New Delhi: Even as Subrahmanyam Jaishankar on Thursday took charge as the new Foreign Secretary of India after the Central Government sacked his predecessor Sujatha Singh, the move is likely to lead to discontent among several senior Indian Foreign Service officers. Jaishankar, who turned 60 on January 9, was due to retire from the Indian Foreign Service on January 31 but his appointment gives him a tenure of two years as the Foreign Secretary.
The "curtailment of tenure of foreign secretary Sujatha Singh with immediate effect", an euphemism for sacking is only the second time that such a senior IFS officer has been asked to leave office.
In 1987 the then prime minister Rajiv Gandhi had removed AP Venkateswaran as the foreign secretary and named KPS Menon as his successor.
Sujatha Singh, a batch senior to Jaishankar who joined the IFS in 1977, was removed just a day after USA President Barack Obama left India. She had almost six months before her retirement and was due to retire in July.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is believed to have elevated Jaishankar as he was very happy with the officer's role during his America tour in September 2014 and also in breaking the deadlock in the India-US Civil Nuclear Agreement. Jaishankar had handled negotiations of the nuclear deal during his tenure as the joint secretary for the Americas at the Ministry of External Affairs.
Although External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj is believed to have been in favour of Sujatha Singh but Jaishankar was elevated following Obama's visit to India. In fact Jaishankar had served in China, Japan, and the US which have been the focus of the Prime Minister.
With new Foreign Secretary assuming charge, new ambassadors to several countries are likely to be appointed. While the MEA is already ready with a list of new ambassadors but the Prime Minister wanted to have a new Foreign Secretary in place. The most important appointment would be to name Jaishankar's replacement in Washington DC.
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36-1-15-smi-sjaishankar-2 (2).pdf by Network18
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