PHASE 1: EARLY LIFE, FOUNDATIONS AND ENTRY INTO PUBLIC SERVICE
The journey of Parameswaran Iyer in to public administration began much earlier than when he became one of the most widely recognised reformers in India’s sanitation and water sector. Born on 16 April 1959 in Srinagar, he grew up in an environment shaped by discipline and public duty. His father, Air Marshal P.
V. Iyer served in the Indian Air Force, and the values of service, precision, and physical fitness that surrounded him during his childhood would later influence the way he approached governance.
He studied at The Doon School in Dehradun, one of India’s most prestigious boarding schools. At Doon, Iyer excelled in academics and was very good at tennis; he eventually became a national-level junior player and represented India in the Junior Davis Cup. That early engagement with high-performance sport formed a disciplined work ethic, which would later show in the missions he led.
After schooling, he attended St. Stephen’s College, Delhi University, which is one of the most prestigious liberal arts colleges in India. He did his Bachelor’s in Economics, which initially exposed him to development thinking, social policy debates, and public institutions. Later, he did his Post-Graduate Diploma in Management (PGDM) from the Management Development Institute, Gurgaon.
His education thus combined economics, management, and public systems thinking, providing a strong foundation for administrative work.
Entry into the IAS#
Parameswaran Iyer entered the Indian Administrative Services in 1981, joining the Uttar Pradesh cadre. is early assignments included multiple district and state postings, wherein he gained reputation for vigor, a field orientation, and delivery concentration. Like many IAS officers of his generation, he worked on rural
development, district administration, and basic public services. These assignments gave him first-hand understanding of India’s rural challenges–water scarcity, sanitation gaps, low household incomes, and service-deliverybottlenecks.
Starting in the late 1990s and going into the early 2000s, Iyer began to work more intensely with water supply and sanitation issues, areas that would define his public service career. Given this period of
exposure to community-driven models and decentralized planning, his ideas on how rural development programs should be conducted were at an influential stage. Above all, he believed strongly in working with communities rather than for communities–a cardinal principle governing much of his later work.
Leaving the IAS for Global Development Work#
In 2009, after over two decades in the IAS, Iyer made an unexpected career choice. He quit the civil service and moved to the World Bank as a water and sanitation specialist. A big leap forward. Not many IAS officers quit mid-career and move to a global institution. But Iyer’s decision reflected his focus on
learning, experimentation, and exposure to global best practices.
At the World Bank, he worked in South Asia, East Asia and the Middle East, contributing to projects in Vietnam, China, Lebanon, Egypt, and India. His expertise expanded beyond rural sanitation to include urban water management, public-health engineering and institutional reform. This decade at the Bank gave him global experience that later helped him design large-scale national programmes with more clarity and precision.
He remained closely associated with the Bank’s Water and Sanitation Programme. (WSP), working on community-led total sanitation (CLTS) models and behaviour-change approaches. These ideas would become central to one of India’s biggest development missions.
Returning to India for a National Mission#
In January 2016, the Government of India invited Parameswaran Iyer to return as Secretary of the Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation (DDWS) under the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation. He accepted the role and returned to public service, this time not as an IAS officer but as a contractual appointment at the rank of Secretary to the Government of India.
This marked the beginning of the most defining phase of his public career: leading the Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin) to completion. His leadership over the next four years would play a major role in shaping India’s sanitation landscape.
PHASE 2: LEADING SWACHH BHARAT AND BUILDING BEHAVIOUR CHANGE#
The return of Parameswaran Iyer to India in 2016 placed him at the center of one of the largest public-health missions in the world: the Swachh Bharat Mission Gramin (SBM-G). At the time he came into charge as Secretary, Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation, India still had major gaps in rural sanitation. Millions of households did not have toilets; open defecation was a common practice, and awareness about hygiene was generally low. It was not only about infrastructure creation but also about
getting them to consistently use toilets and change a number of habits.
Iyer became known for bringing a distinct leadership style into the mission. His approach combined field work, data tracking, public communication, and strict timelines. He emphasized that government programmes should be on the ground, not only on paper. To deliver a message of personal ccountability, he visited remote villages, spoke directly to communities and regularly reviewed progress at the district level.
One moment that drew national attention came in 2017 when he cleaned a twin-pit latrine in a Telangana village, to show that such sanitation systems were safe, simple and sustainable. The act was widely reported because it broke cultural hesitation and showed senior officials were willing to lead by example. For Iyer, this was not symbolic. It reflected the mission’s central message: sanitation needed behavioural acceptance, not just construction.
A Mission Built on Scale and Discipline#
Under his leadership, the Swachh Bharat Mission Gramin picked up rapid pace. The real-time updated sanitation dashboard of the government tracked how many households built toilets in each state, how many villages declared themselves open-defecation free (ODF), and which districts needed intervention.
