October 9 is celebrated as Indian Foreign Service Day, and IFS officers took to Twitter, today, to wish each other. The history of the Service and this day goes back to September 1946, when, on the eve of India’s Independence, the Government of India decided to create a service called the Indian Foreign Service for India’s diplomatic, consular and commercial representation overseas.
In 1947, there was a near seamless transformation of the Foreign and Political department of the British India government into what then became the new Ministry of External Affairs and Commonwealth Relations, and in 1948, the first batch recruited under the combined Civil Service Examination system of the Union Public Service Commission joined the service. This system of entry has remained the staple mode of intake into the Indian Foreign Service to this day.
On the occasion, External Affairs Minister Dr. S Jaishankar tweeted, “Greetings to members of the Indian Foreign Service on IFS Day 2022. In a rapidly changing world, they strive every day to advance India’s interests, expand our footprint and enhance our standing.”
Vallari Gaikwad, IFS, Second Secretary (Press, Information and Culture) to Mexico
Subhash Gupta, IFS, Deputy Chief of Mission, Embassy of India, Hanoi
Riva Ganguly Das, IFS, Former Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs
IFS officer Vani Rao tweeted:
Rakesh Tiwari, IFS, Under Secretary, BIMSTECH Division, Ministry of External Affairs, New Delhi
Abhay Kumar, IFS, DDG (ICCR)-G20 at the Sushma Swaraj Bhawan, New Delhi
IFS officer Sanjiv Arora tweeted:
Vinay Mohan Kwatra, IFS, Foreign Secretary of India
