New Delhi: S Jaishankar, who on Wednesday was appointed as the new Foreign Secretary, replaces Sujatha Singh on the post. He was the Ambassador to the US, having been appointed in December, 2013.
Jaishankar's performance as the Indian Ambassador to the US has catapulted him to the post of the coveted post of Foreign Secretary. He is being rewarded for the role he played in the visit of US President Barack Obama to India.
He had taken over as the Indian Ambassador to the US amid a raging diplomatic row over the arrest and strip-search of senior diplomat Devyani Khobragade on visa fraud charges. In protest against her arrest and her mistreatment by US Marshals, India had demanded an apology and withdrawal of charges against the 39-year-old Deputy Consul General at the Indian consulate in New York. New Delhi had retaliated by withdrawing a slew of privileges being provided to American diplomats in India for decades. But, the US has refused to drop charges and tender an apology.
Prior to that assignment, Jaishankar was India's Ambassador to China.
Jaishankar is known as one of the brightest Foreign Service officials of his generation who played a key role in the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal.
Jaishankar is proficient in Russian and also knows Japanese and Hungarian. He had succeeded Nirupama Rao as the Ambassador to the US.
Born in New Delhi in 1955, Jaishankar is son of prominent Indian strategic affairs analyst, commentator, and civil servant K Subrahmanyam and brother of historian Sanjay Subrahmanyam.
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