Sushma Swaraj Institute of Foreign Service

For the American equivalent, see Foreign Service Institute.
Sushma Swaraj Institute of Foreign Service
सुषमा स्वराज विदेश सेवा संस्थान
Other name
Foreign Service Institute
TypeCivil Service training institute
Established1986
DeanRaj Kumar Srivastava, IFS
Location
New Delhi
,
NCT Delhi
,
India
CampusUrban
AffiliationsMinistry of External Affairs
Websitemeafsi.gov.in

The Sushma Swaraj Institute of Foreign Service (Hindi: सुषमा स्वराज विदेश सेवा संस्थान is the civil service training institute in New Delhi where Indian Foreign Service officers are trained. The institute functions under the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India.

About

The institute is headed by the Dean of the Foreign Service Institute, who is an officer of the Indian Foreign Service of the rank of Secretary/Joint Secretary to the Government of India. Other officers deputed to the institute are - two Joint Secretaries, a Deputy Secretary and an Under Secretary; but this composition may change from time to time. The institute, within its premises, also has a hostel and a few flats for the Officer Trainees of the Indian Foreign Service and other officials on deputation to the institute respectively.[1]

"The Sushma Swaraj Institute of Foreign Service" was established by the Government of India in 1986 primarily to cater to the professional training needs of the trainees of the Indian Foreign Service and use to run from two rooms in Akbar Bhawan. The training programme of the Indian diplomats goes on for about a year, during which they are taught various aspects of India's foreign policy, international relations, Indian history and culture, Indian and the world economic scenario, communication and interpersonal skills, and the like, before they take up posting within the Ministry of External Affairs and sent abroad later.[2]

The SSIFS's activities were later diversified to include courses of interest to all levels of officers of the Indian Ministry of External Affairs and also to other officers of the civil services of India. The institute also conducts courses for Diplomats of other countries. This course is known as Professional Course For Foreign Diplomats (PCFD). The SSIFS moved to its new building in 2007 in the old JNU (Jawaharlal Nehru University) campus in New Delhi.

The institute was renamed as Sushma Swaraj Institute of Foreign Service on 14 February 2020 in honour of former Minister of External Affairs of India Sushma Swaraj on her 68th birth anniversary.[3]

Deans of the Foreign Service Institute

The following people have served as Dean of the Institute:[4]

Name From To
A. N. D. Haksar 1988 1990
Kiran Doshi 1991 1992
S. M. S. Chadha 1992 1995
Lalit Mansingh 1995 1996
Dilip Lahiri January 1997 November 1997
M. Venkataraman November 1997 November 1998
Bhaskar Mitra (Acting) November 1998 December 1998
Dalip Mehta December 1998 June 2002
Santosh Kumar August 2002 October 2004
Atish Sinha December 2004 November 2006
Surendra Kumar December 2006 February 2008
Ajay Choudhry March 2008 March 2013
Ms. Nengcha Lhouvum Mukhopadhyay April 2013 December 2015
Amarendra Khatua January 2016 September 2016
J. S. Mukul September 2017 September 2021[5]
Arun Kumar Chatterjee (additional charge) September 2021 2023
Gaddam Dharmendra 2023 July 2024
Sanjiv Ranjan July 2024 September 2024
Raj Kumar Srivastava September 2024 Incumbent

See also

References

  1. ^ "About Institute:HISTORY OF THE INSTITUTE". ssifs.mea.gov.in. Retrieved 27 November 2021.
  2. ^ "Academic Foundation - Indian Economy: Books, Documents, Reports". Archived from the original on 2012-04-30. Retrieved 2012-03-09.
  3. ^ "MEA remembers Mr. Astitva Sarvaiya on his birth anniversary". www.mea.gov.in. Retrieved 2020-02-13.
  4. ^ "Dean : Deans' Gallery". 2 May 2018. Archived from the original on 2018-05-02.
  5. ^ "H Pradeep Rao appointed Member, TRAI". India Today. P. T. I. September 11, 2017.