Narinder Nath Vohra Biography

Narinder Nath Vohra, career bureaucrat and former IAS officer, took over as the Governor of Jammu & Kashmir in 2008. After his retirement from the IAS, the distinguished civil servant went on to head various national bodies and task forces. He was awarded the Padma Vibhushan in 2007 for his service to the nation.

Background
He was educated in Punjab and then later was a visiting fellow at Queen Elizabeth House, Oxford in United Kingdom. He topped Punjab University in MA (English) in 1957 and became a Lecturer there. He was a lecturer till 1959, before he entered the elite IAS. In 2011, Punjab University awarded him an Honorary Doctor of Law.

He writes and lectures on governance and security issues and has edited over a dozen books.

Service career
He joined the IAS, with Punjab as his cadre, and served till 1994. He has held a number of responsible positions under the central and state governments and even after retirement was recalled to serve as the Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister. He served as Principal Secretary from 1997 to 1998.

He has been the Joint Secretary, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in 1977 and Additional Secretary Defense in 1985. He was appointed Union Home Secretary in 1993, an important time for the nation as Mumbai had been ripped by serial bomb blasts just a few months before. He authored and submitted a highly explosive report-the NN Vohra Committee Report- on the criminalization of politics and the criminal networks in the country.

Mr Vohra at the beginning of his career had been inducted into the special services bureau under the Central Intelligence Bureau and was trained with the SAS of UK. This was following the Indo-China conflict in the sixties. He was appointed Home Secretary of Punjab in the late eighties, just after the Operation Blue Star. In 1985, Punjab was in turmoil, but Mr Vohra managed to organize peaceful elections to the state Assembly.

Post retirement from the IAS
After retiring from the IAS, Mr. Vohra held a slew of important positions. He was the Director of the India International Centre at New Delhi and the member of the first national Security Advisory Board. In 2000 he was appointed the Chairman of the national task force on internal security, and in 2001 the Chairman of the Review of Institute of Defense studies and Analysis. Apart from these, he was also the member of CSCAP National Committee and the founder Co-chairman, Indo-European union Round Table.

He served as the President of the Indian Mountaineering Foundation from 1999-2006 and the Chairman of the Sarvodya International trust from 2000-2008.
He has also been a consultant to the international body WHO (World Health Organisation) at Geneva.

From 2003 to 2008 he served as the Special Representative of Government of India for dialogue between the elected representatives and the separatists in Jammu and Kashmir.

Governor
He became the Governor on J&K on June 25, 2008. As Governor, he withdrew the controversial Amarnath shrine land transfer order in keeping with the popular sentiment in the valley.