Subrahmanyam Jaishankar is an Indian diplomat. He has been the Indian Ambassador to America and China. Jaishankar is currently serving as the Union Minister of External Affairs. He is the only Union Minister in Narendra Modi‘s Cabinet who has not contested any election.
Contents
Wiki/Biography
Subrahmanyam Jaishankar was born on Sunday, 9 January 1955 (age 64 years; as in 2019) in New Delhi. His zodiac sign is Capricorn. He received his primary education from theĀ Air Force Central School, New Delhi. He pursued graduation from theĀ St. Stephenās College, New Delhi. He did hisĀ MA in Political Science & International Relations with specialization in Nuclear Diplomacy from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi. He joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1977. He has served in many capacities such as First Secretary, Joint Commissioner, High Commissioner, and Ambassador. He belongs to a family of diplomats, who have served in many high and important positions in the government.
Physical Appearance
Height (approx.): 5′ 5″
Weight (approx.): 65 kg
Eye Colour: Black
Hair Colour: Grey
Family, Wife & Caste
Subrahmanyam Jaishankar belongs to a Brahmin Family. His father, K. Subrahmanyam, was an Indian strategic affairs analyst, a renowned journalist, and a civil servant. His mother was Sulochana Jayasankar. He has two brothers, Sanjay Subrahmanyam, a prominent historian, andĀ S. Vijay Kumar, the Former Rural Development Secretary of India.
He is married to Kyoko Jaishankar. He has a daughter, Medha Jaishankar, and two sons, Dhruva Jaishankar and Arjun Shankar. His elder son Dhruv is married to Cassandra.
Career
Subrahmanyam Jaishankar joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1977. His first international posting was in Moscow, Russia. He was posted as a Third Secretary, and he got promoted as the Second Secretary in 1980. In 1981 he returned to India, and he worked as an undersecretary in the American division of the Ministry of External Affairs. He played a crucial part in the teamĀ that resolved the dispute over the supply of the US nuclear fuel to the Tarapur Power Stations in India. In 1985, he was appointed as the First Secretary in the Indian Embassy at Washington D.C.
In 1988. he was posted in Sri Lanka as the First Secretary and as the political advisor to the Indian Peacekeeping Force in Sri Lanka. In 1993, he worked as the Press Secretary and the speechwriter for the former President of India, Shankar Dayal Sharma. In 2000, he was appointed as the Indian ambassador to the Czech Republic. In 2004, Jaishankar was appointed as America’s Joint Secretary at the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi. During his tenure as the Joint Secretary, he was involved in negotiating the US-India civil nuclear agreement and improving the defence co-operation. In 2007, he was appointed as India’s High Commissioner to Singapore.Ā As the High Commissioner, he helped in implementing the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA); which expanded the presence of Indian businesses in Singapore.
In 2009, he was appointed as the Indian Ambassador to China. He played a very important part in improving the economic trade and cultural relations between India and China. Over the years, Jaishankar has been involved in solving many arguments and disputes between the countries. In 2013, Jaishankar was being considered for the post of India’s Foreign Minister by Manmohan Singh, but, he could not appoint him due to internal pressure.
In September 2013, he was appointed as the Indian Ambassador to the United States of America. He joined his post on 23 December 2013 amid tensions in the US due to the Devyani Khobragade incident[1]Wikipedia. He negotiated for Devyani’s release successfully.Ā On 10 March 2014, he formally presented his credentials to the US President Barack Obama at the Oval Office.
On 29 January 2015, Jaishankar was appointed as the Foreign Secretary of India by the Narendra Modi Government. He had an excellent working relationship with the former Union Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj. After Jaishankar retired, heĀ joined Tata Sons as the President, Global Corporate Affairs. On 30 May 2019, he was appointed as the Union Minister of External Affairs by Narendra Modi. On 31 May 2019, he was sworn in as a Cabinet Minister.
Salary
Rs. 1 Lac + Additional allowances (As a Cabinet Minister)
Facts
- Jaishankar knows many languages such asĀ Tamil, Russian, Hindi, Mandarin, Japanese, and Hungarian. He learned many of these languages while he was posted internationally.
- He is the first former Foreign Secretary of India to become the Union Minister of External Affairs.
- Jaishankar was the Indian ambassador to China for four and a half years. This is the longest anyone has ever served as an ambassador to China.
- In 2012, he became the first Indian ambassador to visit Tibet in ten years.
- In September 2004, he was the most significant person to manage Narendra Modi’s maiden visit to the US. He welcomed him upon his arrival and hosted a dinner in his honour for the members of the Indian-American community.
- He is often criticized for planning the 2015 Nepal Blockade; which was an economic and humanitarian crisis and had severely affected Nepal.
- In July 2019, he was elected to the Rajya Sabha from Gujarat and on 8 July 2019, he took oath as a member of the Rajya Sabha.
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