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Journalism of Courage
NEW DELHI, DEC 24: The Foreign Office will get its first woman chief when Chokila Iyer, currently India’s ambassador to Ireland, takes over from Lalit Mansingh in May as the next foreign secretary. Mansingh gets the coveted job of India’s ambassador to Washington in place of Naresh Chandra.
Iyer’s appointment ends speculation about Kanwar Sibal’s elevation to the top post in the IFS. Although Sibal would have superceded 19 officers, the MEA was buzzing with stories naming him as Mansingh’s possible successor. The stories started after Sibal, then ambassador in Paris, was unexpectedly brought back to Delhi as secretary which was seen as preparation for the final leg up.
In choosing Iyer, the Government has stuck to its established preference for seniority. There is only one officer ahead of her in the hierarchy, Deb Mukherjee, the ambassador in Nepal. Iyer seems to have pipped him to the post largely because she will have a 14-month tenure after she assumes office whereas Mukherjee would have had only seven months to retirement.
Apart from being the first woman foreign secretary, Iyer stands out in comparison to her predecessors because of her unusual background. She hails from Sikkim and will thus be the first tribal head of the Foreign Service. She joined the IFS in 1964 at a time when Sikkim was not an Indian state but a protectorate. A special agreement between Sikkim and India permitted Sikkim nationals to join the Indian Civil Services which gave Iyer the entry she needed.
She will also be one of the few foreign secretaries who has not served in a neighbouring country. At one point, a stint in the neighbourhood was almost an unstated qualification for the top job in the MEA. For instance, of the last five foreign secretaries, J.N. Dixit was ambassador to Pakistan, K. Srinivasan was high commissioner to Bangladesh, Salman Haider was high commissioner to Bhutan, K Raghunath was also high commissioner to Bangladesh and Mansingh was ambassador to Afghanistan.
Iyer, on the other hand, has done two postings in Mexico, the last one as ambassador. She also headed the Indian Council for Cultural Affairs in one of her terms at home.
Foreign Office circles feel that Iyer’s appointment may reflect the changing priorities of the establishment as also the fact that the sensitive and crucial neighbourhood policy, particularly the Pakistan policy, is no longer run by the MEA but by the PMO.
