An Interview with Ms. Arti Ahuja
Former Union Secretary, Ministry of Labour & Employment, Department of Chemicals & Petrochemicals, Department of Fertilizers
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Ms. Arti Ahuja is a former Union Secretary who has led the Ministry of Labour and Employment, the Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals, and the Department of Fertilizers. She has also served as Additional Secretary, Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare; and as Special Director, Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA).
In a career spanning over three decades, Ms. Ahuja has held several key positions in the Government of Odisha, including Principal Secretary, Health Department; Secretary, Women and Child Development Department and Handloom and Handicrafts Department; and District Collector and Magistrate, Jharsuguda.
She has represented India at multiple international fora, including the G20, the World Health Organization (WHO), the International Labour Organization (ILO), and BRICS.
Ms. Ahuja holds triple Master’s degrees, including in Public Health (Harvard University) and Public Policy (Princeton University).
In this conversation with The Policy Edge team, Ms. Arti Ahuja reflects on her learnings from working in tribal districts, the design of ICDS reforms, the challenges of bridging diverse sectors of governance, India’s voice in global forums, and the contrasting demands of leading long-term reforms versus managing crisis response during the COVID-19 pandemic.
You began your career in Chaibasa and Kalahandi, districts once synonymous with poverty and deprivation. What did those years teach you about the human face of governance, and how did they shape the way you approached administration later in your career?
Those years were life-changing. In tribal and remote districts, deprivation isn’t a number on a chart, it’s a child with an empty stomach or a mother walking miles for rations. I saw villages where malnutrition and illness were everywhere, and it burned into me that administration cannot be about files, it is about lives. Every signature carries consequences.
Kalahandi, once known for hunger, is now known for rice production. That change shows what consistent effort, systemic reform, and community ownership can achieve. Real reform needs both evidence and empathy.
As a woman officer, I also found women in these communities opened up to me more easily - with concerns about domestic issues, children’s health, or ration cards. Those conversations taught me that empathy is not a “soft skill” but central to governance.
In Odisha, you led Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) reforms at a time when malnutrition was both a public health crisis and under Supreme Court scrutiny. How did those reforms unfolded?
It was evident that malnutrition was not simply a “food problem.” It’s about clean water, maternal health, sanitation, disease prevention, and social practices. You cannot parachute in with a nutrition packet and declare victory.
Social sector reforms have a natural gestation period before real impact is visible. Many demand instant outcomes, but sustainable change requires patience and persistence.
Besides, one cannot navigate malnutrition in silos. The ICDS reforms in Odisha worked because we built convergence. Government departments, NGOs, community organisations, and frontline workers like Anganwadi workers and ASHAs came together. That collaboration changed the game.
Decentralisation was critical. Earlier, food came from centralised suppliers, which sometimes meant delays, pilferage, or poor quality. We gave Anganwadi centers revolving funds so they could procure food locally, while still following prescribed menus and standards. This sharpened accountability and strengthened community ownership.
The Supreme Court was monitoring ICDS at the time. Seeing Odisha’s progress, it directed other states to adopt similar models. Many states came on fact-finding visits, and the approach was widely appreciated. Some of these reforms were later recognized as national best practices, showing that scalable success matters more than isolated pilots.
It is not enough to run a successful pilot; we need scalability: models that encourage wide participation and work across districts, not just one village.
Your career spans health, women and child development, handlooms, labour, and even chemicals and fertilizers – sectors that seem worlds apart. How did you draw connections across such diverse roles, and what did these experiences teach you about the interconnectedness of governance?
One of the unique strengths of the civil service is that it lets you connect dots across sectors.
For instance, in TB control we used Directly Observed Treatment (DOTS). Later, when tackling maternal malnutrition, I thought: why not adapt the same principle? That’s how we shifted to providing boiled eggs or nutritious rations directly at Anganwadi centers instead of only sending take-home packets. It ensured that women actually consumed what was meant for them.
