Parameswaran Iyer is Secretary, Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Ministry of Jal Shakti – the ministry overseeing the implementation of the flagship Swachh Bharat Mission and the new Jal Jeevan Mission, aimed at providing drinking water to all rural households in India. Prior to his current appointment, Iyer served as Manager for Water in the World Bank based in Washington DC. A former IAS officer, he headed the innovative community-led Swajal Project in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand in the 1990s, and has over 25 years of global experience in the water and sanitation sector, particularly in Vietnam, China, Egypt and Lebanon.