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M.R.Sivaraman

Madras Ramanathan Sivaraman (born 1940) is a former Indian Administrative Service officer who served as Executive Director of the International Monetary Fund representing India, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Srilanka between 1996 and 1999.He was India’s Revenue Secretary with Dr Manmohan Singh and was responsible for initiating fundamental reforms in India’s indirect tax system including the  introduction of PAN and computerisation of India’s Central Excise and customs departments.He served earlier as India’s Director General of Civil Aviation and was responsible for opening up India’s skies for private sector aviation companies.

Background With a post Graduate degree in economics Sivaraman started his career in the Indian Administrative Service in the state of Madhya Pradesh in 1963 and was appointed as District Magistrate and collector of a then famine affected tribal District Jhabua even before he was 26 years old. He introduced innovative changes in famine relief works. Subsequently as Collector Mandsaur he solved permanently an unresolved property dispute between Hindus and Muslims near a temple. Sivaraman served in the Finance department of the government of MP as Deputy Secretary and Special Secretary budget. He later joined the seventh finance commission as director and was commended for his work in evolving formula for distribution. Sivaraman then became Joint Secretary in the department of economic affairs, Government of India and led many delegations to several countries in Europe. He also accompanied the then Prime Minister Mrs Indira Gandhi on her state visits. Sivaraman then returned to MP as Finance and Planning secretary(1982-1987). During the Bhopal gas tragedy Sivaraman took many initiatives to diffuse tensions. He later joined the Ministry of Commerce where he worked as Joint and Additional Secretary (1987 1990). In the wake of several fatal aircraft accidents leading to the loss of many lives Sivaraman being a qualified pilot was posted as the DGCA of India and ex officio Additional Secretary Ministry of Civil Aviation (1990 1993). The Indian skies were opened to private airlines during this period and reforms in pilot training and air safety audit of airlines were introduced. Sivaraman also supervised the design and construction of a trainer aircraft by the DGCA named SWATHY. This trainer aircraft was commercially produced by the Bharat Heavy Electricals in a new factory in Hardwar. Sivaraman was appointed as Revenue Secretary to the government of India (1993 1996) when many major tax reforms were carried out. He introduced the Permanent Account Number for income tax payees, setting up a meeting of all the finance ministers of the states to discuss tax issues of national interest and started computerising the process of assessment and collection of all indirect taxes paving the way for the eventual introduction of VAT and the GST. Sivaraman was elected as Executive Director of the International Monetary Fund to represent India, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Srilanka. (1996-1999) Sivaraman was then invited by the UN to be an advisor to the UNSC council on Counter terrorism in which capacity he served for over a year. Sivaraman on retirement is engaged in rural development works in the state of Tamilnadu that would lead to doubling of the income of farmers. He writes on development and fiscal and monetary policy issues and also reviews books for the International Journal of Environmental Systems. Sivaraman was educated in Loyal College Chennai and holds a Post Graduate Degree in Economics. Sivaraman13 (talk) 12:14, 18 May 2019 (UTC)M.R. Sivaraman