In the handloom sector, I realized many weavers suffered from poor eyesight, respiratory ailments, and back problems – issues directly linked to their craft. Productivity was low because of untreated health conditions. We responded by introducing health insurance coverage for weavers, and linked them to primary healthcare services. That connection between occupational health and livelihoods shaped our interventions and showed how cross-sector learning can improve outcomes.
Similarly, this learning helped when I was Secretary, Ministry of Labour and Employment and initiated the public health mapping of occupational diseases in Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC).
Governance is about systems, and systems are interconnected. Each assignment in my career became an exercise in cross-learning and systems thinking.
From Kalahandi to the G20 table, your journey spans both grassroots India and global policymaking. As Chair of the Employment Working Group, how do you reflect on India’s voice in international forums?
Global forums are about alignment and compromise. Every country comes with its priorities, and as Chair you must weave those into a shared agenda. It’s less about winning arguments and more about building consensus.
India’s voice carries special weight because we don’t just speak for ourselves, we often represent the concerns of the Global South. When India raises issues like skilling, social protection, or employment generation, it resonates globally because we bring both credibility and scale.
One example was the growing debate on gig and platform workers. For advanced economies, it was a question of regulation. For us, it was about livelihoods at scale. India’s ability to articulate both perspectives helped bridge divides.
This is something to take pride in. Our country is not a peripheral participant; it shapes conversations at the table. This is an important slant for aspiring policy workers: your work has the potential to inform not only national but global debates – if it is evidence-based, rooted in reality, and focused on action.
Reforms often demand patience as you noted earlier, while crises like COVID demand speed. Having handled both ICDS reforms and pandemic management, what did you discover about leadership under such contrasting conditions?
Leadership depends on context. In long-term reforms, patience and systems thinking are essential. In a crisis like COVID-19, agility, coordination, and at times sheer firefighting become the order of the day.
I was handling both COVID protocols and international relations. We had to issue advisories on the go for every kind of circumstance – for frontline workers, offices, schools, air travel, the Ardh Kumbh, marriages, and more – while also managing emergency supplies, conducting disease surveillance, following up with districts, tracking the spread, going on visiting affected areas, setting up additional bed capacity and training people on equipment. The days were long, intense and with many curveballs, as the virus and its trajectory were also constantly evolving.
However, the ‘all of government’ and ‘all of society’ approach helped the country tackle this enormous challenge and prove the doomsday prophets wrong. The second wave, with oxygen shortages, was particularly harrowing; especially as many senior officers themselves were affected by COVID. Foreign aid also started flowing in at that time. Officers from other ministries were deployed to the Health ministry, and though everyone was stretched to their limits, a spirit of convergence and systems thinking kept solutions moving. It was deeply satisfying to know we were making a real difference.
The principle was the same in both reforms and crisis: bring stakeholders together, listen carefully, then act decisively. Trust and shared purpose make solutions possible.
As someone who has both shaped policy at the highest levels and mentored young officers at the LBSNAA, how do you see the civil services evolving? What qualities should the next generation of civil servants and members of academia and civil society cultivate to remain relevant in a changing India?
The image of civil servants as paternalistic knights in shining armour does not fit today’s world. Nor should it. Our role is to enable citizens to exercise their rights without hurdles.
Two trends encourage me. First, diversity is rising. I have seen the number of women in each batch grow from the 10s to the 40s, along with more entrants from varied socio-economic backgrounds. Second, many are leaving lucrative jobs to join the services because they want to make a difference. The services are increasingly attracting people who seek purpose over position.
For aspirants, my advice is: don’t enter with entitlement. Enter with curiosity, empathy, and the willingness to adapt. Technical knowledge matters, but practical skills such as negotiation, conflict resolution, and communication are what make you effective on the ground. Your heart must be in the right place; ultimately, you work for your fellow citizens.
For academia and civil society, my suggestion is: don’t stand outside the system and only critique it. Co-create solutions with the government. What matters are solutions that can scale, adapt, and deliver impact across contexts. Ultimately, convergence – and the breaking of silos – is the only way forward.
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Views are personal.