Ranjan Mathai next Foreign Secretary

Ranjan Mathai next Foreign Secretary

Ranjan Mathai, India's ambassador to France, will be the next Foreign Secretary, succeeding Nirupama Rao.

Mathai, a 1974-batch IFS officer, will assume from 1st August and will be there for a term of two years, official spokesperson Vishnu Prakash said.

After completing post graduate studies in Political Science at the University of Poona, Mathai joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1974. He has served in Indian embassies in Vienna, Colombo, Washington, Tehran and Brussels.

As Joint Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi between January 1995 to February 1998, he headed the division dealing with India's relations with Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Maldives.

He also served as Indian Ambassador to Israel from February 1998 to June 2001 and was the Indian Ambassador in Qatar from August 2001 to July 2005.

He held the post of Deputy High Commissioner of India to the UK in London from August 2005 to January 2007.

Rao, who is retiring on 31^st July, has been appointed as India's ambassador to the United States.

Lokpal Bill to be finalized after consultations with political parties: Govt.

Lokpal Bill to be finalized after consultations with political parties: Govt.

Jun 26,  2011
HRD Minister Kapil Sibal said, one of the key members of the joint committee for drafting the Lokpal Bill emphasised that the draft bill prepared by the five ministers was not the final bill. Mr Sibal said it will go through changes after getting inputs not just from other political parties but also other members of civil society.

 Sibal said civil society is not to be used again in drafting of law. The government is holding a meeting with political parties on the issue on July 3. Mr Sibal maintained that Anna Hazare and his associates had wanted to create an authority outside the system which would be accountable to nobody. Mr Sibal asserted that this could not be allowed to happen
Govt has said the draft of the lokpal Bill will undergo changes after consultation with political parties and other part of civil societies.With an all-party meeting scheduled on 3rd July to discuss the Lokpal Bill, it would be subsequently tabled in the Parliament in the monsoon session, Union Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs V Narayansamy said on Saturday.

The "bill will certainly be tabled" before the Parliament in the monsoon session starting on 1st August, Narayanasamy told reporters at the airport in Chennai, adding, Congress alone was taking efforts to bring in the Lokpal Bill despite BJP being in power earlier.