In a bid to make the functioning of the MEA more robust, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and Foreign Secretary Harsh Shringla have made a slew of changes to make the Foreign office more robust and to take on the future challenges in 2020.
Akhilesh Mishra has been appointed as the Additional Secretary in charge of Development Partnerships. He is an IFS officer belonging to the 1989 batch.
P. Harish will be the Additional Secretary of Economic Relations. He has been the Additional Secretary (States Division). He is an IFS officer of the 1990 batch.
Dinesh Patnaik will be the new Director General of MEA’s cultural diplomacy arm Indian Council for Cultural Relations. He has served as the nation’s Deputy High Commissioner to UK and as the country’s envoy to Cambodia and Morocco. He is an IFS officer of the 1990 batch.
Nagma Mallick will be the Additional Secretary in charge of Africa. She is an IFS officer belonging to the 1991 batch. Before this she was the Joint Secretary dealing with Policy planning and also been the country’s envoy to Tunisia and Brunei and the deputy envoy to Thailand. She has also previously served as the Deputy Chief of Protocol and was part of former Prime Minister IK Gujral’s team of Personal Staff. As a Director of XP division, she dealt with matters in the Spokesperson’s office. She has also acted in the tele-serial, Hum Log.
Suresh Reddy will be the new Additional Secretary for Europe. He has represented the country at the ASEAN head quarters in Jakarta. He is an IFS officer belonging to the 1991 batch.
Neena Malhotra has been named as Additional Secretary, Indo- Pacific, Southern and Indian Ocean Region (IOR). She is currently the Additional Secretary heading the East and South African division. Malhotra is an officer of the Indian Foreign Service belonging to the 1992 batch.
Vikram Doraiswamy has been made the new Additional Secretary for International Organisations and he will also be incharge of summits. In the coming years, it is expected that India will host the critical G-20 summit and the important India-Africa Forum summit. These will be the areas where his expertise will help India further its national interests. He is an IFS officer belonging to the 1992 batch and has served in the Prime Minister’s Office and as the country’s envoy to South Korea.
Anupam Ray, who did excellent work at Consul General in Houston has been rewarded with the plum post of Joint Secretary, Public Policy and Research which works closely with the EAM and the Foreign Secretary. He is an IFS officer of the 1994 batch. This division is critical to the foreign policy establishment of India and is normally headed by those with a proven track record of excellence.
Smita Pant will be the new Joint Secretary of Bangladesh and Maldvies. She is an IFS officer belonging to the 2001 batch. She has been the nation’s deputy envoy to UAE.
G. Balasubramanian will be the new JS, AD and Sandeep Arya will be the JS, EW.
Adarsh Swaika will also handle the sensitive post of JS, CNV besides JS, CPV.