Govind Narain, one of the last ICS officers, dead

Govind Narain, one of the last surviving ICS officers and who was the home secretary during the Bangladesh war, passed away in his south Delhi residence, his family said on Wednesday.

95-year-old Narain, a Padma Vibhushan awardee, breathed his last at his residence in Chattarpur on Tuesday night due to old age. He had refused to be admitted in a hospital and died peacefully at home, the family said.

His mortal remains were consigned to flames at the Lodhi crematorium. Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit was present at the cremation, also attended by several bureaucrats.

Born on May 5, 1916, in UP's Mainpuri, Oxford-educated Narain joined the ICS in 1939 and went on to become country's home secretary and defence secretary.

Narain, who worked under Prime Ministers Jawaharlal Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastri and Indira Gandhi, was the home secretary from 1971 to 1973 and was one of the top officers instrumental in planning the Bangladesh war and setting up of Mukti Bahini.

In 1973, he was moved to the defence ministry as the defence secretary, a post from which he retired two years later. He was appointed the Karnataka governor in 1977 and was in the Raj Bhavan till 1983.

A post-graduate in science from Allahabad University, he is also credited for the setting up of the defence production establishment and a tie up with Russia in this regard. In 1968, he was appointed the secretary, defence production.

In the early days of his career, Narain was tasked by Nehru to build ties with Nepal and he was adviser to the Nepal King between 1951 and 1954.

He is survived by his two daughters. One of his sons-in-law Yogesh Chandra retired as a senior civil servant in the rank of cabinet secretary to the government of India while his grand son Vikram Chandra is a well-known TV journalist.