbit, it took the Narendra Modi-led National democractic Alliance (NdA) regime almost five long years to berth this long-felt need. Why this 1985 Karnataka cadre was picked for this niche slot is a million-dollar question that remains unanswered to this day.

Having said that, he has been creating ripples with his no-nonsense as well as hands-on approach to the critical department. he’s the single window bureaucrat blue-penciling the logistics matrix to take the economy to the US$5 trillion trajectory over the next five years: Circa 2024, the doubling of the present GDP. Tough call. What’s the point of fixing an easily attainable goal, he asked during our maiden meeting in his spacious Room Number 241 in Udyog Bhavan, a stone’s throw away from Parliament.