New Delhi: The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) has approved the appointment of Riva Ganguly Das (IFS) as Secretary (East) in the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). According to an order issued on July 23, she has been appointed to the post upon the superannuation of Vijay Thakur Singh (IFS) on September 30. Das is an Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer of 1986 batch. Currently, she is serving as High Commissioner to Bangladesh.
Das is a senior Indian diplomat who belongs to the Indian Foreign Service. She is the incumbent High Commissioner of India to Bangladesh and the former Director-General of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations, an autonomous organisation of the government. She obtained a postgraduate degree in Political Science from the University of Delhi in 1984. She later taught Political Science at the University of Delhi.
She joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1986. Her first posting abroad was in Spain, where she learnt Spanish in Madrid. Thereafter, she worked at the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi, handling external publicity, Nepal and the passport and visa matter. She also headed the Cultural Wing of the Indian High Commission in Dhaka. Subsequently, she served as the Director of the United Nations Economic and Social Affairs (UNES) Division at the Ministry of External Affairs. In this capacity, she was a part of negotiations relating to environmental issues, particularly climate change.
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