Vijai Vardhan, IAS

Biography

Vijai Vardhan is a graduate and post-graduate in History from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi University. Prior to joining the Indian Police Service in 1984 he represented his College in Badminton, Squash, Boxing and Athletics. In 1985, he joined the Indian Administrative Service and was allocated the Haryana cadre.

In his distinguished career, Vijai Vardhan has held important assignments, including Secretary to the Governor of Haryana, Chairman of the Haryana Tourism Corporation, Chairman of the Haryana State Pollution Control Board and Principal Secretary of the Tourism and Renewable Energy Departments.

As Administrator of the Haryana Urban Development Authority, Gurgaon and Panchkula, he was instrumental in catalyzing the industrial, residential and commercial development of Gurgaon, Panchkula and various other towns of Haryana. While posted as Deputy Commissioner, Faridabad and Municipal Commissioner, Faridabad, Mr. Vardhan took several initiatives in the urban development of Faridabad.

In addition to this, Mr. Vardhan is drawn to the mystic and has a deep, abiding interest in Sufiism, Confucianism, and Taoism. A keen historian, he has authored various books, such as “Kurukshetra – Timeless Sanctity” that required over six years’ of intense historical research; and “Pinjore – The Garden of Paradise” that has been recognized as the first book ever written on the 17th Century Mughal gardens of Pinjore. In addition to this, he has written various Sufi Haiku poems in English, titled ‘Beyond the Great Beyond’ and ‘Ibadat – The Breath of My Soul’ that have been highly appreciated by critics and readers alike. Furthermore, Vijai has authored various scholarly works on the history and heritage of Haryana, the monuments of Narnaul and RakhiGarhi, and contributed to the preservation and propagation of our heritage.

Following his creative instinct, as a voice-over artist, he lends his voice regularly to documentary films, theatre, social causes and poetry festivals. He gives occasional public recitals of ecstatic poetry of the world’s greatest romantic, radical and Sufi traditions in Hindi, English and Urdu languages.