Lakshmi Murdeshwar Puri (born 1952) is a former

assistant secretary-general An under-secretary-general of the United Nations (USG) is a senior official within the United Nations System, normally appointed by the General Assembly on the recommendation of the secretary-general for a renewable term of four years. Under-s ...

at the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

and the former deputy executive director of

UN Women The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, also known as UN Women, is a United Nations entity charged with working for gender equality and the empowerment of women. UN Women is charged with advocating for the righ ...

. Prior to her 15-year stint at the United Nations, she served as an Indian diplomat for 28 years. From 1999 until 2002, she was India's Ambassador to

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

, while also concurrently accredited to

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...

Early years and education

Puri was born Lakshmi Murdeshwar into a family hailing from the town of

Murdeshwar Murdeshwar is a village in Uttara Kannada district in the state of Karnataka, India, and lies on the coast of the Arabian Sea. It contains the world's third tallest Shiva statue, as well as the Murudeshwara Temple. The town has a railway statio ...

in coastal

Karnataka Karnataka ( ) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed as Mysore State on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, States Re ...

. Her father, Balakrishna Murdeshwar, was a

Kannada Kannada () is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly in the state of Karnataka in southwestern India, and spoken by a minority of the population in all neighbouring states. It has 44 million native speakers, and is additionally a ...

litterateur and academician; her mother, Malathi, was from a

Marathi Marathi may refer to: *Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India **Marathi people (Uttar Pradesh), the Marathi people in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh *Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Mar ...

-speaking family. Malathi was, according to Puri's own account, a "fierce feminist", who married outside her community against the strong prevailing tradition, and according to her own wishes. She was amongst the first postgraduates in Maharashtra. Puri credits both parents with inculcating her with ideals of gender equality and freedom of expression. Puri studied for her

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

(Hons) degree in

history History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...

at the

University of Delhi 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 ...

, and her

Master Master, master's or masters may refer to: Ranks or titles In education: *Master (college), head of a college *Master's degree, a postgraduate or sometimes undergraduate degree in the specified discipline *Schoolmaster or master, presiding office ...

's degree at

Panjab University Panjab University (PU) is an Indian collegiate public state university located in Chandigarh. Funded through both State and Union governments, it is considered a state university. It traces its origins to the University of the Punjab in Lahor ...

. She also holds professional diplomas in history, public policy and administration, international relations and law, and economic development.

Career

Civil Service

Ambassador An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or so ...

Puri joined 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 ...

in 1974 and served in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

, and

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

(in

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

). She was appointed ambassador to Hungary in March 1999 and served there until July 2002, while also accredited to Bosnia and Herzegovina. During her term there, she worked closely with the UN peacekeeping operation in Bosnia and Herzegovina (UNPROFOR). At the Ministry of External Affairs headquarters in

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...

, she served as the

undersecretary Undersecretary (or under secretary) is a title for a person who works for and has a lower rank than a secretary (person in charge). It is used in the executive branch of government, with different meanings in different political systems, and is a ...

on the Japan and Korea desk and later as undersecretary on the

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

desk. She also served as the Joint-Secretary Economic Division and Multilateral Economic Relations (ED & MER) for six years. She was active in negotiating India's many bilateral,

plurilateral A plurilateral agreement is a multi-national legal or trade agreement between countries. In the jargon of global economics, it is an agreement between more than two countries, but not a great many, which would be multilateral agreement. Use of th ...

and multilateral economic diplomacy initiatives such as the Look East policy, Indo-

ASEAN The Association of Southeast Asian Nations, commonly abbreviated as ASEAN, is a regional grouping of 10 states in Southeast Asia "that aims to promote economic and security cooperation among its ten members." Together, its member states r ...

Dialogue Partnership,

Indian-Ocean Rim Association The Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA), formerly known as the Indian Ocean Rim Initiative (IORI) and the Indian Ocean Rim Association for Regional Cooperation (IOR-ARC), is an international organisation consisting of 23 states bordering the Indi ...

Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) is an international organization of seven South Asian and Southeast Asian nations, housing 1.73 billion people and having a combined gross domestic pro ...

as well as for the

Group of 15 The Group of 15 (G-15)Thofficial website adopts the "G-15" orthography (with a hyphen) in order to distinguish an abbreviated reference to this group -- contrasts with other similarly named entities. is an informal forum set up to foster coopera ...

forum.

United Nations

UNCTAD

Puri continued with her trade and economic policy work when she joined the

in 2002 as the director of

United Nations Conference on Trade and Development UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD) is an intergovernmental organization within the United Nations Secretariat that promotes the interests of developing countries in world trade. It was established in 1964 by the United Nations General Assembl ...

's (UNCTAD) flagship Division on Trade in goods, services and commodities. She was the acting Deputy Secretary-General of

UNCTAD UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD) is an intergovernmental organization within the United Nations Secretariat that promotes the interests of developing countries in world trade. It was established in 1964 by the United Nations General Assembl ...

from 2007 to 2009. From 2009 to 2011, she was director of the

United Nations Office of the High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States The United Nations Office of the High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States (UN-OHRLLS) is an office of the United Nations Secretariat which deals with the Least Develop ...

(UN-ORLLS) in New York.

UN Women

Puri was appointed

of the

and deputy executive director of the pioneering global entity for promoting gender equality and the empowerment of women,

in 2011.

Recognition and awards

Puri was the recipient of the Eleanor Roosevelt Award for Human Rights in 2016, the Novus Award for Championing the

Sustainable Development Goals The ''2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development'', adopted by all United Nations (UN) members in 2015, created 17 world Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The aim of these global goals is "peace and prosperity for people and the planet" – wh ...

(Novus Summit), and the Millennium Campus Award 2015. In 2017, for her role in ensuring that a specific gender equality and women's empowerment goal was adopted as part of the

, Puri was recognized for her advocacy and leadership with the inaugural Diwali ''Power of One'' award from the Diwali Foundation USA, (in partnership with the Permanent Missions of India,

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

, and

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

to the United Nations).

Personal life and family

Puri is married to

Hardeep Singh Puri Hardeep Singh Puri (born 15 February 1952) is an Indian politician and retired diplomat of Indian Foreign Service who is serving as 33rd Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas since 2021. He is a 1974 batch Indian Foreign Service officer who s ...

, who is an Indian politician and former diplomat. He serves as a

cabinet minister A minister is a politician who heads a ministry, making and implementing decisions on policies in conjunction with the other ministers. In some jurisdictions the head of government is also a minister and is designated the ' prime minister', ' p ...

in the

Government of India The Government of India (ISO 15919, ISO: Bhārata Sarakāra, legally the Union Government or Union of India or the Central Government) is the national authority of the Republic of India, located in South Asia, consisting of States and union t ...

. His appointment as Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas began in July 2021, and as

Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs The Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs is the head of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs of the Government of India since the ministry's formation on 6 July 2017 and is a member of the union council of ministers. The minister is respo ...

in September 2017. They have two daughters. Puri has one older sister, Indira Bhargava, a former Indian Civil Servant and a former chairperson of the

Central Board of Direct Taxes The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) is a statutory body under the Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance, Government of India. It oversees the administration of direct taxes, including income tax and corporate tax, through the Income Ta ...

, whom she credits as a major influence in her life.

Selected works

Puri is a published author of several reports and research papers: * Edited: **
PDF download
**
PDF link
** ''Addressing the Global Energy Crisis''. UNCTAD publication (editor), December 2008. ** ''Interface between Trade & Climate Change''. UNCTAD publication (editor), November 2007. * Authored: ** ** ** ''Multilateralism and South-South Cooperation''. UNCTAD publication (co-author), September 2004

** ''Trade and Development Review 2003''. UNCTAD publication (author introduction), April 2004

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Puri, Lakshmi Living people 1952 births Delhi University alumni Panjab University alumni Indian officials of the United Nations Indian women ambassadors Ambassadors of India to Hungary Ambassadors of India to Bosnia and Herzegovina