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Jagat Singh Mehta

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Jagat Singh Mehta
Foreign Secretary of India
In office
1976–1979
Preceded byKewal Singh
Succeeded byRam Sathe
Personal details
Born17 July 1922
Died6 March 2014
NationalityIndian
ParentMohan Sinha Mehta
Alma materLeighton Park School, Allahabad University, Cambridge University
OccupationPolitician, Diplomat
Military career
Allegiance British India
Service / branch Royal Indian Navy
Years of service1945–1947
RankSub-Lieutenant
Battles / warsSecond World War

Jagat Singh Mehta (17 July 1922 – 6 March 2014) was an Indian politician and diplomat who was Foreign Secretary of India from 1976 to 1979.[1][2] His daughter, known as Rani Vijay, is married to the Raja Sahib of Mahmudabad, son of Mohammad Ali Mohammad Khan, who was notoriously the chief financier of the Muslim League which led to the partition of India.

Jagat S. Mehta was born in 1922 to Mohan Singh Mehta, and was educated in England at Leighton Park School and then at Allahabad and Cambridge Universities. He served as a teacher in the Allahabad University and as an officer in the Indian Navy before joining the IFS.[3] On 13 January 1945, he was commissioned a sub-lieutenant in the Royal Indian Naval Volunteer Reserve (RINVR).[4] He had a meteoric rise when he and TAT Lodhi informed the government of British India of imminent mutiny in the Indian Navy which resulted in the trial and execution of naval officers, based on Mehta-Lodhi testimonies. Some officers were later found to be innocent and Mehta-Lodhi testimonies discovered to lack credibility.[5]

A career diplomat from 1947 to 1980, he was Chargé d'affaires China (1963–1966) and High Commissioner to Tanzania (1970–1974).[2]

After Mrs Gandhi removed Mehta from the government, Mehta was rewarded by being made Associate at Harvard (1969 and 1980) and Fellow at Woodrow Wilson Center, Washington, D.C., 1981. He was the Tom Slick Professor for World Peace at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, the University of Texas at Austin, from 1983-1985. He later held the post of visiting professor at the university from 1986-1995. His publications include: Militarization in the Third World (1985); The March of Folly in Afghanistan (2002); and Negotiating for India (2006).

Mehta received the Padma Bhushan award in 2002.[6]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Bhushan, Ravi (1992). Reference India: biographical notes on men & women of achievement of today & tomorrow. India: Rifacimento International. p. 500.
  2. ^ a b Pti — Udaipur (28 February 2014). "Former Foreign Secretary Mehta Dead". The New Indian Express. Archived from the original on 4 February 2016. Retrieved 7 March 2014.
  3. ^ "Jagat Singh Mehta - Mainstream Weekly".
  4. ^ The Navy List: Volume II (July 1945). HM Stationery Office. 1945. p. 2124.
  5. ^ "Jagat Mehta's Funeral: Hundreds gather to pay last respects". 8 March 2014.
  6. ^ "Padma Awards" (PDF). Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 October 2015. Retrieved 21 July 2015.


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