The Insider

As India8217;s global standing grows and its relations with all the major powers and key regions of the world acquire a new dynamism, curio...

As India8217;s global standing grows and its relations with all the major powers and key regions of the world acquire a new dynamism, curiosity about the Indian Foreign Service, that makes it all happen, has never been so high. Arguably no other civil service has left a larger mark on India8217;s public life than the IFS. One of its members, K.R. Narayanan, became the president of the Republic. K. Natwar Singh is currently the external affairs minister of India and yet another, Mani Shankar Aiyar, is the minister of petroleum. Two others, Brajesh Mishra and P.N. Haksar 8212; as principal advisors to Prime Ministers Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Indira Gandhi 8212; shaped India8217;s national policies well beyond diplomacy.

While the IFS has always been the most glamorous of India8217;s civil services, it also invites criticism for its starchiness, self-obsession and lack of strategic imagination.

For some, the IFS, as the principal instrument of India8217;s engagement with the world, has remained fossilised in old ways of thinking. It has not always risen to the challenges of globalisation and the new strategic opportunities knocking at India8217;s door. Dixit8217;s new volume, completed just before his untimely death in January, gives the first substantive story of the IFS. If it had to come from one of the insiders, there was no one better placed to write it than him. His rare account of the origin and evolution of the IFS over the last six decades is at once accessible and comprehensive. It covers every dimension of the service from its famed social graces to shifting weight in Delhi8217;s bureaucratic politics, from the growing role of women in the service to attempts at internal reform. Dixit was never accused of pulling his punches or trying to needlessly hide information. Nor was he known for being mealy mouthed. It is precisely these qualities that make this book a feast of inside information and informed opinion. Whether it is Rajiv Gandhi8217;s use of back channel diplomacy or his criticism of the BJP government8217;s handling of the IFS, Dixit is forthright.

Unlike many diplomats who tend to justify all of Indian diplomatic past, Dixit, the realist, has the ability to historicise failures and achievements of the service as a collective. By the time he concludes with a very confident note on the future of the IFS, Dixit has walked us through the fascinating story of a very important institution of modern India. For anyone remotely interested in Indian diplomacy and statecraft, Dixit8217;s volume is pure delight. That this is his last work adds a twinge of sadness. As the show goes on, Dixit will be long remembered 8212; not only for being one of its ablest diplomats but also for compensating, through his intellectual fecundity the government8217;s refusal to release any worthwhile information on India8217;s diplomatic history.