The Ministry of External Affairs is taking a final decision on several ambassadorial appointments at a breakneck speed leading to eyebrows being raised on why it is being done in such a hurry before the general elections. The prominent IFS officers who will be moving from their present posts are:
Ruchi Ghanshyam (1982): Additional Secretary (West Europe) confirmed for South Africa, in place of Virendra Gupta.
Gautam Bambawale (1984): Joint Secretary (East Asia) will be shifting to Bhutan to replace V P Haran, retiring in July.
Ajay Bisaria (1987): Joint Secretary (Eurasia) will move to Poland, in place of Monika Mohta.
Vikram Doraiswami (1992): Joint Secretary (Americas) is scheduled to move to Uzbekistan.
Renu Pall (1988): Joint Secretary (Multilateral Economic Relations-ASEAN) is slated to be the next Ambassador to Czech Republic.
Dinesh Bhatia (1988): Joint Secretary (Multilateral Economic Relations) likely to be the Ambassador to Cote d’Ivoire.
Sanjeev Kohli (1988): Joint Secretary (West Africa) is likely to be posted as Ambassador to Algeria.
Rajesh Kumar Sachdeva (1984): Joint Secretary (Projects) will go to Bulgaria.
Sunil Lall (1982): Ambassador to Spain will go to Brazil in place of Ashok Tomar who will retire in August this year.
Rahul Kulshrestha (1985): Joint Secretary in Department of Atomic Energy will likely move to Turkey to replace Sushmita Gongulee Thomas, who is retiring.
Harsh Jain (1993): Joint Secretary (e-governance and Information Technology) will be moving north to Kazakhstan.
Ashok Sharma (1981): Ambassador to Kazakhstan will be going as an envoy to Finland, in place of A Manickam, whose retirement is due.
Vikram Misri (1989): Private Secretary to PM will be moving to Spain to replace Sunil Lall.
Anil Trigunayat (1989): Ambassador to Libya will takeover from R R Dash in Jordan, who is retiring in May.
Azar A H Khan: Director at Maulana Azad Centre for Indian Culture will be the next Ambassador to Libya.
Sangeeta Bahadur (1987): Director of Nehru Centre in London will likely go as the Ambassador to Laos.
Sanjay Panda (1987): Deputy Chief of Mission in Indian embassy in Japan, will be going to Seychelles, which is a strategic country for its location on the Indian ocean.
Shamma Jain: JS at ICWA will be going to Panama, to replace Y Varma who moves to Kenya.
Anumula Gitesh Sarma (1986): Ambassador to Uzbekistan will also go as the high commissioner to Fiji.