Minister of External Affairs
NAME – Subrahmanyam Jaishankar
PROFESSION- Diplomat and Politician
BORN – 9 January 1955 (Age 64 years )
PLACE OF BIRTH – New Delhi
FATHER’S NAME – K. Subrahmanyam
MOTHER’S NAME – Sulochana Subrahmanyam
SPOUSE – Kyoko Jaishankar
SIBLINGS – Sanjay Subrahmanyam and S. Vijay Kumar
CHILDREN – Two sons and One daughter ( Dhruva Jaishankar, Arjun Jaishankar and Medha Jaishankar)
EDUCATION – The Air Force School, New Delhi. Graduate from St. Stephen’s College. MA in Political Science, M.Phil and Ph.D in International Relations from Jawaharlal Nehru University with specialization in Nuclear Diplomacy.
POLITICAL AFFILIATIONS/PARTY- Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP)
REMARKABLE ACHIEVEMENT- He is the first former foreign secretary to become the external affairs minister without contesting for Lok Sabha or being a member of the Rajya Sabha. He also wrote a book called The India Way: Strategies for an Uncertain World.
AWARDS – In 2019, he was conferred with the Padma Shri, India’s fourth highest civilian honour.
Subrahmanyam Jaishankar is an Indian diplomat and Politician, who is the current External Affairs Minister. He belongs to BJP. He joined the Foreign Services (IFS) in 1977 and during his diplomatic career spanning over 38 years, he served in different capacities in India and abroad. On retirement, he joined Tata sons as President of Global Corporate Affairs
UPBRINGING & EDUCATION – He was born in New Delhi to a prominent strategic affairs analyst, commentator, and civil servant K. Subrahmanyam and Sulochana. He did schooling from The Air Force School, Subroto Park, New Delhi, and is a graduate of St. Stephen’s College at the University of Delhi. He has an MA in Political Science and an M.Phil and Ph.D in International Relations from Jawaharlal Nehru University where he specialized in Nuclear Diplomacy.
WALK OF LIFE- Jaishankar is the Union Minister of External Affairs in the Narendra Modi’s cabinet. He is former foreign secretary of India. He is the only person in the Narendra Modi cabinet who was inducted into the ministry without contesting the Lok Sabha elections or being a member of the Rajya Sabha.
MAJOR INITIATIVES TAKEN- He encouraged the government to maintain peace on the border and reduction of trade deficits. He also made efforts to dissuade China from supporting Pakistan blindly and obstructing India’s membership into the Nuclear Suppliers group and the UN Security Council.
CAREER TIMELINE/POSITION HELD-
1979: First Secretary at Indian Mission in Moscow, Russia
1985: First Secretary at Indian Embassy in Washington, DC
1988: Political advisor to the Indian Peacekeeping force (IPKF) and the first secretary at Indian Mission in Sri Lanka
1996: Deputy Chief of mission at the Indian Embassy in Tokyo
2000: India’s ambassador to the Czech Republic
2004: Joint Secretary at the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi
2007: India’s High Commissioner to Singapore
2009: India’s longest serving ambassador to China with a tenure of four and a half years
2013: India’s ambassador to the United States of America in September
2015: Foreign Secretary of India
2019: External Affairs Minister