Ms. Vandana Kumari Jena

Biography

Mrs. Vandana Kumari Jena retired Secretary, Government of India, Department of Land Resources, Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India belonged to the 1979 batch (Odisha Cadre) of the Indian Administrative Service. A Masters in Political Science, University of Delhi as well as Development Administration, University of Birmingham, UK she has worked extensively in various fields of administration including Land related matters like land acquisition, land reforms, modernization of land records, the Registration Act, Integrated Watershed Development and Financial Inclusion for the poor. Her core area of interest lies in the field of Human Resource Development, including adult education and literacy, lifelong education, skill development, elementary and secondary education. She worked in the Education Sector in various capacities, as Director National Literacy Mission, Ministry of Human Resource Development; Education Adviser Department for International Development (DFID) India; Joint Secretary Adult Education & Director General National Literacy Mission, Ministry of HRD, Government of India; Principal Secretary, School and Mass Education, Government of Odisha as well as Vice-Chancellor, Berhampur University, Odisha. She has also worked in the area of Youth Development and Empowerment as Joint Secretary, Youth Affairs and Sports and Director General, Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan. As Principal Adviser Planning Commission she headed the Women and Child Division & Health Division and brought Nutrition centre stage, and contributed extensively to Women’s Agency and Child Rights, skills development and financial inclusion for women. She was engaged in the implementation of National Policy on the Voluntary Sector, maintenance of the NGO-PS Partnership portal and was instrumental in providing an interface between the NGOs and the Government through the Civil Society Window. She is also a writer and has published a novel, two collections of short stories and one compilation of middles. She has been nominated by Government of India as Director on the Board of Syndicate Bank w.e.f. 25.04.2016.

Research Interest

Accounting Economics Banking commerce