Ruchi Ghanshyam is new India envoy to UK, only second woman since ’47
LONDON: Ruchi Ghanshyam, the secretary (west) in the external affairs ministry and the next Indian high commissioner to the United Kingdom, will be the second woman to hold the key post since independence in 1947.
The only woman high commissioner so far was Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit, who was in the post during 1954-1961. She was India’s third envoy after VK Krishna Menon and BG Kher, who steered India-UK relations soon after independence.
Ghanshyam's appointment was announced by the ministry in New Delhi this week.
Pandit had the longest tenure of seven years, LM Singhvi was in office for six years (1991-97) and Krishna Menon for five (1947-1952). Four envoys had tenures of less than a year, including the current ambassador to the US, Navtej Sarna (10 months).
Others with similar brief appearances were Prakash Mehrotra (July-December 1984), Kuldip Nayar (March-November 1990) and Salman Haider (January-July 1998).
Ghanshyam, an IFS officer of the 1982 batch, will be India’s 27th envoy based at India House in the Strand, central London.
She will take over from YK Sinha, who is due to retire later this year after a tenure that saw growing outreach with the 1.5-million-strong Indian diaspora and cultural events during the UK-India Year of Culture in 2017.
Ghanshyam, who was part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s official delegation during his visit to London in April for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, will be in the post when the UK is due to leave the European Union on March 29, 2019.