| Vikas Kharage | |
| Birth Date: | 17 March 1968 |
| Birth Place: | Vita, Maharashtra, India |
| Alma Mater: | College of Engineering, Pune University of Sussex |
| Spouse: | Meenakshi Kharage |
| Children: | Vyankatesh Kharage Manish Kharage |
Vikas Shankar Kharage (विकास शंकर खारगे) is an Indian Administrative Service officer of Maharashtra cadre.[1] He has been posted in the Chief Minister's Office (Maharashtra) since 9th December 2019. He was appointed as Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister, Government of Maharashtra initially and later promoted to Additional Chief Secretary (ACS) to the Chief Minister, Government of Maharashtra on 1st August 2024. He also holds charge of Additional Chief Secretary of the Department of Cultural Affairs, Maharashtra since January 2023.
Kharage was born in Vita, Maharashtra, a rural town of Deccan Peninsula in Sangli District of Maharashtra, on 17 March 1968. His father, Shankar, a teacher by profession, and his mother, Rukmini, live in his hometown Ichalkaranji in Kolhapur district. He has two children, Vyankatesh and Manish. His elder son, Vyankatesh, married Ms. Alria.
He completed his primary and secondary education up to the 8th standard, at the Rajashree Chhatrapati Shahu High School of Ichalkaranji Municipal Corporation. Subsequently, he continued his studies until the SSC (10th standard) at Vyankatrao High School in Ichalkaranji. He then relocated to Kolhapur for his junior college education (11th and 12th standards) at New College, Kolhapur. He pursued his B.E. in Electronics and Telecommunications at Government College of Engineering, Pune. In 2010, he went on to acquire an M.A. degree (Governance and Development) from IDS, University of Sussex, UK.
After graduating from COEP, he started his career as a lecturer at DKTE Engineering College at Ichalkaranji since he had an ambition for higher education abroad. However, his urge to work for people and an inclination towards the administration compelled him to quit his lectureship and start preparing for UPSC. He joined the State Institute for Administrative Careers (SIAC) in Kolhapur and Mumbai for guidance and studies of the UPSC-CSE examination. He cracked the UPSC examination in the year 1994 with an All India 34th rank and 1st in Maharashtra, which allotted him IAS with Maharashtra cadre.[2] Kharage started his career as an Assistant Collector from Bramhapuri in Chandrapur district of Maharashtra.[3] Till date, Kharage has undertaken many path-breaking projects which have been tremendously successful. He has worked in various districts and departments in the state of Maharashtra and has shouldered varied responsibilities. His hard work and dedication to serving the people of India and ensuring growth in the state are highly appreciated. He inspires many who wish to serve the state of Maharashtra.
After working as a CEO at Chandrapur, he was posted as a Collector at Yavatmal, a challenging district with 16 tehsils. He strived hard to promote adult education and increase the literacy rates in the district. His work has been recognized and awarded at the hands of the then Prime Minister, Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee in New Delhi.
Working as a Collector at Aurangabad, he handled many issues which focused on eradicating child labour. In his INDUS Child Labor project,[4] 4000 children were withdrawn from labour and mainstreamed in education. This got him great recognition in the country. When the Godavari River was flooded in 2006, he undertook the task of rescuing and rehabilitating the affected people with the help and involvement of other government departments and the community.
During his stint as a Collector in Aurangabad, his work was recognized for ensuring communal harmony. He was awarded with the Mahatma Gandhi Peace Award,[5] for maintaining peace and communal harmony, through the hands of the then CM of Maharashtra, Shri Vilasrao Deshmukh.
Vikas Kharage was posted as Director of the Groundwater Surveys and Development Agency (GSDA) in July 2007.
Kharage has implemented, monitored and supervised various maternal and child health-related programs while working as a Commissioner (Family Welfare) and Mission Director at National Rural Health Mission.
In his role as Secretary/Principal Secretary (Maharashtra Forest Department) for Government of Maharashtra, he launched multiple initiatives such as Mega Plantation Drive,[8] conservation activities in Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve, commencing Green Army, etc. The Mega Plantation Drive set the objective of planting 50 Crore trees in the State of Maharashtra in three years. To gather public support for the plantation, a 'Green Army' of volunteers was established.
During his posting as Principal Secretary (Forests), Vikas Kharage headed a Committee[9] (later popularly known as Kharage Committee) appointed to study the issues of Mahua (Madhuca longifolia) flowers and make recommendations to the Government on liberalisations of Mahua flower trade. Accepting all the recommendations of the Kharage Committee, the collection, storage, transportation, and trade of Mahua flowers is now liberalised, removing various permissions that were required earlier.[10] Excise department has issued a Government Resolution (GR) accordingly mentioning the acceptance of the Kharage Committee's recommendations. This decision will mainly benefit the tribal community, who are engaged in the Mahua flower collection, to raise their incomes.[11]
Vikas Kharage as a Secretary (Forests), Government of Maharashtra established state's first Bamboo Research and Training Centre at Chandrapur,[12] with hon’ble Forest Minister Shri Sudhir Mungantiwar's eminent leadership, which offers a 18 month diploma course to develop skilled expertise in bamboo plantation. Maharashtra is the only state in the country to start such academic course.
The Transit Pass on all the species of Bamboo in Maharashtra was exempted. Today, no permission is required for planting, cutting and transporting bamboo. This move has encouraged the bamboo plantation to transform it from a forest product to an agricultural product. Today, no permission is required for planting, cutting and transporting bamboo. This move has enhanced plantation, harvesting and transportation due to such liberalization policy. The area under bamboo cultivation in the state has remarkably increased.
