During his career spanning 38 years, Anil Swarup attempted to ‘make it happen’. Born in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, he earned his Master’s Degree in Political Science from Allahabad University in 1978 where he was also awarded the Chancellor’s Gold Medal for being the Best All Round Student. Before joining the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) in 1981, he served the Indian Police Service for a year. He won Director’s Gold Medal for best Officer Trainee at Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration amongst the officers of his batch. As a civil servant, he held various assignments within both the state (Uttar Pradesh) and Central Government. During the final years of his career, he served as Secretary to Government of India in the Ministry of Coal where he handled the aftermath of the coal scam. Thereafter, he served as Secretary, School Education and Literacy where he attempted to foster public private partnership to improve quality of school education.

As a strategic thinker and an innovative leader, he has won several other awards and nominations, the prominent ones being: Nominated as one of the Policy Change Agent by The Economic Times during the years 2010, 2012, 2015 & 2016. He was selected as one of the 35 Action Heroes in India Today’s 35th Annual Edition.

He is also the author of Not Just A Civil Servant and The Ethical Dilemmas of a Civil Servant.