Vikas Swarup is a retired Indian diplomat and writer. He retired from the Indian Foreign Service as the Secretary (West) at the Ministry of External Affairs, India on 30 June 2021 and has previously served as High Commissioner of India in Canada and has been the official spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs. He was best known as the author of the novel Q & A, adapted in film as Slumdog Millionaire, the winner of Best Film for the year 2009 at the Academy Awards, Golden Globe Awards and BAFTA Awards.
The Indian Foreign Service (IFS) is a civil service under the All India Services. It is the diplomatic service and a central civil service of the Government of India under the Ministry of External Affairs. The Foreign Secretary is the head of the service. Vinay Mohan Kwatra is the 34th and the current Foreign Secretary.
The Ministry of External Affairs of India is the government agency responsible for implementing Indian foreign policy. The Ministry of External Affairs is headed by the Minister of External Affairs, a Cabinet Minister. The Foreign Secretary, an Indian Foreign Service officer, is the most senior civil servant who is the head of the Department of Foreign Affairs. The Ministry represents the Government of India through embassies and is also responsible for India's representation at the United Nations and other international organizations and expanding and safeguarding India's influence and Indian interests across the world by providing developmental aid to other countries worth billions of dollars. It also advises other Ministries and State Governments on foreign governments and institutions.
The Sushma Swaraj Institute of Foreign Service (Hindi: सुषमा स्वराज विदेश सेवा संस्थान is the civil service training institute in New Delhi where Indian Foreign Service officers are trained. The institute functions under the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India.
Nirupama Menon Rao is a retired civil servant of 1973 batch Indian Foreign Service cadre who served as India's Foreign Secretary from 2009 to 2011, as well as being India's Ambassador to the United States, China and Sri Lanka during her career.
The Ministry of External Affairs of India set up its Public Diplomacy Division in 2006 to advance India's conversations with the world. The key goal of Indian Public Diplomacy is to explain, on a day-to-day basis, the background of policy decisions in Indian foreign policy, to promote a positive image of India and to engage scholars, think tanks, and the media through its outreach activities. It was merged with the External Publicity Division of the Ministry of External Affairs of India in January 2014.
Kosovo's declaration of independence from Serbia was enacted on Sunday, 17 February 2008 by a unanimous vote of the Assembly of Kosovo. All 11 representatives of the Serb minority boycotted the proceedings. International reaction was mixed, and the world community continues to be divided on the issue of the international recognition of Kosovo. India's reaction to the 2008 Kosovo declaration of independence is one of non-recognition.
Subrahmanyam Jaishankar is an Indian diplomat and politician serving as the Minister of External Affairs of the Government of India since 30 May 2019. He is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party and a Member of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha since 5 July 2019. He previously served as the Foreign Secretary from January 2015 to January 2018. He became the second ever diplomat to be appointed as India's External Affairs minister, after Natwar Singh.
Syed Akbaruddin is a retired Indian diplomat from 1985 batch of the Indian Foreign Service and served as India's permanent representative at the United Nations at New York from January 2016 to April 2020. He had previously served as official spokesperson of India's Ministry of External Affairs from January 2012 to April 2015 and was Indian representative at IAEA from 2006 to 2011. He is currently serving as the dean of Kautilya School of Public Policy.
Nagma Mohamed Mallick is an Indian civil servant of the Indian Foreign Service. She holds the rank of Secretary/Grade I of the government. She is currently ambassador of India to the Republic of Poland and the Republic of Lithuania since 2021. On June 29, 2015 she was appointed as the High Commissioner of India to Brunei Darussalam. Before this posting, she served as India's Ambassador to Tunisia October 2012 to November 2015. She was a TV and stage actress, and acted in India's first television soap opera, Hum Log.
Raveesh Kumar is an Indian diplomat in the Indian Foreign Service. Currently he is an Indian ambassador to Finland also accredited to Estonia, residing in Helsinki. He was the former official spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in the Government of India. He was the youngest ever official spokesperson. He was the Consul General of India in Frankfurt, Germany before being appointed as the spokesperson of the MEA.
Reenat Sandhu is an Indian diplomat and current ambassador of India to the Netherlands. She had previously served as Secretary West in the Ministry of External Affairs and as the Indian Ambassador to Italy and San Marino.
Anurag Srivastava is an Indian civil servant who belongs to the Indian Foreign Service cadre. He served as spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs, India.
The 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue is a diplomatic summit that has been held every year since 2018 initially between the Minister of External Affairs or Foreign Minister, and Defence Minister of India with the Secretary of State and Secretary of Defense of the United States to discuss and work on common issues of concern to improve and strengthen India–United States relations.
Arindam Bagchi is an Indian diplomat and civil services officer. He is a 1995 batch officer of the Indian Foreign Service. He was appointed the Official Spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs in March 2021 and served their till 3 January 2024. On 16 October 2023, he was appointed India's Permanent Representative to the United Nations at Geneva. He has succeeded Indra Mani Pandey and assumed the charge on 5 January 2024.
Gopal Baglay, or Gopal Bagalay is an Indian diplomat and currently the Indian High Commissioner to Australia.He has previously served as Indian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, been the Official Spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs, and Joint secretary in Prime Minister's Office.
In August 2022, eight former Indian Navy officers were detained in Doha, Qatar. Charges against them were not made public by Qatari authorities; however, media reports speculated that they were "spying for Israel". The detained men who worked in Qatar were allegedly involved in dubious activities connected to espionage. After long diplomatic and judicial efforts, their charges were commuted by December 2023, and all were released later. They reached New Delhi in February 2024.
Randhir Jaiswal is an Indian diplomat and civil services officer. He is a 1988 batch Indian Foreign Service officer, currently serving as the Official Spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs of India.
