The Official Spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs is an Indian government official whose primary responsibility is to serve as the spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs and to deal with other media affairs relating to Indian foreign policy. The spokesperson is usually a Joint Secretary rank officer, and formally heads the External Publicity division in the Ministry.
Currently, Randhir Jaiswal, an officer of the 1998 batch of Indian Foreign Service is the Official Spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs.
Roles and functions The Official Spokesperson and Joint Secretary (External Publicity) is the interface of the Ministry of External Affairs with the media. Its role includes: Releasing statements and giving speeches on behalf of the Ministry of External Affairs or of the Government of India informing its official position. Issuing Press Releases. Responding to Media queries. Media briefings.
List of Official Spokespersons
# Name Photo From To Ref(s) 33 Randhir Jaiswal 3 January 2024 Incumbent 32 Arindam Bagchi 21 March 2021 2 January 2024 31 Anurag Srivastava 7 April 2020 20 March 2021 30 Raveesh Kumar 21 July 2017 6 April 2020 29 Gopal Baglay 1 March 2017 20 July 2017 28 Vikas Swarup 18 April 2015 28 February 2017 27 Syed Akbaruddin 7 December 201118 April 2015 26 Vishnu Prakash 20082011 25 Navtej Sarna 2002 2008 24 Nirupama Rao 2001 2002 23 Raminder Jassal 1999 2001 22 Krishan Chander Singh 1998 1999 21 Pavan Varma 1997 1998 20 Talmiz Ahmad 1997 1997 19 Arif Khan 1994 1997 18 Shiv Shankar Mukherjee 1992 1994 17 Aftab Seth 1988 1992 16 Gopalaswami Parthasarathy 1985 1988 15 Salman Haider 1983 1985 14 Mani Shankar Aiyer 1982 1983 13 J.N. Dixit 1979 1982 12 S.V. Purushottam 1976 1979 11 A. N. D. Haksar 1973 1976 10 Shilendra Kumar Singh 1969 1973 9 A. B. Bhadkar 1968 1969 8 Rikhi Jaipal 1967 1968 7 I. J. Bhadur 1964 1967 6 M. A. Rahman 1962 1964 5 P. N. Menon 1959 1962 4 Ramchundur Goburdhun 1958 1959 3 P. N. Haksar 1955 1958 2 R Ramamirtham 1954 1955 1 V R Bhatt 1949 1954
See also Additional secretary to the Government of India Joint secretary to the Government of India
References