Natwar Singh
| K. Natwar Singh | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Minister of External Affairs of India | |
|
In office 22 May 2004 – 6 December 2005 |
|
| Preceded by | Yashwant Sinha |
| Succeeded by | Manmohan Singh |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
16 May 1931 Jaghina, Bharatpur, Bharatpur State, British Raj (present-day Rajasthan, India) |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Political party | Indian National Congress |
| Spouse(s) | Heminder Kaur |
| Residence | New Delhi |
| Alma mater |
Mayo College, Ajmer St. Stephen's College, Delhi Scindia School |
| Occupation | Politician |
| Religion | Hinduism |
| Awards | Padma Bhushan |
| Signature |  |
Kunwar Natwar Singh (born 16 May 1931) is an Indian politician, a former senior bureaucrat, a former Union cabinet minister, and a writer.
Singh was selected into the Indian Foreign Service, one of the most competitive and prestigious government services, in 1953. In 1984, he resigned from the service to contest elections as a member of the Indian National Congress party. He won the election and served as a union minister of state until 1989. Thereafter, he had a patchy political career until being made India's foreign minister in 2004. However, 18 months later, he had to resign under a cloud after the UN's Volcker committee named both him and the Congress party to which he belonged as beneficiaries of illegal pay-offs in the Iraqi oil scam.
The fourth son of Thakur Govind Singh of Deeg and his wife Thakurani Prayag Kaur, Singh was born in the princely state of Bharatpur to an aristocratic Jat family related to the ruling dynasty of Bharatpur. He attended Mayo College and Scindia School, Gwalior, both traditionally for Indian princely clans and nobles, and took an undergraduate degree at St. Stephen's College, Delhi. He subsequently studied at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge University and was a visiting scholar for a period at Peking University in China.
Singh 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 City 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 Mrs Indira Gandhi. He was part of the Indian delegation to the Heads of Commonwealth Meeting in Kingston, Jamaica in 1975. 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 also accompanied Mrs. Indira Gandhi on her State visit to the US in 1982. He served as an Executive Trustee, United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) 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.
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