Rishi Ram (born 17 August 1947) is a

Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...

civil servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...

and former

diplomat A diplomat (from grc, δίπλωμα; romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state or an intergovernmental institution such as the United Nations or the European Union to conduct diplomacy with one or more other states or internati ...

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

descent. From 2007 to 2009 he was Chairman of the Public Service Commission. He was the first ethnic Indian to head the PSC. Ram served as Deputy Secretary of the PSC from June 1990 to April 1993. He was Secretary for Women and Multi-Ethnic Affairs from 1993 to 1994, and for Urban Housing and Development from 1994 to 2001, when he served briefly as

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 sov ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

, until 2002. He served again as Secretary for Women from 2002 to 2004.

Early life

Ram was born in Ba in 1952 and attended St Teresa's Primary School and Khalsa Secondary School. In 1966 he moved to

Suva Suva () is the capital and largest city of Fiji. It is the home of the country's largest metropolitan area and serves as its major port. The city is located on the southeast coast of the island of Viti Levu, in Rewa Province, Central Divi ...

and started his public service career as a clerical officer with the Ministry of Primary Industries. He started studying for his

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

degree from the

University of the South Pacific The University of the South Pacific (USP) is a public university, public research university with locations spread throughout a dozen countries in Oceania. Established in 1968, the university is organised as an intergovernmental organisation and ...

in 1985, as a part-time student and graduated in 1995, majoring in management and sociology. He is married to Sarla and has two daughters and a son.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ram, Rishi 1947 births Living people Fijian people of Indian descent People from Ba (town) Fijian civil servants University of the South Pacific alumni Ambassadors of Fiji to Japan People from Suva