South Asia expert Christine Fair believes this week's Obama-Singh summit will accomplish little in terms of getting Pakistan to rein in terrorist groups using its soil to mount attacks on India.
The Rajya Sabha is all set to go digital to minimise the massive wastage of paper in the House, thanks to an initiative by Vice President and Chairman Hamid Ansari.As per the suggested changes, Parliamentarians will receive documents in hard copy only if they request for it and special incentives will be provided to MPs who opt for the digital format.Ansari, a retired Indian Foreign Service officer, wants Parliament to set an example.
During his college days, Hardeep Puri was a student leader who was active in the JP movement.
Sujatha Singh stands for the right values and quite simply, she's a "good person" who understands complex economic issues thoroughly, say her friends.
Sanjeev Chowdhury, director general, department of foreign affairs in Canada, headed the team that organised the G8 and G20 summits in Huntsville and Toronto respectively from June 25 to 27. When he joined Canada's foreign service 15 years ago and became a part of the team that organised the G7 summit -- as it was then called -- in Halifax, he never imagined that he would one day be responsible for organising these major events. He spoke to rediff.com's Ajit Jain.
The suited and booted officials of the Ministry of External Affairs had a different job at hand on Sunday -- weeding out old files and papers and removing unusable and obsolete furniture.
'The new order cometh, sweeping out the old,' notes Ambassador B S Prakash.
Ghose was head of Indian delegation to the conference on the CTBT in Geneva in 1996 and she is hailed for strongly outlining India's position in opposing the treaty.
Atul Keshap, a senior Indian American career diplomat and one of the rising stars in the United States foreign service, has been picked by Nisha Desai Biswal, the newly appointed assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asian affairs, to be her deputy.
Senior Indian Foreign Service officials Sharat Sabharwal and Meera Shankar will be the next envoys to Pakistan and the United States respectively. Sabharwal, Special Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs, will succeed High Commissioner Satyabrata Pal, who reaches superannuation on February 28. Shankar, India's Ambassador to Germany, will succeed Ronen Sen in Washington.
'R N Kao was a spymaster, an institution builder and a gentleman.'
Ambassador Howard Schaffer, a 36-year-old veteran of the US Foreign Service and author of the acclaimed book titled The Limits of Influence: America's Role in Kashmir, has said that President Barack Obama was the first presidential candidate in US history to mention Kashmir in a presidential campaign.
Amarjeet Singh has become the first Sikh to be inducted as an officer in the paramilitary Pakistan Rangers, following closely on the heels of other members of minority communities who have joined the army and foreign service.
Modi, 68, was administered the oath of office and secrecy by President Ram Nath Kovind at a glittering ceremony at the forecourt of majestic Rashtraparti Bhavan.
She will also be the first serving diplomat to be posted in Washington in more than two decades after K Shankar Bajpai.
She will also be the first serving diplomat to be posted in Washington in more than two decades after K Shankar Bajpai.
'A P Venkateswaran left an indelible impression on Indian diplomacy and made an incredible number of friends, who kept remembering him, more than other Indian diplomats, who served at those posts.' Ambassador T P Sreenivasan salutes a legend of the Indian Foreign Service who passed into the ages.
'Indira Gandhi was a great influence on Sonia Gandhi. Like her mother-in-law, Sonia is a very good listener. She dresses very much like her mother-in-law. She maintains her figure.' K Natwar Singh pays tribute to Indira Gandhi.
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Modi government must push reforms at a fast pace to restore growth.
Meira Kumar was elected Lok Sabha Speaker unanimously on Wednesday.
A look at the past speakers of the Lok Sabha.
'This is a historic juncture when the US is in great need of an alliance with India to strengthen its hands in the fierce struggle with China in the Asian theatre,' points out Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Foreign Service Officer Robert Orris Blake, Jr, who is currently the United States' Ambassador to Sri Lanka, before which he served as Deputy Chief of Mission at the US Embassy in New Delhi from 2003 to 2006, is the top contender for the post of the Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia, currently held by diplomat Richard Boucher.
Transition sources said Trump is close to selecting 55-year-old Tellis to be the next US envoy to India to replace Richard Verma who was appointed US Ambassador to India by outgoing President Barack Obama in 2015.
In a late night development, S Jaishankar, India's Ambassador to the United States, was appointed foreign secretary on Wednesday, replacing Sujatha Singh whose tenure has been abruptly 'curtailed" by nearly 8 months.
In its chargesheet, the CBI alleged that Kumar, during his tenure as Director General of ICCR, and Tyagi had entered into a criminal conspiracy with Singh and Sharma to facilitate trafficking of nine individuals to Germany. The modus operandi adopted by the accused was to send nine people to Berlin along with a dance troupe. On arrival, these people disappeared and later filed applications seeking political asylum under changed names.
'If I get posted to a place, if people engage with me just as an Indian diplomat, I have X amount of leverage.' 'But when they look at me as the high commissioner of India and the author of Slumdog Millionaire, many more people are willing to meet me, more quickly than they would as a pure diplomat.'
External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee said India's participation in a new global consensus on non-proliferation would strengthen global efforts in this arena.
Pakistan on Monday sided with India on the row over the treatment meted out to senior diplomat Devyani Khobragade in the United States and said such treatment should not be meted to any official of another country.
India on Monday named Shiv Shankar Mukherjee, senior diplomat and Ambassador to Nepal, as its new envoy to Britain. A 1971-batch officer of the Indian Foreign Services, Mukherjee will succeed Kamlesh Sharma. Mukherjee will move to London after an eventful and successful three-year stint in Kathmandu, during which the Himalayan country witnessed revolutionary changes, resulting in the abolition of monarchy.
The 1980-batch Indian Foreign Service officer will succeed Arun Singh, who is being posted as India's Deputy Chief of Mission in Washington. Sarna is at present joint secretary (External Publicity) in the Ministry of External Affairs, a post he has held since October 2002 to become the longest-serving spokesman of the foreign office.
Their names have been forwarded by the Defence Ministry for the top honour as a tribute to the deceased, sources said in New Delhi on Tuesday.
'It must be rendering Modi, Amit Shah and Adityanath speechless that the Indian diplomat who lifted the Azhar trophy at the UN in New York is also a Muslim. 'Yes, this is the wonder that was India,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Having immense experience in dealing with global issues, Sharma has served with distinction at various key positions, including as India's Permanent Representative to the United Nations and spokesperson for developing countries in the UNCTAD during the Uruguay Round of multilateral trade negotiations.
India's High Commissioner to Sri Lanka Nirupama Rao was on Wednesday named as the next envoy to China.
'No civilised nation can thrive if it is possessed with the spirit of Hindutva.'
US Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns will resign, a senior US official said on Friday.
August 7 marks a month since the Indian embassy in Kabul was attacked. Aziz Haniffa mourns the death of Venkat Rao, a star of the Indian Foreign Service, in that attack.
Among the other challenges, the big one is to maintain energy security in tune with the pace at which the country's economy is growing.
'Given his stint in Beijing, as India's longest serving ambassador there and that too through some challenging and interesting times, Jaishankar ought to have been appointed as foreign secretary in 2013 itself,' says Sanjaya Baru.
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