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Sujatha Singh

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Sujatha Singh
Foreign Secretary of India
Assumed office
1 August 2013
Preceded byRanjan Mathai
Personal details
BornJuly 1954 (age 70)
India
SpouseSanjay Singh[1]

Sujatha Singh is an Indian career diplomat who is currently India's Foreign Secretary. She assumed office on 1 August 2013 succeeding Ranjan Mathai. Prior to her appointment she was the Indian Ambassador to Germany (2012–2013).[2]

Family and education

Born in July 1954, Sujatha Singh is the daughter of the former Intelligence Bureau chief and, later, Governor T. V. Rajeswar. She is an alumnus of the Lady Shri Ram College, New Delhi and the Delhi School of Economics from where she graduated in economics. She is married to Sanjay Singh, who is a retired Indian Foreign Service officer.[1][3][4]

Career

Singh is an Indian Foreign Service officer of the 1976 batch. She has served in various positions at the Indian embassies at Bonn, Accra, Paris, Bangkok and was India's Consul general at Milan during 2000–04. She has also served as India's High Commissioner to Australia (2007–2012). In Delhi she has served on the Ministry's Economic Co-ordination Unit and dealt with Nepal, West Europe and the EU as director, undersecretary and joint secretary.[5] Her tenure as High Commissioner to Australia was marked by turbulence in Indo-Australian ties following racial attacks on Indian students and later by the Australian Labour Party's decision to make an exception for India regarding the sale of uranium. She has a reputation for toughness, volunteering as a liaison officer on a rain-hit Kailash Manasarovar Yatra in 1983,[6] taking a tough stance with the Australian authorities on dealing with the racial attacks against Indians there,[3] and, as joint secretary handling Western Europe, she advocated India's stance of not accepting prescriptive aid from small European Union nations.[7][8]

Foreign Secretary

Sujatha Singh was chosen as Foreign Secretary over S. Jaishankar who is currently India's Ambassador to United States as the senior-most officer in the service. She has never served in any of India's neighbouring nations which is seen as a challenge[citation needed]. Singh will be the third lady officer to head the Indian diplomatic corps after Chokila Iyer and Nirupama Rao. She is a German speaker and will serve as Foreign Secretary for a two-year term ending in August 2015.[1][4][9][10] Singh has identified improving ties with India's neighbours as her immediate priority and is scheduled to make her inaugural visit as Foreign Secretary to Bhutan to smooth tensions that have crept into the Indo-Bhutanese ties on account of India's decision to withdraw gasoline subsidies.[11]

References

  1. ^ a b c "Sujatha Singh to be India's next Foreign Secretary". The Hindu. 2 July 2013. Retrieved 3 July 2013. Cite error: The named reference "thehindu" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  2. ^ "Sujatha Singh takes charge as India's new foreign secretary". Business Standard. 1 August 2013. Retrieved 1 August 2013. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  3. ^ a b "Seniority prevails, Sujatha Singh is new Foreign Secy". The Tribune. 2 July 2013. Retrieved 3 July 2013.
  4. ^ a b "Sujatha Singh is India's next foreign secretary". Business Standard. 2 July 2013. Retrieved 3 July 2013.
  5. ^ "Mrs Sujatha Singh, Ambassador of India, Embassy of India, Berlin". Embassy of India, Berlin. Retrieved 3 July 2013.
  6. ^ "Sujatha Singh to succeed Ranjan Mathai as foreign secretary". The Times of India. 3 July 2013. Retrieved 3 July 2013.
  7. ^ "Sujatha Singh set to take her place in corner room". The New Indian Express. 30 June 2013. Retrieved 3 July 2013.
  8. ^ "Sujatha Singh to replace Ranjan Mathai as Foreign Secretary". The New Indian Express. 3 July 2013. Retrieved 3 July 2013.
  9. ^ "Sujatha Singh to be India's next Foreign Secretary". The Indian Express. 2 July 2013. Retrieved 3 July 2013.
  10. ^ "Sujata Singh rumoured as government's favourite to replace Mathai as foreign secretary". The Daily Mail. 28 March 2013. Retrieved 3 July 2013.
  11. ^ "India wants cooperative ties with Pakistan: Foreign Secretary Sujata Singh". Deccan Chronicle. 1 August 2013. Retrieved 1 August 2013.

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