Recently when the race for the Foreign Secretary’s post suddenly heated up after the new government came into power, all focus shifted to Mr Shyam Saran, India’s Ambassador to Nepal, because of his impeccable record, experience and seniority. That is why when he was finally chosen for the coveted post it didn’t raise any eyebrows. He is said have a great team spirit and very capable in handling difficult and tricky situations. Mr Shashank, the current incumbent, who belongs to the 1966 batch, is due to retire on July 31.

Mr Shyam Saran is the 1970 batch officer, and has more than two years to go. Earlier he served in the PMO during the P.V. Narasimha Rao government. Mr Saran was backed strongly by the External Affair Minister K Natwar Singh himself. Even the current incumbent backed him.

It should be noted that Mr Saran will take charge at the time when the talks with Pakistan is at a very crucial juncture and the future relationship between the two neighbours depend much on what course the diplomacy takes. In this respect his experience of 1977-79 period when he was posted at Pakistan Desk, will help him a lot. The same is true about China and the USA. One important plus point about Mr Saran is his fluency in Chinese language. He had been envoy to Indonesia, Mauritius and Burma. He has also served in the Indian missions in Tokyo, Beijing and Vienna.

Saran’ selection was a radical shift from the norm of appointing the senior most diplomat to head the Indian diplomatic corps. This has proved costly, as Saran will be the eighth foreign secretary in only 10 years due to the tradition of natural ascendance of those having just few months to retire. If Salman Haider and K Raghunath had not been given extension in this period, the list would have included a few more. In naming Saran the Manmohan Singh government has ruled out three batches of IFS officers-1967, ‘68, ‘69, comprising 10 officers, who fitted the post by the earlier norm.

Understandably the new government has pragmatically accepted the suggestion of the administrative reforms committee headed by Mr. S.K. Lamba, that the foreign secretary should have a tenure of at least two years, and that “merit and experience in core foreign policy areas” should be the basis for his appointment. Saran is considered a brilliant officer, who discharges his duties with skill and good team spirit. It remains to be seen how he takes up this new challenge.