Iyer introduced a strict rhythm of progress reviews with state governments, district collectors and field workers.
In fact, over 100 million rural toilets were built between 2014 and 2019. The government announced in October 2019 that rural India had turned ODF. Independent studies later observed that usage patterns remained varied across regions, but also noted that access to toilets had increased on an unprecedented scale.
Iyer’s leadership played a critical role in molding the behavior-change component of the mission. Instead of focusing on just infrastructure, he pushed for community-led sanitation campaigns, village meetings, awareness drives and involvement of local influencers. Indeed, the mission deployed local motivators, or Swachhagrahis, who were trained to work directly with families and communities. This community focused model was in keeping with Iyer’s earlier experience from the World Bank, where he had worked extensively on participatory sanitation approaches.
Institutionalising Systems and Preparing the Next Phase#
Iyer’s term also focussed on building systems that would long outlast the first declaration of ODF. He emphasized sustainability, solid and liquid waste management, and local structures for maintenance. According to him, sanitation couldn’t be perceived as a one-time achievement but was a journey towards
constant betterment.
His work also involved drafting the initial architecture of the Jal Jeevan Mission, an effort that started in 2019 to reach household tap-water connections for all rural families. By the time he left the department,
in 2020, the water-supply mission embodied many of the principles he had advocated: clear targets, accountability at the district level, community involvement, regular monitoring.
Even after he quit the post in 2020, Iyer remained associated with public-service reforms. His four years at the sanitation department became a case study for mission-mode governance in India: high visibility, strict timelines, frequent field visits and emphasis on public participation.
A Leadership Approach Recognised in Policy Circles#
Policy experts often remarked that Iyer brought a rare combination of international experience and on-ground administrative discipline. His coordination at the Centre, states, and districts allowed the mission to function as a single national effort. Reports from government and independent researchers noted that
Swachh Bharat’s most significant achievement was not only the toilets constructed but the cultural shift which the campaign attempted to trigger. Instead of focusing on just infrastructure, This phase of his career established Iyer as one of India’s most influential public-sector reformers in sanitation and rural development.
PHASE 3: NITI AAYOG, GLOBAL LEADERSHIP AND LONG-TERM
IMPACT#
After serving in the Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Parameswaran Iyer continued to move into roles where policy, implementation, and institutional reform intersect. In July 2022, he was appointed Chief Executive Officer of NITI Aayog, placing him at the center of India’s key policy think tank entrusted
with driving reform across states and coordinating national development strategies, shaping long-term priorities for governance.
A Short yet Significant Tenure at NITI Aayog#
He wanted more effective performance monitoring of states through the State Support Mission, which provided technical and administrative support to upgrade policy design and execution. During this period, NITI Aayog continued the work in other priority areas: Production Linked Incentive schemes in
manufacturing, strategies for clean energy transition, and digital public infrastructure. Iyer was leading from the front, and the focus was on states as the frontline implementers; thus, greater Centre-State cooperation was required to speed up the reforms.
His term at NITI Aayog gave a fillip to India’s monitoring frameworks relating to the Sustainable Development Goals, data-driven governance, and evidence-based policy making. As policy analysts explain, he brought clarity to processes and gave precedence to measurable outputs over broad conceptual plans during his short term.
Representing India at the World Bank#
In June 2023, Parameswaran Iyer was appointed an Executive Director at the World Bank Group, representing the constituencies of India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Sri Lanka. The role involves policy oversight, project evaluation, and strategic direction for the World Bank’s lending and development programs in the assigned countries.
This appointment is significant because, for the first time, a seasoned public administrator with field experience in the real world was being appointed to one of the large global development institutions.
As an Executive Director, Iyer has participated in discussions on climate resilience, social-protection systems, water and sanitation reform, rural development, and infrastructure financing. His earlier years
at the World Bank and experience with implementing national missions in India give him a dual perspective–one of the global frameworks and another of ground In his time, the constituency has supported projects on urban infrastructure, women’s empowerment, disaster recovery, and digital governance. His concern has remained how large development realities. financing can translate into community level benefits, reflecting the same philosophy he applied in India.
Legacy and Continuing Influence#
The legacy of Shri Parameswaran Iyer is unique because it spans national and global contexts. His work in India ensured better access to rural sanitation, shaped water-supply reforms, and tightened mission delivery. At NITI Aayog, he brought in measurable governance systems and closer state engagement.
At the World Bank, he represents Indian development priorities on a global platform, influencing regional strategies and financing. His career delineates that large-scale social programs can work if leadership becomes vicarious on evidence, empathy, and steady field engagement. To many policy professionals,
he has grown as an example of how administrators can convert ambitious national goals into practical, measurable improvements.
Clear Cut Research Desk
New Delhi, UPDATED: Jan 25, 2026 09:00 IST
Written By: Janmojaya Barik
