V Vidyavathi to Hold Additional Charge of Social Justice & Empowerment

V Vidyavathi, a 1991-batch IAS officer of the Karnataka cadre serving as Secretary, Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (Divyangjan), has been entrusted with the additional charge of Secretary, Department of Social Justice & Empowerment.

The additional charge will cover the period from July 8 to July 25, 2026, during the absence of IAS officer Sudhansh Pant, the regular Secretary of the department, from headquarters. The Department of Social Justice & Empowerment oversees welfare schemes for Scheduled Castes, Other Backward Classes, senior citizens and other marginalised groups, running parallel to Vidyavathi's existing charge of disability-focused welfare programmes under the Divyangjan department.

The arrangement is a short-term administrative measure typical of central government departments when a Secretary-level officer is away from headquarters, ensuring continuity in decision-making across both departments during the seventeen-day period. Vidyavathi's dual charge brings two related but distinct social welfare portfolios under a single officer temporarily, a common practice when officers from related ministries can absorb each other's core functions during short absences.

The Department of Social Justice & Empowerment administers flagship welfare schemes including scholarships for Scheduled Caste and Other Backward Class students, old-age pension coordination and drug de-addiction programmes run jointly with state governments, in addition to overseeing statutory commissions for these groups. As a 1991-batch officer with over three decades of service in the Karnataka cadre, Vidyavathi's existing charge of the Divyangjan department already covers disability welfare schemes and the implementation of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, giving her working familiarity with the broader social welfare ministry's coordination structure even before this additional assignment.