Jyotindra Nath Dixit (8 January 1936 – 3 January 2005) was an Indian diplomat, who as served as Foreign Secretary (1991–1994), the top bureaucrat in the Ministry of External Affairs. At the time of his death, he was the

National Security Adviser (India) The National Security Advisor (NSA; ISO: ) is the senior official on the National Security Council of India, and the chief advisor to the Prime Minister of India on national security policy and international affairs. Ajit Doval is the current NS ...

to the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and is most remembered for his role as a negotiator in disputes with Pakistan and China.J. N. Dixit: Hawkish diplomat and India's first full-time National Security Adviser

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...

, 5 January 2005.

Early life and education

Born in

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

, then known as Madras, to famous

Malayali The Malayali people () (also spelt Malayalee and also known by the demonym Keralite) are a Dravidian ethnolinguistic group originating from the present-day state of Kerala in India, occupying its southwestern Malabar coast. They are predomin ...

writer Munshi Paramu Pillai and Retnamayi Devi. He got his surname, ''Dixit'', from his stepfather Sitaram Dixit, a freedom fighter and journalist. He did his schooling in Central India, Rajasthan and Delhi. thereafter he did BA Honours Degree in Philosophy, Economics and Political Science the

Zakir Husain College Zakir Husain Delhi College (formerly known as Zakir Husain College, Anglo Arabic College, and Delhi College), founded in 1696, is the oldest existing educational institution in India, and is a constituent college of the University of Delhi, ac ...

(

University of Delhi Delhi University (DU), formally the University of Delhi, is a collegiate university, collegiate Central university (India), central university located in New Delhi, India. It was founded in 1922 by an Act of the Central Legislative Assembly and ...

) (1952 Batch), then he did his Master's in

international law International law (also known as public international law and the law of nations) is the set of rules, norms, and standards generally recognized as binding between states. It establishes normative guidelines and a common conceptual framework for ...

and

international relations International relations (IR), sometimes referred to as international studies and international affairs, is the scientific study of interactions between sovereign states. In a broader sense, it concerns all activities between states—such a ...

from

Delhi University Delhi University (DU), formally the University of Delhi, is a collegiate central university located in New Delhi, India. It was founded in 1922 by an Act of the Central Legislative Assembly and is recognized as an Institute of Eminence (IoE) ...

, and pursued studies for Doctoral Degree at the

Indian School of International Studies The School of International Studies ( hi, स्कूल ऑफ इंटरनेशनल स्टडीज) (formerly Indian School of International Studies) is an academic institution created in 1955 which merged with the Jawaharlal Nehru ...

, now part of

Jawaharlal Nehru University Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) is a public major research university located in New Delhi, India. It was established in 1969 and named after Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first Prime Minister. The university is known for leading faculties and r ...

Career

He joined the

Indian Foreign Service The Indian Foreign Service (IFS) is the diplomatic service and a central civil service of the Government of India under the Ministry of External Affairs. The Foreign Secretary is the head of the service. Vinay Mohan Kwatra is the 34th and the ...

in 1958, and served in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, Austria, became India's Deputy High Commissioner to Bangladesh (1971–74) after its liberation. Subsequently, he served as Deputy Chief of Mission at the Embassies in Tokyo and Washington, followed by Ambassador in Chile, Mexico (1960-1961 3rd Secretary), Japan, Australia, Afghanistan (1980–85); High Commissioner Sri Lanka (1985–89) and Pakistan (1989–91). He was Chief administrator of Indian aid in Bhutan. He later served as the

Indian Foreign Secretary The foreign secretary of India (International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration, IAST: ''Videśa Saciva'') is the top diplomat of India and administrative head of the Ministry of External Affairs (India), Ministry of External Affairs. This p ...

from 1991 and ultimately retired from Government service in 1994. He was also a representative of India to the UN,

UNIDO The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) (French: Organisation des Nations unies pour le développement industriel; French/Spanish acronym: ONUDI) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that assists countries in ...

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

, ILO and

Non-Aligned Movement The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) is a forum of 120 countries that are not formally aligned with or against any major power bloc. After the United Nations, it is the largest grouping of states worldwide. The movement originated in the aftermath o ...

