K. Natwar Singh

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Kunwar Natwar Singh, popularly known as K. Natwar Singh (born May 16, 1931) is an Indian politician and government cabinet minister. He was appointed the external affairs minister (i.e. in charge of foreign relations) of India in the Manmohan Singh cabinet on May 23, 2004. He was removed from that post on November 7, 2005 (though retaining a cabinet role as minister without portfolio) — a decision attributed principally to the controversy over his (and the Congress Party's) alleged involvement in the United Nations Iraqi Oil for Food scandal, as reported by the investigating panel under Paul Volcker. This scandal overshadowed some of Singh's other controversial remarks about Indian foreign policy, and represented a serious crisis for the ruling coalition.

He is an arts graduate from St. Stephen's College, University of Delhi, Delhi. He also studied at Corpus Christi College in Cambridge, UK and Beijing University, Beijing, China.

He joined the Indian Foreign Service (IFS) in 1953 and served for 31 years. One of his earliest assignments was in Beijing, China (1956-58) He was then posted to New York - with the Permanent Mission of India, (1961-66) and as India's representative to Executive Board of UNICEF, (1962-66). He served on several important UN committees between 1963 and 1966. In 1966, he was posted to the Prime Minister's Secretariat under Ms. Indira Gandhi. He was part of the Indian delegation to the Heads of Commonwealth Meeting in Kingston, Jamaica, 1975. In 1984 he joined the Congress. He was an Indian Delegate to the 30th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, New York, Heads of Commonwealth Meeting, Lusaka, Zambia in 1979 and the 35th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, New York. He accompanied Ms. Indira Gandhi on her State visit to the USA in 1982. He served as Executive Trustee, United Nations Institute for Training and Research (U.N.I.T.A.R.) appointed by the Secretary-General, United Nations for six years (1981-86) He also served on the Expert Group appointed by the Secretary General of the Commonwealth, London in 1982 He was appointed Secretary-General of the Seventh Non-aligned summit in New Delhi held in 1983 and Chief Coordinator of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in New Delhi in the same year. He served as Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs from March 1982 to November 1984. He was elected President of the UN Conference on Disarmament and Development held in New York in 1987. He led the Indian delegation to the 42nd Session of the UN General Assembly.

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Positions held

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Books Published

  1. E.M.Forster : A Tribute, New York, 1964
  2. The Legacy of Nehru, New York, 1965
  3. Tales from Modern India, New York, 1966
  4. Stories from India, London, 1971
  5. Maharaja Suraj Mal (1707-63), London, 1981
  6. Curtain Raisers, Delhi,1984
  7. Profiles & Letters, Delhi, 1997
  8. The Magnificent Maharaja Bhupinder Singh of Patiala (1891-1938), Delhi, 1997
  9. Heart to Heart, Delhi, 2003.
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External Affairs Minister of India

K. Natwar Singh has been noted as a controversial figure in Indian foreign policy.

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Stand on Iraq

In June 2004, he made a statement about India being willing to review its stand on sending troops to Iraq after the unanimous resolution of the United Nations. "There is a resolution of the last Parliament on this issue in which we had given our opinion that we were against sending troops to Iraq. Now the situation has changed. There is a resolution unanimously passed in the United Nations and there are Arab members in it. We will look at it very carefully. But I must emphasize that this matter will have to be placed before the government at the highest levels, so it would be premature for me to say aye or nay," he said after a 60-minute meeting with US Secretary of State Colin Powell. He has been criticized by the chief opposition party, the Bharatiya Janata Party for these remarks and for making contradictory statements on India's policy on Pakistan.

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Pakistan

He visited Pakistan for the first time after becoming India's external affairs minister in July 2004 and held bilateral talks with his Pakistani counterpart.

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United States of America

In June 2004, he made his first trip to the U.S. after becoming India's foreign minister and met with U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell. Even though the two discussed India's stand on Iraq, the prime reason Singh was in the U.S. was to represent India at the state funeral of former U.S. president Ronald Reagan.

In April, 2005, he became the first Indian foreign minister to meet the United States President in the Oval Office of the White House.

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References

  • "Indian FM: I will not resign". (Nov. 6, 2005). New Sunday Times, p. 33.
  • "Natwar stripped of foreign portfolio". (Nov. 8, 2005). New Straits Times, p. 34.
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External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K._Natwar_Singh"
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