Headlines
Sujatha Singh's farewell note stresses on MEA's 'institutional strength'
New Delhi, Jan 29
Sujatha Singh, whose service
as foreign secretary was "curtailed" seven months before her two-year
term was to end, in her farewell letter to colleagues stressed on the
"institutional strength" of the ministry of external affairs (MEA) and
that "no individual is larger than the institution".
In a letter dated Jan 28 (Wednesday), she said she is seeking early retirement from government service.
"I
believe that the foreign secretary, as head of this service and the
senior-most civil servant in the ministry, plays a critical role in
being the main point of interface with the political leadership, in
giving objective advice that takes into account India's foreign policy
interests over all connected and interlinked aspects.
"While
individuals can and do play a critical role in building institutions, I
believe that no individual is larger than the institution. It can never
be about individuals. It has to be about institutions and how
institutions interface and coordinate with each other," she said in her
e-mail.
Singh said she had been privileged to serve the Indian Foreign Service (IFS) for 38 years.
"What
we do possess in the ministry of external affairs are great
institutional strengths, strengths that we have consistently built on
over the years and that keeps the MEA in the vanguard of change in GoI
(government of India).
"It is this inherent strength that has
enabled the MEA to rise consistently to the challenges presented to us -
to prepare, to organize, to deliver and to follow up, on what has
perhaps been the most changed, and indeed the most successful, calendar
of any new government's post election foreign engagements."
The
government Wednesday night appointed S. Jaishankar, an IFS officer of
the 1977 batch, as the new foreign secretary. The cabinet's Appointments
Committee, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, decided to "curtail
the tenure" of Singh "with immediate effect".
Sujatha Singh, who
was one batch senior to Jaishankar, assumed office in August 2013 and
was due to retire in August this year. She had taken over as the third
woman foreign secretary.
The surprise announcement came a day
after US President Barack Obama wound up his three-day state visit
during which India and the US saw a breakthrough announcement on the
stalled civil nuclear deal.