Kunwar Natwar Singh Biography: Born on 16 May 1929, Kunwar Natwar Singh, IFS was an Indian diplomat and politician. He served as Minister of External Affairs from May 2004 to December 2005.
In 1953, Singh was nominated for the Indian Foreign Service, one of the most prestigious and competitive government positions. In 1984, he resigned from his position to run for office as a member of the Indian National Congress. He won the election and served as minister of state for the union until 1989. He had a turbulent political career until 2004 when he was appointed India’s foreign minister. 18 months later, however, he was forced to resign under a cloud after the UN’s Volcker committee named him and the Congress party to which he belonged as recipients of illicit kickbacks in the Iraqi oil scam.
Kunwar Natwar Singh Biography
Early Years and Education
The fourth child of Govind Singh of the village ‘Jagheena’ and Prayag Kaur. Singh was born in the princely state of Bharatpur to a Jat Hindu aristocratic family with ties to the Bharatpur governing dynasty. He attended Mayo College and Scindia School. Both traditionally for Indian princely lineages and nobles, and St. Stephen’s College, Delhi, for his undergraduate education. Afterwards, he attended Corpus Christi College, Cambridge University, and was a visiting scholar at Peking University in China.
Career
In 1953, Singh joined the Indian Foreign Service, where he remained for 31 years. He served as India’s representative on the executive council of UNICEF (1962–1966) and as India’s permanent representative in New York City (1961–1966). Under Indira Gandhi, he was assigned to the Prime Minister’s Secretariat in 1966. He was India’s Ambassador to Poland from 1971 to 1973, and Deputy High Commissioner to the United Kingdom from 1973 to 1977. He was Ambassador to Pakistan from 1980 to 1982.
In 1975, he was a member of the Indian delegation that attended the Heads of Commonwealth Meeting in Kingston, Jamaica. He served as an Executive Trustee of the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) for six years (1981–1986), as appointed by the Secretary-General of the United Nations. In 1983, he was appointed Secretary-General of the Seventh Non-aligned Summit and Chief Coordinator of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in New Delhi. From March 1982 to November 1984, he served as Secretary of the Ministry of External Affairs. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan, India’s third-highest civilian honour. Natwar Singh joined the Congress party in 1984 and was elected from Rajasthan’s Bharatpur constituency to the eighth Lok Sabha. He was sworn in as a minister of state in 1985 and appointed minister of state for external affairs.
In 1986, he was elected President of the United Nations Conference on Disarmament and Development and led the Indian delegation at the 42nd Session of the United Nations General Assembly.
Personal Life
Singh wed Maharajkumari Heminder Kaur (born June 1939), the eldest daughter of the previous Maharaja of Patiala State, Yadavindra Singh, and the sister of Captain Amarinder Singh, the current titular Maharaja of Patiala and former chief minister of Punjab, in August 1967. Mohinder Kaur, Heminder’s mother, was also prominent in public life.
The couple had two children: Jagat Singh (born in August 1968) and Ritu Kaur (born in November 1970). As the general secretary of the Congress Party youth division, Jagat Singh was himself politically active.
Facts
- In 1953, Natwar Singh joined the Indian Foreign Service, where he remained for 31 years.
- Natwar Singh was then assigned to the Permanent Mission of India and as India’s representative to the executive council of UNICEF in New York City.
- Between 1963 and 1966, Natwar Singh served on several important United Nations committees.
- Natwar Singh was a member of the Indian delegation that attended the 1975 Heads of Commonwealth Meeting in Kingston, Jamaica.
- Natwar Singh was an Indian Delegate to the 30th Session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York and the 35th Session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
- In 1982, Natwar Singh accompanied Indira Gandhi on her official trip to the United States.
- Natwar Singh served as an Executive Trustee for the United Nations Institute for Training and Research for six years after being appointed by the Secretary-General of the United Nations.
- In 1982, Natwar Singh was appointed to the Expert Group by the Secretary General of the Commonwealth in London.
- From March 1982 to November 1984, Natwar Singh served as Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs.
- In 1984, the Government of India presented Natwar Singh with the Padma Bhushan, the country’s third-highest civilian honour.
- Anil Mathrani, the then-Indian Ambassador to Croatia and a former close aide of K Natwar Singh. Claimed that Natwar Singh had used an official trip to Iraq to obtain gasoline coupons for Jagat Singh from Saddam’s regime.
- Andaleeb Sehgal, an acquaintance of Jagat Singh, and Aditya Khanna. A relative of Natwar Singh, obtained oil coupons based on Natwar Singh’s recommendations, according to the committee’s findings.
- Natwar Singh announced his resignation at a rally of his own Jat community. Sponsored by the Bharatiya Janata Party and conducted in Jaipur in the presence of then-Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje.