(NAM). He was a member of the first

National Security Advisory Board The National Security Council (NSC) ( IAST: ''Rāṣṭrīya Surakṣā Pariṣad'') of India is an executive government agency tasked with advising the Prime Minister's Office on matters of national security and strategic interest. It was es ...

. He was also the author of several books. He was the High Commissioner in

Colombo Colombo ( ; si, කොළඹ, translit=Koḷam̆ba, ; ta, கொழும்பு, translit=Koḻumpu, ) is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. According to the Brookings Institution, Colombo m ...

in 1987 when India signed an accord with Sri Lanka government and deployed of the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) to the Tamil area in the island nation at the height of ethnic crisis. He succeeded to the post of the National Security Advisor in 2004. And his columns on international and regional affairs, appeared regularly in various publications including ''

Outlook Outlook or The Outlook may refer to: Computing * Microsoft Outlook, an e-mail and personal information management software product from Microsoft * Outlook.com, a web mail service from Microsoft * Outlook on the web, a suite of web applications ...

'' and ''

Indian Express ''The Indian Express'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932. It is published in Mumbai by the Indian Express Group. In 1999, eight years after the group's founder Ramnath Goenka's death in 1991, the group was split be ...

'' and remained a visiting lecturer at many educational institutions.

Personal life and death

J N Dixit, died on 3 January 2005, in New Delhi, after suffering a heart attack. He was married to Vijaya Lakshmi Dixit (née Sundaram) and had five children, Ashok Dixit married to Mandakini Dixit (née Haldipurkar), Rahul Dixit married to Rupa Dixit(née Thakkar), Aabha Dixit married V. B (Anand) Dhavle, Dipa Dixit married to Rajiv Shakdher and the late Dhruv Dixit, who died in 2002. His grandchildren are Sanghamitra Dixit, Sumiran and Sagiri Dixit, Jaidev and Abhishek Dhavle and Vasudhaa Shakdher. He married a second time. He was the first National Security Advisor who died in office.

Awards and honours

India's second highest civilian award, the

Padma Vibhushan The Padma Vibhushan ("Lotus Decoration") is the second-highest civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is given for "exceptional and distinguished service". All persons without ...

, was posthumously conferred on J N Dixit in 2005.

Works

* ''Self in Autumn'', 1982 (collection of poems) * ''Anatomy of a Flawed Inheritance: A Survey of Indo–Pak Relations 1970–94'', Konark Publishers, 1995 * ''My South Block Years'', UBS publi * ''Assignment Colombo'', Konark Publishers, 1997. * ''Across Borders: Fifty Years of India's Foreign Policy'', PICUS Publishers. 1998. * ''Liberation and Beyond: Indo-Bangladesh Relations 1971–99'', Konark Publishers. 1999. * ''An Afghom: Diary-Zahir Shah to Taliban'', Konark Publishers, 2000. * ''Indian Foreign Policies and its Neighbours'', Gyan Books, New Delhi, 2001. . * ''India’s Foreign Policy—challenge Of Terrorism Fashioning Interstate Equations'', by Gyan Books, 2003. * ''External Affairs''. Roli Books, 2003. . * ''Indian Foreign Service: History And Challenge''. Konark Publishers, 2005. .

References

External links

J.N. Dixit, Official biography
Indian Embassy
J. N. Dixit Columns
at

A Mission in Jaffna & the Memories of War-Torn Jaffna
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dixit, Jyotindra Nath 1936 births 2005 deaths Delhi University alumni Jawaharlal Nehru University alumni High Commissioners of India to Pakistan Permanent Representatives of India to the United Nations Permanent Delegates of India to UNESCO Indian Foreign Secretaries Indian male writers Foreign policy writers International relations scholars Indian columnists Malayali people Recipients of the Padma Vibhushan in civil service High Commissioners of India to Bangladesh Ambassadors of India to Chile Ambassadors of India to Japan Ambassadors of India to Afghanistan High Commissioners of India to Australia High Commissioners of India to Sri Lanka Indian Foreign Service officers Indian political writers 20th-century Indian non-fiction writers Politicians from Chennai Writers from Chennai Indian foreign policy writers Scholars of Indian foreign policy International relations historians Indian Peace Keeping Force People of the Sri Lankan Civil War