Khurshid Ahmad Ganai who hails from Mattan in Anantnag, and was achieved second position in the IAS examination in 1982.He has held various key positions in Jammu and Kashmir during his illustrious tenure.Alumni of Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS), Pilani Rajasthan, he studied Mechanical Engineering1974-1979.In 2007, the then Governor of the State Lt.Gen (Retd) S K Sinha awarded on Oct 22 conferred on him the Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister's Gold Medal for honesty, integrity and meritorious service and his outstanding contribution to the public welfare and development of the state.
Parvez Dewan was born on 13 October 1964 in Srinagar. Dewan was educated at St Joseph's, Allahabad; St. George's Grammar, Hyderabad; Stanes, Coimbatore; The Air Force Central School, Subroto Park, New Delhi and St. Stephen's College in Delhi.He did his higher education from the University of Cambridge in 1987 (Wolfson College).Dewan joined the IAS and was allotted the Jammu and Kashmir cadre and he was first posted as Sub-Divisional Magistrate in Basohli where he revived its school of miniature painting. He was the Divisional Commissioner of Kashmir from 2001 to 2003 and also chairman of the state co-operative bank between 2002-2003.
Dewan was the Tourism Secretary of India (2012-14). He helped WoNoBo.com devise virtual walking tours of Indian cities, five in the first place, with almost fifty more to follow, making Incredible India the first national tourism authority anywhere to offer such a useful and entertaining facility.In October 2014 Dewan asked for and was granted voluntary, premature retirement, in order to concentrate on his career as a writer, especially to work on his South Asian encyclopaedia, Indpaedia.com. (KNS)