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Shivshankar Menon
Shivshankar Menon
4th National Security Advisor of India
	In office; 24 January 2010 – 26 May 2014
Prime Minister	Manmohan Singh
Preceded by	M K Narayanan
Succeeded by	Ajit Kumar Doval
27th Foreign Secretary of India
	In office; 1 October 2006 – 31 July 2009
Preceded by	Shyam Saran
Succeeded by	Nirupama Rao
Ambassador of India to China
	In office; 3 August 2000 – 7 July 2003
Preceded by	Vijay K. Nambiar
Succeeded by	Nalin Surie
High Commissioner of India to Sri Lanka
	In office; 1997-2000
Succeeded by	Gopalkrishna Gandhi
Personal details
Born	5 July 1949 (age 75); Paris, France
Relatives	K. P. S. Menon (grandfather); C. Sankaran Nair (great-grandfather)
Residence(s)	New Delhi, India
Alma mater	St. Stephen's College, Delhi University
Occupation	Diplomat, civil servant

Shivshankar Menon (born 5 July 1949) is an Indian diplomat, who served as National Security Adviser of India under Prime Minister of India Manmohan Singh. He had previously served as the Foreign Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs. Prior to that he was Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan, and Sri Lanka and ambassador to China and Israel.^[3]^[4]^[5] He is currently Distinguished Fellow at the Centre for Social and Economic Progress. He is also Visiting Professor of International Relations at Ashoka University.^[6]

Early life and education

Shivshankar Menon hails from Ottapalam in the Palakkad district of Kerala. He comes from a family of diplomats; his father, Parappil Narayana Menon, served as the ambassador to Yugoslavia in his last days. His grandfather K. P. S. Menon (senior) was India's first Foreign Secretary, while his uncle K. P. S. Menon (junior) was the former Indian ambassador to China and the 15th Foreign Secretary.^[4] His great-grandfather, Sir C. Sankaran Nair, was a president of the Indian National Congress in 1897, so far the only Malayali to hold this position. Menon did his schooling at Scindia School, Gwalior, and later did his MA in history from St. Stephen's College, Delhi.^[7]

Career

Menon started his career in 1972 with the Indian Foreign Service.^[3]

He served in the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) as Advisor to the Atomic Energy Commission. His work continued through his posting in Vienna. He was then posted to Beijing, the second of three postings he served in China. His last position in China as ambassador was also significant as it marked improvement in Sino-India relations, the high point being the visit of then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Menon has also served as Ambassador to Israel and High Commissioner to Sri Lanka^[2] and Pakistan. He was appointed Foreign Secretary in 2006, and was the National Security Advisor to Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh. He relinquished office as India's 4th National Security Advisor on 15 May 2014. He is also currently a Visiting Professor of International Relations at Ashoka University.^[8]

A major milestone of his career was the Indo-US nuclear deal, for which he had worked hard to convince NSG member nations along with Shyam Saran to get a clean waiver for nuclear supplies to India.

Menon joined the Brookings Institution (USA) as a distinguished fellow and also serves as chairman of the advisory board of the Institute of Chinese Studies based in New Delhi. He has been a Fisher Family Fellow at the Kennedy School, Harvard University 2015 and Richard Wilhelm Fellow at MIT in 2015. He was chosen to be one of the “Top 100 Global Thinkers” by Foreign Policy magazine in 2010.^[9]

He joined the Institute of South Asian Studies at National University of Singapore as a Distinguished Visiting Fellow in November 2017.

Publications

Choices: Inside the Making of India's Foreign Policy. 2016. Brookings Institution Press. Penguin.
India and Asian Geopolitics: The Past, Present. 2021. Brookings Institution Press.

Menon wrote "Choices: Inside The Making of Indian Foreign Policy" that was first published in 2016 and was based on his experience as National Security Advisor of India.^[10]

Personal life

He is married to Mohini Menon and has a daughter and a son. His mother tongue is Malayalam and he also speaks Hindi, English, Chinese and German.^[3]

He has interests in classical music and the Himalayas. The Scindia School conferred on Shivshankar Menon the 'Madhav Award' as an alumnus of eminence for the year 2000.^[11]

Honours

Order of the Rising Sun, 2nd Class, Gold and Silver Star (2022)^[12]

References

^ "Embassy of India, Beijing". Archived from the original on 20 March 2019. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
^ ^a ^b "Former High Commissioners". High Commission of India, Colombo, Sri Lanka. Archived from the original on 15 March 2019. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Profile of Foreign Secretary Mr. Shivshankar Menon". Embassy of India, Washington DC. Archived from the original on 26 January 2010.
^ ^a ^b "Menon is next NSA". The Hindu. 21 January 2010. Archived from the original on 26 July 2010. Retrieved 22 January 2010.
^ "Shiv Shankar Menon is new National Security Advisor". rediff.com. 21 January 2010. Retrieved 6 November 2018.
^ "Faculty/Staff".
^ "SHIVSHANKAR MENON". The Scindia School.
^ "Ashoka University". www.ashoka.edu.in. Retrieved 23 October 2024.
^ Faculty Profile: Ashoka University (https://www.ashoka.edu.in/faculty#!/shivshankar-menon-1624)
^ "Choices". Brookings. Retrieved 23 October 2024.
^ Madhav Awardees: Shiv Shankar Menon, 2000 Archived 2011-06-04 at the Wayback Machine Scindia School website.
^ "令和4年春の外国人叙勲受章者名簿" (PDF). Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan. Retrieved 29 April 2022.

Diplomatic posts
Preceded by N. Dayal	High Commissioner of India to Sri Lanka 1997 - 2000	Succeeded by Gopalkrishna Gandhi
Preceded by Vijay K. Nambiar	Ambassador of India to China 2000 - 2003	Succeeded by Nalin Surie
Preceded by Vijay K. Nambiar	High Commissioner of India to Pakistan 2003 - 2006	Succeeded by Satyabrata Pal
Preceded by Shyam Saran	Foreign Secretary 2006 - 2009	Succeeded by Nirupama Rao
Political offices
Preceded by M. K. Narayanan	National Security Advisor 2010 - 2014	Succeeded by Ajit Doval