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S. Jaishankar

Subrahmanyam Jaishankar (born 9 January 1955), better known as S. Jaishankar, is an Indian politician, author and retired diplomat of Indian Foreign Service who is serving as the 30th Minister of External Affairs of the Government of India since 31 May 2019. He is the longest serving Minister of External Affairs since Jawaharlal Nehru, who held the position during his entire 17 years as Prime Minister. Jaishankar is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and a Member of Parliament (MP) in the Rajya Sabha. He previously served as the Foreign Secretary of India from 2015 to 2018.

Jaishankar joined the Indian Foreign Service (IFS) in 1977, and during a diplomatic career spanning over 38 years, served in different capacities in India and abroad, including as a High Commissioner to Singapore (2007–2009) and as Ambassador to the Czech Republic (2001–2004), China (2009–2013) and the US (2014–2015). Jaishankar was one of the officials in the MEA, the Department of Atomic Energy and the Prime Minister's office who played a key role in negotiating the Indo-US civilian nuclear agreement. On retirement, Jaishankar received an unusual exemption from the “cooling off period” mandated for all retiring civil servants and joined Tata Sons as President, Global Corporate Affairs. In January 2019, Jaishankar was conferred with Padma Shri, India's fourth-highest civilian honour.

In May 2019, Jaishankar was sworn in as a cabinet minister in the second Modi ministry. As External Affairs Minister, he has crafted the assertive and aggressive foreign policy. He has been credited for maintaining stable relations between India and China even after the Doklam Standoff. He has actively advocated the end of war between Russia-Ukraine and called for negotiations between the parties. Jaishankar is the first former Foreign Secretary of India to head the Ministry of External Affairs as Cabinet Minister. Under his tenure as Minister of Foreign Affairs, there has been increased interest in India's foreign policy, due to Jaishankar's role in advocating India continuing to purchase Russian oil amidst pressure to cease the deal due to the Russo-Ukrainian War. Provided by Wikipedia