To revitalize the bamboo sector, the Forest Department initiated the activation of Bamboo Handicraft and Art Unit (BHAU) in 3 universities of Maharashtra namely, Sant Gadge Baba Amravati University, Savitribai Phule Pune University and Mahatma Phule Krishi Vidyapeeth at Rahuri.[13]
Vikas Kharage is well known for his sensitivity to environmental aspects. The mega plantation drive was launched under the leadership of Honourable Forest Minister Shri Sudhir Mungantiwar in 2015 to mitigate the adverse effects of global warming and maintain ecological balance. Vikas Kharage, as Principal Secretary (Forests), led the plantation movement with the participation and involvement of various stakeholders.
Forest Department took the efforts of going an extra mile to plant 50 crore trees in 3 years during "Plantation Week" celebrated between 1 July and 7 July every year.[14] The record making plantation of 2.82 crore on a single day of 1 July 2016 was achieved and has been acknowledged by the Limca Book of Record.[15] In the Indian Forest Survey report from 2014 to 2019, a 147,814-hectare (365,260-acre) area has been announced as a Reserved Forest in Maharashtra. Owing to this, Maharashtra has received great name and respect in terms of environmental balance and protection.
Vikas Kharage insisted on the due attention to aftercare survival of the plantation, which is being monitored by the IT board, which developed an application along with geotagging of the saplings, making this activity open to the public domain. Transparency is maintained in the system. Then Prime Minister Narendra Modi mentioned the tree plantation efforts made by the Forest Department, Maharashtra in his "Mann Ki Baat" program and appreciated the campaign as a People's Movement.
In a first of its kind, a 24-hour toll-free helpline number 1926 called 'Hello Forest' has been set up to provide information regarding plantations, protection and mass awareness.[16] The Forest Department has created a mobile application called 'My Plants' to record details of the plantations such as numbers, species and location into the Forest Department's database.[17] To encourage public participation, the SFD has initiated the 'Maharashtra Harit Sena or Green Army' and aims to expand to one crore members.[18]
During the tenure of Vikas Kharage, under the leadership of the then Forest Minister, Sudhir Mungantiwar, the department prioritised protection and conservation of tigers in all six tiger reserves in Maharashtra with people's participation. The department also focused on reducing dependence of local communities on forest and man-animal conflict.[19] Effective conservation practices implemented by Maharashtra Forest Department with community participation resulted in an increase of tiger population in the state. According to the All India Tiger Estimation – 2018, the total count of tigers across all districts of Maharashtra rose to 312 from 103 in 2016.[20]
Vikas Kharage, while handling the subject of Land Acquisition, developed the policy of 'Direct Purchase of Private Land[21] ’ through negotiation with the land owners. The process of direct purchase from land owners works in a simpler, faster and transparent way. The policy offers 25% extra compensation than the compensation received as per the Land Acquisition Act.[22] This initiative has been found to be effective in acquiring the land in a short period.
The infrastructural projects in the State like construction of National Highways, Nagpur-Mumbai Prosperity Corridor,[23] Railway Projects etc. require acquisition of a private land. Kharage worked with District Collectors and monitored the land acquisition machinery in the field to acquire the requisite land on priority basis under various Acts. Such diligent working has facilitated the State Government to complete various infrastructural projects within the stipulated time period.
Maharashtra had no official ‘state song’. Taking note of this and as Principal Secretary/ACS, Culture Affairs Department, Kharage took the initiative and made a presentation before the Cabinet. The cabinet approved the song “Jai Jai Maharashtra Majha, Garja Maharashtra Majha” as the ‘state song’ for Maharashtra.[24] This initiative is first time in the history of the state of Maharashtra.
During his tenure as Principal Secretary/ACS, Culture Affairs Department, Vikas Kharage played a key role in signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Government of Maharashtra and the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, pertaining to the loaning of Tiger Claws (Wagh Nakh) for a duration of three years to the Maharashtra Government.[25]
Under the leadership of the CM, Eknath Shinde, Vikas Kharage in the capacity of Additional Chief Secretary to CM facilitated Maharashtra's participation at 'Concur Internationals 2024'. Maharashtra won the 'Concur Internationals 2024' in Spain. The competition is one of the prestigious international competitions in the art of building human towers (Govinda Pathak). A delegation from Maharashtra visited the famous 'Concur Festival' at ‘Del Pendes Villa Franca' in Spain. The festival is culturally related to the Dahi Handi festival celebrated in India and features human towers.The team from Maharashtra got an opportunity to collaborate with 'Castellars Villa Franca', one of the world's most successful human tower builders.
He has authored the book Panchayat Raj System: A New Role[26] published by Yashada, Pune. In this booklet, an attempt has been made to present ideas on the basis of personal experience of Vikas Kharage as Collector, Yavatmal on what precautions should be taken by officers while working in this Panchayat Raj system, how to maintain relations with public representatives, how to conduct tours and inspections, how to plan time, etc.He published a book "Ek Harit Chalval" (Marathi Edition) at the hands of Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Shri. Uddhav Thackeray in January 2021. This book is published by Saket Publication, Aurangabad and depicts an extremely powerful story of the 50-crore tree plantation movement carried out in the state led by Vikas Kharage in the role of Principal Secretary (Forests) in 3 years period i.e. 2017, 2018 and 2019. It gives reader a fascinating experience and certainly it's a pleasure to accompany "Ek Harit Chalval" on its admiring journey. In the end one gets triggered for planting and nourishing trees which is the biggest hype around this book.
Vikas Kharage is known to be active on various social media platforms and actively engages with the community through platforms like YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, etc. He has more than 50 videos on his YouTube channel which mainly comprise of speeches at various college events, media interactions, and discussions on key government initiatives. He also enjoys playing flute in his spare time.[27]