Veena Sikri is a retired Indian diplomat, academic, and former High Commissioner of India to Bangladesh,[1][2] a role that she is the only woman to have performed.[3] She is a professor at Jamia Millia Islamia, a university in New Delhi.[3]
Veena Sikri | |
|---|---|
| Ambassador of India to Malaysia | |
| In office 2000–2003 | |
| Preceded by | P. S. Sahai |
| Succeeded by | R. L. Narayan |
| High Commissioner of India to Bangladesh | |
| In office 2003–2006 | |
| Preceded by | M. L. Tripathi |
| Succeeded by | Pinak Ranjan Chakravarty |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 27 October 1948 |
| Occupation | Indian Foreign Service |
Early life
editSikri graduated from St. Mary's School, Pune in 1963.[4] She completed her bachelor's degree in statistics from the University of Pune in 1967.[4] She completed her masters of economics from Delhi University in 1970.[4]
Career
editSikri joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1971.[5] From 1977 to 1981, she was stationed at the Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations.[5]
From 1989 to 1992, Sikri was the Director General of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations.[5]
Sikri was the consul general of India in Hong Kong from 1996 to 2000.[5]
From 2000 to 2003, Sikri was the High Commissioner of India to Malaysia.[5] She was appointed the High Commissioner of India to Bangladesh in 2003.[5] She resigned from the Indian Foreign Service on 26 September 2006 after her junior Shiv Shankar Menon was appointed Foreign Secretary of India by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.[6] Her husband Rajiv Sikri. also an officer of the same batch as her, resigned from the Indian Foreign Service for the same reason earlier.[6][7][8]
From 2008 to 2011, Sikri was a visiting researcher at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies based in Singapore.[5] She is the Vice Chairperson of the India chapter of the South Asia Foundation.[5] She co-edited Contemporarising Tagore and the World with Muchkund Dubey and Imtiaz Ahmed.[5]
Sikri is the chairperson of the Bangladesh Studies program at the Academy of International Studies of Jamia Millia Islamia and endowed by the Ford Foundation.[9] She is the convenor of South Asia Women Network.[6] In 2014, she credited Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for removing terrorism from Bangladesh and called for out of the box thinking for removing problems between India and Bangladesh.[10]
In January 2024, Sikri said Bangladesh Nationalist Party boycotting the general election would not harm the legitimacy of the election.[11][12] She appreciated the Indian government maintaining a neutral position during the 2024 Quota reform movement in Bangladesh.[13]
Personal life
editSikri's husband, Rajiv Sikri, was also a diplomat of India.[4]
References
edit- ^ "Clarifying stance on Bangladesh not unusual: Veena Sikri". businesspostbd.com. Retrieved 2024-08-05.
- ^ "Ambassador-Veena-Sikri--calls-on-DU-VC". www.du.ac.bd. Retrieved 2024-08-05.
- ^ a b "Think out of the box: Veena Sikri". Think out of the box: Veena Sikri. Retrieved 2024-08-05.
- ^ a b c d "CURRICULUM VITAE OF PROFESSOR VEENA SIKRI" (PDF). Jamia Millia Islamia. Retrieved 5 August 2024.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i "Veena Sikri". Pacific Asia Travel Association. Retrieved 2024-08-05.
- ^ a b c "Things Veena Sikri did not mention in her article". The Business Standard. 2020-09-14. Retrieved 2024-08-05.
- ^ "Age of unrest in foreign office". Telegraph India. 9 September 2006. Retrieved 5 August 2024.
- ^ "Superseded by Menon, IFS babus quit". News18. 2006-09-26. Retrieved 2024-08-05.
- ^ "Author Page". The University Press Limited. Retrieved 2024-08-05.
- ^ bdnews24.com. "Think out of the box: Veena Sikri". Think out of the box: Veena Sikri. Retrieved 2024-08-05.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ "Bangladesh election: BNP's boycott won't affect legitimacy of Hasina's win". Somoy TV. 8 January 2024. Retrieved 5 August 2024.
- ^ "Polls boycott in Bangladesh no cause for alarm: Sikri". businesspostbd.com. Retrieved 2024-08-05.
- ^ "Bangladesh quota conundrum is also India's overriding concern". India Today. 2024-08-04. Retrieved 2024-08-05.