Dr. Satish B. Agnihotri, formerly a career bureaucrat, is now Professor at IIT Bombay at the Centre for Technology Alternatives in Rural Areas (CTARA). He retired as Secretary (Coordination & Public Grievances), Cabinet Secretariat where he also held the charge of Secretary (Security), Secretary Performance Management and Chairman, National Chemical Weapons Authority. Prior to this he was Secretary, Ministry of New & Renewable Energy. He has been a member of the Dhirendra Singh Committee on ‘Make in India in Defense Sector’, Co-Chair of the Raman Puri Committee on Quality issues in Ordnance and also the Chairman of the MNREGA Awards Committee - 2016.

He also held other important assignments such as Director General (Acquisition) in the Ministry of Defense of the Government of India, Additional Secretary cum Financial Adviser in the Ministry of Agriculture, Director General of Shipping in Mumbai and JSin the Cabinet Secretariat, Government of India.

He has worked as Secretary, Women and Child Development in Odisha and has also worked with UNICEF, Kolkata as Consultant on Child Nutrition and Health. He was the founder Chief Executive of the Odisha Renewable Energy Development Agency.

Education & other details

Dr Agnihotri is an IAS officer of Odisha cadre from the 1980 batch. He has done his Master’s degree in Physics followed by M.Tech in Environment Science and Engineering from IIT, Bombay. He later did an MA in Rural Development followed by a Ph.D on sex ratio patterns in Indian Population from School of Development Studies, University of East Anglia, Norwich UK.

His research on declining sex ratios in India has been approvingly cited by scholars including Prof. Amartya Sen. His book Sex Ratio Patterns in the Indian Population (Sage, 2000) has been widely acclaimed. His current research interests include Child Malnutrition, declining sex ratios in India and renewable energy. He also writes satire and science fiction in Hindi. His book “Tahan Tahan Bhrashtrachaar” has been published by Rajkamal, New Delhi and in Marathi as “Zopi Gelaa Kumbhakarna” by Parchure Prakashan, Mumbai.

He belongs to Dharangaon, Jalgaon District in Maharashtra.