Ajit Raizada

Dr. Ajit Raizada is an Indian author, poet and administrator. He is an officer of the 1970 batch of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS).
After a career of 37 years, Ajit Raizada retired from the IAS in 2007. In October 2010, he was appointed as the 4th State Election Commissioner. of the Madhya Pradesh State Election Commission for a period of three years. Starting from January 2014, he served as the Independent External Monitor for Mormugao Port Trust (Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways) for a period of 4 years.
Ajit Raizada lives in Bhopal and spends time writing and teaching. Post retirement, he has also served as Chairman, Jan Shikshan Sansthan (Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship), Raipur and Member Executive Committee, India Rural Cultural Centre, New Delhi.
== Family ==
Ajit Raizada was born in Sitapur (born August 17, 1947), Uttar Pradesh to a civil servant and a homemaker. He is married to Dr. Seema Raizada, a Professor of English and a Shakespeare scholar. Dr. Seema Raizada is also the Founder of Club Literati, a platform for writers and artists. Club Literati has hosted authors such as Ashok Banker, Sushmita Mukherjee and Anthony de Sa (civil servant)
== Education ==
Dr. Raizada is a graduate in History from St. John's College, Agra, Agra and an M.A. in Ancient Indian History, Culture and Archaeology (Gold Medal) from University of Allahabad|Allahabad University. 
He obtained a Ph.D. from Barkatullah University, Bhopal and a D.Litt. from Vikram University, Ujjain in Political Science. He also attended University of Glasgow under the Colombo Plan and was awarded a Post Graduate Diploma in Development Policy.
== Career ==
Dr. Raizada joined the IAS in 1970 in the West Bengal cadre and moved to the Madhya Pradesh cadre in 1979. His roles in general administration include Collector and District Magistrate of Rajgarh and Ujjain Districts, Commissioner of Rewa Division and Additional Chief Secretary, Home department. 
Dr. Raizada has served in several development focused departments as Director, Commissioner, Secretary and Principal Secretary including Tribal Area Development, Planning & Statistics, Panchayat & Rural Development, Social Welfare, Women & Child Development and the Madhya Pradesh Human Rights Commission.
He authored several of his works while serving as Commissioner Archaeology, Archives and Museums. As Principal Secretary Culture, he was closely involved in the rejuvenation of Bharat Bhavan, a leading national multi-arts complex and the organization of millennium celebrations of the Khajuraho Dance Festival which was inaugurated by the then President of India, K. R. Narayanan.
He has also served as Commissioner and Principal Secretary in departments of Higher Education, Science & Technology, Manpower Planning (Technical Education and Employment), State Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) as well as the Chairman of the Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board.
He was closely involved in the setting up of two leading bodies of education in the state – Indian Institute of Management, Indore where he served as member of its first Board of Governors and Rajiv Gandhi Technological University, a common University for all technical education institutes in Madhya Pradesh.
== Literary Contributions ==
Dr. Raizada is an author/editor of 8 published works across the fields of History, Numismatic and Political Science. His books are referenced at leading Universities and institutions including the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, National Library of Australia and the Library of Congress. In 1992, he authored a collection of poems titled, ‘Hashiye Par Aadmi’ and is currently working on translating select Shakespeare's sonnets|Shakespeare’s Sonnets from English to Urdu in the Devanagari script.
Literary genres	Title 	Publisher
History and 
Numismatics	Art, Archaeology and History of Ratlam 	Sharada Publishing House, New Delhi
History and 
Numismatics	Ujjayinī 	Directorate of Archaeology & Museums, Government of Madhya Pradesh, Bhopal
History and 
Numismatics	Heritage of Shajapur 	Sharada Publishing House, New Delhi
History and 
Numismatics	Bharatiya Sikhon Ka Itihas 	Sharada Publishing House, New Delhi
History and 
Numismatics	Indaura : Indore 	Directorate of Archaeology & Museums, Government of Madhya Pradesh, Bhopal
Political Science and 
Human Rights	Mahila Utpidan: Samasya aur Samadhan 	Madhya Pradesh Hindi Granth Akadami, Bhopal
Policy 	The Indian Ocean Politics 	Sharada Publishing House, New Delhi
Policy 	Tribal Development in Madhya Pradesh : A Planning Perspective	Inter-India Publications, New Delhi
Poetry 	Hashiye Par Aadmi 	Parimal Prakashan, Prayagraj
Category:Indian authors
Category:Indian poets
Category:Indian Administrative Service officers