Ms. Bagchi wrote:"If confirmed, Nirupama will only be the second woman foreign secretary India would have had, after Chokila Iyer - and an accomplished jazz singer to boot. No matter how gender neutral you try to be, the hard part of foreign policy making is always felt to be a man’s world, even though MEA boasts of outstanding women officers. The expectation is Nirupama will strike her own chords, although it will be PM Manmohan Singh's music and lyrics that will be at play here."

You should know that the Foreign Sec's job is to implement policy and not to make policy. The latter is the preogative of the PM under advice of his or her cabinet. So, yes, the incoming Foreign Sec. will have to 'sing and dance' to the PM's tune...though she will have some leverage in how to present the 'lyrics and the choreography'. This is her (assuming that it is a 'her') job! For god's sake, the Foreign Sec. is a bureaucrat...why is that so difficult to understand?

Cheers!

Hey indrani, Good article. definitely focus is on China, but I have few chinese friends in europe, they says why there is lot of cry about china in indian media whereas chinese media does not have much mention about India (sure, India is not of much importance from their point of view), So I think why we are also getting mad at china. Okay, border disputes are there but that does not mean halting of all cordial channels. I as a young indian, wants cordial relations with all our neighbours (including pakistan). surely this UPA government looks promising on various fronts. Good article, keep informing us good/bad work of governments.

It is very interesting to know that the appointment of a foreign secretary creates more noise than any other secretary in the government. Yet the ministry itself is taken lightly in political circles.
The incumbent foreign minister Mr. S. M. Krishna was mostly involved in state affairs. There were other bigwigs who tons of experience in international matters and had worked under previous government. Yet relatively novice was given the charge of foreign ministry. One possible reason, the immense influence the PMO has over this ministry. Also external issues are also handled by Overseas Affairs Ministry leaving lesser scope for foreign ministry. The Australian race issue was condemned by Mr. Krishna but the actions to check atrocities against Indians were put forth by Mr. Vayalar Ravi.
In contrast, in US, the Secretary of State is the highest-ranking cabinet secretary both in line of succession and order of precedence. The appointee are generally with a strong background - Collin Powell, Condoleezza Rice, etc. Collin Powell was a former four-star general in the United States Army and Condoleezza Rice was President Bush's National Security Advisor during his first term.
I believe there should be one single ministry handling all external matters allowing more coordinated approach. We also have Minister for State for External Affairs who can handle overseas affairs, under External Affairs ministry.
Secondly, that India’s external affairs ministry should be proactive than reactive. US beats us here also, although the comparison might be little unfair. Hillary Clinton, in a very short period, made many foreign tours after she was made Secretary of State; Rice pioneered a policy of Transformational Diplomacy, with a focus on democracy in the greater Middle East. And our foreign minister looks like another secretary to PMO.

It is very interesting (Contd..)

Finally, only person with immense experience in foreign affairs should be made a foreign minister. He or she can be of any background – administrative, defense, etc.; defense person preferable considering the nations we are surrounded by. The person should with young mindset that accept today’s world realities, aligns India’s policy that with future and repels Cold-war era ideologies.

On surface there is a lot of talk of border disputes between India and China. However, deep down, there is a lot of good work going on between these countries which is not getting much media attention.China is expected to be the Biggest economy by 2050, therefore we have much to gain by working with China. India and China are also part of the BRIC economic bloc i.e (Brazil Russia India China). BRIC countries amongst themselves, have a large reserve of petroleum, gas and minerals etc. Trade amongst them will increase their interdependece, hence less likelyhood of conflicts.

It is the right decision by the Govt to appoint Ms Nirupama Rao as the next Foreign Secretary as she has proved to be an outstanding IFS officer all through her professional career.Our foreign policy is slowly shifting the focus from Pakistan to China. It is not from a military threat point of view but it is more from an economic point of view as China and India have the potential to be the biggest economies in the 2020s.BRIC is another economic bloc which has tremendous growth potential provided the countries have good trade relations.Hence we need to engage with China in a big way. Further, Russia has vast resources of petroleum / gas and has a large influence over the other countries in Central Asia who have vast natural resources. In the coming decade the foreign policy of the Govt will play a key role in determining the pace of growth and the direction.

I have only one request to the author be neutral. Before the episode of the disputed structure when ever there was cricket match between India and Pakistan the result India lost there was incidents of Pakistani flag hoisting in Indian soil and fortunately or unfortunately Congress was in power why then the so called pusedo secular leaders and the author never voiced any concern and after the demolition of the disputed structure it's a big political hoopla, why?.Why people are so dual faced along with the author. When will the muslims understand that these so called pusedo seculars are doing nothing but basically pushing them in GRAVE. When will people (regardless of muslims or hindus) of India will have the courage to ask questions about The Sikhs butchered by Congress or the Godra and = incident in Gujrat as unfied force. Will there be any arithmetic between sensible peoples who can for at least once can think before any personal interest. Why cannot muslims ask Congress why Rajiv Gandhi allowed the pujas in the disputed structure. What kind of dual face is this? My only request to the entire muslim peoples of India give your judgement but please be nutreal in keeping all the points in your mind, don't look with one eye it will never serve any body's purpose.

What a disgrace? How can you justify Nirupama for this crucial position. I have met her personally and i dont think she is capable of any such role. Its all the gender sentitiveness that tilts this balance towards her i would guess. Lets just hope a strong figure come to the fore for this very strategically important position.

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