Born in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh,  Anil Swarup earned his Master’s Degree in 1978 in Political Science from Allahabad University. He was also awarded the Chancellor’s Gold Medal for being the Best All-Round Student. He started his career in the Indian Police Service but joined the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) a year later, in 1981. He won the Director’s Gold Medal for the best Officer Trainee at the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration amongst the officers of his batch.

For 38 years, he attempted to ‘make things happen’ as a civil servant. He won several awards and nominations. Noteworthy among them were being nominated as one of the Policy Change Agents by The Economic Times during 2010, 2012, 2015 and 2016, and being selected as one of the 35 Action Heroes in India Today’s 35th Annual Edition.

He is the Founder Chairman of Nexus of Good: an initiative towards recognising positive action and providing inspiration to society to replicate them. Having authored the bestsellers Not Just a Civil Servant and Ethical Dilemmas of a Civil Servant, he rounds off this trilogy with some of the unique stories that emerge from his post-retirement work and his passionate involvement with Nexus of Good.