New Delhi (11.09.2023): When Congress leader and former Minister of External Affairs (state) in the Manmohan Singh government Shahi Tharoor posted on X (formerly Twitter), "Well done @amitabhk87! Looks like the IFS lost an ace diplomat when you opted for the IAS! This was his signature style of praising something or someone. But it means a lot not only for Kant but to his team and certainly for India.
His herculean efforts to bring everyone on the same page and getting even contentious issues approved with consensus is being termed as the biggest achievement of India in which besides political leadership, some of the bureaucrats too had equally contributed obviously as per the stated policy of the incumbent political leadership. "Negotiated with Russia, China, only last night got a final draft," says India's G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant on 'Delhi Declaration' consensus. This tell the tale of hard bargain done by these officers.
A battery of IAS, IFS, IIS officials worked hard to make the event success but efforts of some former bureaucrats and some serving that included External Affairs Minister and former Foreign Secretary of India Dr S Jaishankar, another former Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla (IFS: 1984) who was Chief Coordinator for India's G20 Presidency.
Kant praised officers Nagaraj Naidu Kakanur (IFS: 1998), Eenam Gambhir (IFS: 2005) when he posted on X, “The most complex part of the entire #G20 was to bring consensus on the geopolitical paras (Russia-Ukraine). This was done over 200 hours of non -stop negotiations, 300 bilateral meetings, 15 drafts. In this, I was greatly assisted by two brilliant officers - @NagNaidu08 & @eenamg.”
Kant also praised contributions of Ashish Kumar Sinha (IFS: 2005), Lily Pandeya (IRPS: 1998), who is joint secretary in the Ministry of Culture and Abhay Thakur (IFS: 1992). The role of National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval (Retd IPS: 1968: KL) on matters of terrorism and global security concerns and without taking the name of Pakistan, message was sent across to perpetrators of terrorism. Every member of G 20 was on the same page on the issue of terrorism. It was all accomplished with collective efforts. This was the general mood.
(Vinod Kumar Shukla)
