Nirupama Rao leaves for US to hold talks with American bureaucrats before Obama’s India visit

THE preparation for US president Barack Obama’s visit to Indian in November has officially begun. Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao, a 1973 batch IFS, left for the US on Thursday to meet several high-level US officials, including chairman of the Senate on foreign relations committee to discuss about the high-profile visit.

Rao is likely to meet National Secretary Advisor James Jones and Under-Secretary of State for Political Affairs William Burns. Later Foreign Secretary will join external affairs minister SM Krishna who would reach New York on September 20 to participate in the UN General Assembly. The issue of visa hike and threat to outsourcing to India are likely to figure during the US visit of the foreign secretary. Rao would be aided by her batch-mate and Indian ambassador to US Meera Shankar when she would engage in dialogue with top US officials.

(File Photo: Ambassador Meera Shankar and foreign secretary Nirupama Rao with external affairs minister SM Krishna, in Washington DC on June 2, 2010)

Babus In Demand

Are you an Indian officer at the rank of deputy secretary or director level, but with fairly good knowledge of Tamil language? If you fit the description, you could be a contender for a vacant post in development cooperation wing of Indian High Commission at Colombo. The period of deputation will be three years. An academic background in finance, economics or civil engineering would be desirable. Last date of application is October 15, 2010. Only in August, the government had invited applications for filling up the post of Counsellor, Community Affairs (Development) under the ministry of overseas Indian affairs at Abu Dhabi.

Action and Appointments

a) Mohan Kumar, presently Deputy Chief of Mission, Embassy of India, Paris, has been appointed as the next Ambassador of India to Bahrain in succession to Dr George Joseph. He is expected to take up his assignment shortly.

b) Delhi police has registered a case of molestation against a 50-year-old Delhi Metro officer under Sections 354 for allegedly outraging the modesty of a woman colleague, and 509 (making indecent gestures to insult a woman) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). A woman in her mid-30s complained that she was being sexually harassed for the past few months by the DMRC officer, and the accused allegedly sent lewd text messages on her mobile phone.