Ashok Bhalchandra Gokhale is a retired Indian diplomat. He served for 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 ...

Chargé d'affaires A (), plural ''chargés d'affaires'', often shortened to ''chargé'' (French) and sometimes in colloquial English to ''charge-D'', is a diplomat who serves as an embassy's chief of mission in the absence of the ambassador. The term is Frenc ...

Embassy of India, Washington, D.C. The Embassy of India in Washington, D.C. is the diplomatic mission of the Republic of India to the United States. It is headed by the Indian Ambassador to the United States, Vinay Mohan Kwatra. India also has consulates-general in Atlanta, Chic ...

He was born in

Ranchi Ranchi (; ) is the capital city and also the largest district by population of the Indian state of Jharkhand. Ranchi was the centre of the Jharkhand movement, which called for a separate state for the tribal regions of South Bihar, northern ...

(Bihar) on . He is

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

, the son of Manorama and B. K. Gokhale, is married to Surekha, their sons are Jaideep and Pradeep. * From 1953 to 1954 he was Officer of the

Imperial Bank of India The Imperial Bank of India (IBI) was one of the oldest and the largest commercial banks in India, and was subsequently renamed and nationalised as the State Bank of India in 1955. Initially, as per its royal charter, it acted as the central ba ...

. * 1955 he joined the

. * From 1957 to 1958 he served in Vienna. * From 1958 to 1962 he served in

Bonn Bonn () is a federal city in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, located on the banks of the Rhine. With a population exceeding 300,000, it lies about south-southeast of Cologne, in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr region. This ...

. * From 1962 to 1965 he served in the

Ministry of External Affairs (India) The Ministry of External Affairs (abbreviated as MEA; ISO 15919, ISO: ) is India's Ministry of foreign affairs, foreign ministry. The ministry is tasked with formulating and implementing Indian foreign policy, India's foreign policy and repres ...

* From 1965 to 1968 he was

in Amman. * From 1968 to 1971 he was

Counselor Counselor or counsellor may refer to: A professional In diplomacy and government * Counsellor of State, senior member of the British royal family to whom the Monarch can delegate some functions in case of unavailability * Counselor (dipl ...

and Deputy Chief of Mission in Paris. * From 1972 to 1974 he was ambassador to

Bhutan Bhutan, officially the Kingdom of Bhutan, is a landlocked country in South Asia, in the Eastern Himalayas between China to the north and northwest and India to the south and southeast. With a population of over 727,145 and a territory of , ...

. * 1978 he was

* From 1980 to 1984 he was ambassador to Thailand. * On He succeeded Akbar Mirza Khaleeli as ambassador to Tehran. * From to 1987 he was ambassador to Iran. * From 1987 to 1988 he was Sec, Min of External Affairs. India Who's who
INFA Publications, 1995, p.171

Bibliography

''Inside three monarchies and six republics: memoirs of an Indian diplomat''
by Ashok Gokhale, 2007.

References

Living people 1930 births Ambassadors of India to Thailand Ambassadors of India to Iran Ambassadors of India to Bhutan People from Ranchi {{India-diplomat-stub