S K SINGH
Rajasthan Governor and former foreign secretary, S K Singh passed away on Tuesday after a short period of illness. He served as Governor of Rajasthan from 2007. He also held the position of the foreign secretary of India and Governor of Arunachal Pradesh.
BIOGRAPHY
Shilendra Kumar Singh was born on 24th January 1932. He gained his bachelor’s degree in History, Sanskrit and Hindi from ‘St Johns College’, Agra and gained Master’s Degree in History and an LLB Degree from Agra University. In addition, he studied Persian and International Law at Trinity College, University of Cambridge. He joined in Indian Foreign Service(IFS) in 1954 and in 1989, he became the Foreign Secretary of India. Before that he was served as the official spokesman of India to Pakistan from 1985 to 1989. He also held many positions including ambassador to Austria, additional foreign secretary, ambassador to Afghanistan, ambassador concurrently to Jorden , Lebanon and Cyprus, official spokesman of the Government of India and foreign trade director in the Ministry of Commerce. He served as the Governor of Arunachal Pradesh from 2004 to 2007. In Arunachal Pradesh, he acted as a vocal advocate in maintaining that the State was a non-negotiable part of sovereign India. He took the efforts for eradication of the inner line permit and restricted area permit required for travel to Arunachal Pradesh. He was instrumental in ensuring the connectivity of the northeastern State with the rest of the country by building an airport in the state, constructing a railway line and improving the road network. He was appointed as the Governor of Rajasthan in 2007. He was also a member of 19 Indian delegations to the UN General Assembly, ECOSOC and the human rights commission. He was the President of the G77 and also served as India ’s Governor on the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna. Apart from teaching History in Agra University, Singh was a visiting Professor and Member of the Academic Council of Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi. In addition, he was the board director of numerous cultural, academic and corporate organizations. He was a frequent writer and television commentator. He contributed articles to many journals and newspapers in India and abroad on international relations, geopolitics and current developments. He is married to Manju Singh and, they have two sons, Shashank and Kanishka.