By – Prakarsh Kastwar
Desai, an IIS officer from 1989, took over the CBC in 2017. Rajesh Malhotra, who has led the media outreach division since 2022, will step down from his position as PIB director when he retires.
Manish Desai, the director of the Central Bureau of Communications (CBC), will take over the government’s Press Information Bureau (PIB) on Friday, the ministry of information and broadcasting announced on Thursday.
Manish Desai, a senior Indian Information Service officer, was named the PIB’s principal director general on Wednesday, according to the statement.
Desai, an IIS officer from 1989, took over the CBC in 2017. When Rajesh Malhotra, who has led the media outreach division since 2022, retires, he will take over as PIB’s leader.
Desai has also served as the head of the advertising and public relations division of the Indian government.
The project encompasses all forms of communication, including print, electronic, outdoor, transit, and new media. Desai served as the director general of the Registrar of Newspapers of India (RNI) from November 2019 until January 2020.
From 2012 to 2018, he worked as the PIB’s additional director general (ADG) for six years. He has also held the position of director general of Mumbai’s West Zone PIB.
Desai has worked with All India Radio and the Indian Institute of Mass Communication over the course of his more than 30-year career.
He oversaw the PIB Western Region operations, handling a variety of media events that included the participation of the president, vice president, prime minister, and federal ministers of the Government of India, according to his LinkedIn page.
Bhupendra Kainthola, a former principal director general of the PIB in Kolkata, has also been nominated by the ministry as the press registrar.
According to the Union government, Dhirendra Ojha, the current press registrar, would succeed Desai as head of CBC.
The Indian government’s central agency for information dissemination, PIB, celebrated its 100th birthday in June of this year.
The Central Publicity Board was established in Shimla in June 1919 as a small cell under the home ministry of the colonial administration. Its main responsibility was to create an annual report on India for the British Parliament.
Dr. LF Rushbrook Williams, an officer on special assignment from Allahabad University, served as the first head of the PR cell.