Hardeep Singh Puri
 Hardeep Singh Puri    (Civil servant, diplomat) | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| Born | 1952-02-15 Amritsar, Punjab, India | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Nationality | Indian | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Alma mater | University of Delhi | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Religion | Sikhism | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Spouse | Lakshmi Singh Puri | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Party | Bharatiya Janata | ||||||||||||||||||||
Indian diplomat with a belief in Western good intentions
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Hardeep Singh Puri is an Indian politician, former diplomat who is the current Civil Aviation Minister of India and Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs in India. He is a 1974 batch Indian Foreign Service officer who was the Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations from 2009 to 2013.[1][2]
He was formerly President of the United Nations Security Council and as Chairman of United Nations Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee, Vice President of International Peace Institute and Secretary-General of Independent Commission on Multilateralism in New York.
Contents
Background
Hardeep Singh Puri was born in Delhi. His father was a diplomat, and he attended boarding school in India as his father was posted in countries where there were no options for English-language education. He earned Bachelor of Arts in history and Master of Arts in history from Hindu College, University of Delhi. He worked as a lecturer in history at St. Stephen's College, Delhi.[3]
Career
Civil service
Hardeep has been Joint secretary to the Government of India in Ministry of External Affairs from 1994 to 1997 and from 1999 to 2002. He has was also Joint secretary to the Government of India in Ministry of Defence from 1997 to 1999. He later served as Secretary to the Government of India (Economic Relations) in Ministry of External Affairs from 2009 to 2013.
Puri has been stationed at important diplomatic posts in Brazil, Japan, Sri Lanka, and the United Kingdom. Between 1988 and 1991, he was the Coordinator of the UNDP/UNCTAD Multilateral Trade Negotiations Project to help Developing Countries in the Uruguay Round of Multilateral Trade Negotiations.[4] He was also the chairman of the United Nations Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee from January 2011 to February 2013, and as President of the United Nations Security Council in August 2011 and November 2012.[5][6]
Politics
Ambassador Puri joined International Peace Institute as a senior advisor in June 2013.[7] Puri joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in January 2014, expressing an admiration for the party's approach to national security.[8][9]
In May 2019, Puri became the Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Housing and Urban Affairs and Civil Aviation and Minister of State for Commerce and Industry.[10]
Personal life
Hardeep Singh Puri is married to Lakshmi Puri, who is the former Assistant Secretary-General at United Nations. They have two daughters. His brother, Pradeep Puri, is a 1979 batch retired IAS officer who played an instrumental role in the construction of DND Flyway.
Article on Libya
In 2016, he published an article, "Libya: Hillary Clinton, Susan Rice and the Ghost of Rwanda" [11], where he put a most benign interpretation for why Libya was attacked in 2011. While critiquing the results, he believes it was ultimately well intentioned, where Western policymakers were "haunted by that past inaction in Africa" and intervened to "salve hurt Western souls", an extraordinary naiveté or blindness from someone so high in the international system.
Books, research papers and journals
Hardeep is a published author of several books, research papers and journals, including:
- Perilous Interventions: The Security Council and the Politics of Chaos (Publisher: HarperCollins, 2016; ISBN 978-9351777595), where he from his time as Indian UN ambassador describes "whimsical decision making and the ill-thought-out itch to intervene on the part of some of its permanent members."[12], carefully avoiding the possibility of more malign intentions.
- Delusional Politics: Back To The Future (Publisher: Penguin Viking, 2018; ISBN 978-0670090259)
References
- ↑ http://www.ianslive.in/index.php?param=news/Hardeep_Puri_bids_farewell_to_foreign_service-393303/NATION/1
- ↑ http://news.oneindia.in/2009/04/17/hardeeppuri-to-be-next-permanent-representative-of-indiato.html
- ↑ http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-12-23/delhi/30550359_1_hindu-college-shashi-tharoor-brand-india
- ↑ http://www.unece.org/forums/forum03/speakers/CV_puri.doc%7Ctitle=UNECE Homepage
- ↑ https://archive.is/20140131221706/https://www.un.org/en/sc/ctc/bio_puri.html
- ↑ https://www.un.org/News/Press/docs//2011/sc10353.doc.htm
- ↑ https://www.ipinst.org/by/hardeep-singh-puri
- ↑ http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/news/politics/exun-envoy-hardeep-singh-puri-joins-bjp/article5530038.ece
- ↑ http://www.business-standard.com/article/opinion/i-admire-the-bjp-s-approach-towards-national-security-hardeep-singh-puri-114011100766_1.html
- ↑ https://www.livemint.com/politics/news/pm-modi-allocates-portfolios-full-list-of-new-ministers-1559288502067.html
- ↑ https://www.theglobalist.com/libya-the-ghost-of-rwanda-west-united-states/
- ↑ https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31448865-perilous-interventions
