R. N. Ravi

Ravindra Narayana Ravi (born 3 April 1952) is an Indian politician, who is the Governor of West Bengal since 12 March 2026. Earlier, he served as the Governor of Nagaland, Meghalaya, and Tamil Nadu. He was a former bureaucrat and a spymaster, who held various positions with the Government of India.

Born in Patna in Bihar, Ravi joined the Indian Police Service in 1976 after a brief stint as a journalist. He served in the Central Bureau of Investigation and Intelligence Bureau. He was appointed as the chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee in 2014. In October 2018, he became the deputy National Security Advisor.

After retiring from his bureaucrat career, Ravi was appointed as the governor of Nagaland in August 2019 and served till September 2021. He also held additional responsibility as the governor of Meghalaya from December 2019 to January 2020 when then governor Tathagata Roy went on a leave. On 18 September 2021, Ravi took charge as the governor of Tamil Nadu. In March 2026, he was transferred as the governor of West Bengal.

Ravi's tenure as the governor of Tamil Nadu has seen repeated face-offs with the elected government headed by chief minister M. K. Stalin. He was criticised as being dictatorial by Stalin, due to his reluctance and delay in giving assent to various bills passed by the state assembly. The assembly later passed a resolution urging the union government to set time limits for governors to give assent to bills. In April 2025, the Supreme Court mandated time limits for governors in a landmark judgement in the case brought by the state against the governor. However, in August 2025, a constitutional bench of the court, in a reply to the questions raised by the president, affirmed that no time limit is mandated for the president or governor in the Constitution of India.