Vinod Chandra Pande Biography 
Vinod Chandra Pande, shortly called V. C. Pande was a civil servant from Jammu and Kashmir. He belonged to Rajasthan Cadre. He was also a scholar of Hindi, Pali, and Sanskrit who authored a few books in Hindi. He served as the Cabinet Secretary in 1989–1990, a position held by two more members of his family, B. D. Pande and Kamal Pande. His brother-in-law Bhairav Dutt Pande shortly called B. D. Pande was a Civil Service officer, who served as Union Cabinet Secretary of the Government of India under Indira Gandhi, followed by governor of Indian states, West Bengal and Punjab in the 1980s. His nephew Lalit Pande is an environmentalist and social worker, and a recipient of Padma Shri awards.
Vinod Chandra Pande was born on 16 February 1932 in Kashmir. His sister Vimla Pande, who was fondly called Maami was married to B. D. Pande, a Civil Service officer who served as a governor of two states post retirement as well as Administrator of Chandigarh. Many of his family members and close relatives are Padma award winners including Vinod himself, and B. D. Pande, Mrinal Pande and Lalit Pande. Mrinal Pande, a well-known writer and TV personality is the daughter-in-law of his sister, and the daughter of the Hindi novelist Shivani.
Vinod completed his education from Allahabad University before he joined civil service. He was appointed as Cabinet Secretary of V. P. Singh minister on 23 December 1989, and he served in this position for a brief period till 11 December 1990. While Singh was Finance Minister, Vinod served as his revenue secretary. In fact they studied together at Allahabad University. Post retirement he served as Governor of Bihar during 1999–2003, Jharkhand in 2002, followed by Arunachal Pradesh during 2003–04. He was a bachelor. He died on 7 February 2005.
Published: November 29, 2018
Updated: November 29, 2018
