C. V. S. K. Sarma joined the
Indian Administrative Service (IAS) in 1980. He started his career as Sub-Collector in
Asifabad in
Adilabad District of erstwhile
Andhra Pradesh and current
Telangana. He then subsequently served a series of roles in
Adilabad including Joint Collector and Project Officer (
Utnoor). He was then posted to as Additional Commissioner to the erstwhile
Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad. Post this he was Joint Collector in
Kurnool District and Project Officer in
Eturnagaram. Subsequently, he was appointed Collector &
District Magistrate in the
Adilabad District. Through these years, his responsibilities included functions of planning, coordination & monitoring for the overall development of the
District & State. During the time he concentrated on poverty alleviation, livelihoods promotion, and
environmental conservation. Dr. Sarma, at personal risk, helped save a lot of flood victims during the floods in
Warangal. Later on in 1988, he became the Director of Singareni Collieries Company Limited (
Andhra Pradesh), which is a public sector coal company. His duties here involved planning & coordination for overall growth of the company, preparation of environmental assessment for projects, supervision of industrial relations, human resource management functions including recruitment and promotions. In 1990, Sarma was appointed to the position of Deputy Secretary,
Ministry of Home Affairs,
Government of India,
New Delhi. In 2000, Sarma became the Secretary and Principal Secretary to
Government of Andhra Pradesh in the
Irrigation department, and launched a massive
Irrigation Development Programme called
Jalayagnam within a very short time of six months. He finalised tenders for over Rs.30,000 crores and grounded all the Projects. Through personal inspection and motivation, he was able to achieve tremendous progress. Additional to this, he looked after administrative aspects of the entire Department consisting of all major, medium and minor
irrigation projects and implementation of Command Area Development Programmes, obtaining clearances for these in-line with the guidelines set by
Government of India. Aside from his
bureaucratic career, he maintained a strong interest in the academic world, especially in the subject of
Economics. He collaborated with professors in several research projects and worked towards completion of
Ph.D. dissertation on “Economic Reforms – Growth,
Poverty and
Income Distribution for sustainable Development – A CGE Analysis.” Post retirement, Sarma continues his academic pursuits. In 2017, he presented papers on the
agricultural and
tourism industries in
India at the Global Partnership Summit. ==Other Key Positions held==