Jayant Prasad is a

retired Retirement is the withdrawal from one's position or occupation or from one's active working life. A person may also semi-retire by reducing work hours or workload. Many people choose to retire when they are elderly or incapable of doing their j ...

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Associated with India * of or related to India ** Indian people ** Indian diaspora ** Languages of India ** Indian English, a dialect of the English language ** Indian cuisine Associated with indigenous peoples o ...

diplomat A diplomat (from ; romanization, romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state (polity), state, International organization, intergovernmental, or Non-governmental organization, nongovernmental institution to conduct diplomacy with one ...

of the

Indian Foreign Service The Indian Foreign Service (IFS) is a diplomatic service and a Central Civil Services, central civil service of the Government of India, Government of the Republic of India under the Ministry of External Affairs (India), Ministry of External A ...

who served as the Director General of the Delhi-based

Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (MP-IDSA), is an Indian think tank for advanced research in international relations, especially defence, strategic and security issues. It also provides training to civilian, military ...

, a think-tank affiliated with the Indian Ministry of Defence between September 2015 and September 2018.

Early life and education

Jayant Prasad was born on 5 June 1952. His father was Bimal Prasad, a noted historian. After completing his schooling from Modern School, he studied at St. Stephen's College, Delhi, and obtained his B. A. from

Delhi University The Delhi University (DU, ISO 15919, ISO: ), also and officially known as the University of Delhi, is a collegiate university, collegiate research university, research Central university (India), central university located in Delhi, India. It ...

. He secured a master's degree in history from

Jawaharlal Nehru University Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU; ISO: Javāharalāla Neharū Viśvavidyālaya) is a public research university located in Delhi, India. It was established in 1969 and named after Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first Prime Minister. The university ...

in 1974. After lecturing on modern

Indian history Anatomically modern humans first arrived on the Indian subcontinent between 73,000 and 55,000 years ago. The earliest known human remains in South Asia date to 30,000 years ago. Sedentariness began in South Asia around 7000 BCE; by 4500 ...

for two years at St. Stephen's College, Delhi University, he entered the

in 1976.

Career

Postings at Indian missions

In Indian Missions abroad, he has served as India's Permanent Representative to the

Conference on Disarmament The Conference on Disarmament (CD) is a multilateral disarmament forum established by the international community to negotiate arms control and disarmament agreements based at the Palais des Nations in Geneva. The Conference meets annually in ...

, Geneva (2004-2007), Ambassador to Algeria; Counsellor for trade access and

development cooperation Development aid (or development cooperation) is a type of aid given by governments and other agencies to support the economic, environmental, social, and political development of developing countries. It is distinguished from humanitarian aid by ...

at the Indian Mission to

the European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated population of over 449million as of 2024. The EU is often des ...

in Brussels, First Secretary in the

Permanent Mission A diplomatic mission or foreign mission is a group of people from a state or organization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving or host state. In practice, the phrase usually denotes a ...

of India to

the United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and security, to develop friendly relations among ...

, Geneva and

Second Secretary Diplomatic rank is a system of professional and social rank used in the world of diplomacy and international relations. A diplomat's rank determines many ceremonial details, such as the order of precedence at official processions, table seating ...

in the Embassy of India in Paris. He was Ambassador to Afghanistan at the time of the

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

and

2009 Kabul Indian embassy attack The 2009 Kabul Indian embassy bombing was a suicide bomb attack on the Indian embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan on 8 October 2009 at 8:30 am local time. The bombing, claimed by the Taliban, killed 17 people and wounded 83. Background The bomb ...

s. He also served as an Indian ambassador to

Nepal Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China Ch ...

from 25 August 2011 – 25 August 2013, a post that was earlier held by his father, Bimal Prasad from 1991 to 1994. This was his last posting abroad prior to retirement.

Postings in Delhi

In the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA),

New Delhi New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the Government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Parliament ...

, he has served as head of the Americas Division from 2000 to 2004, head of the unit on Multilateral Economic Relations,

Staff Officer A military staff or general staff (also referred to as army staff, navy staff, or air staff within the individual services) is a group of officers, enlisted, and civilian staff who serve the commander of a division or other large milita ...

to the Foreign Secretary, Deputy Secretary for Disarmament Affairs and Desk Officer for Bangladesh.

Other positions held

He was member of U.N. Secretary-General's Advisory Board on Disarmament Matters (2005–07), and Rapporteur of the U.N. Commission on Human Rights, Geneva (1986–87). He was a Fellow at the

Weatherhead Center for International Affairs The Weatherhead Center for International Affairs (WCFIA), formerly Center for International Affairs (CFIA) is a research center for international affairs and the largest international research center within Harvard University's Faculty of Arts a ...

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

from 1998 to 1999 where he worked on a research project to study new parameters of India's foreign policy and to delineate India's strategic and technological environment through the year 2010. He was appointed Director General of the Institute for Defence Studies and Analysis (IDSA) in September 2015.

References

Ambassadors of India to Afghanistan Living people 1952 births {{India-diplomat-stub