A virtuous Indian Diplomat, Meera Shankar is the second female Indian ambassador to the US, after Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit (1949-51), and served the office from 2009 to 2011. She was first posted in Washington, DC in 1991 as the Commerce Minister in Indian Embassy and served until 1995.
Born on 9 October 1950, Shankar grew up in Nainital and went to the prestigious St.Mary`s Convent. She is married to Ajay Shankar, IAS officer of the 1973 batch, and has a daughter with him. In the year 1973, Shankar joined the Indian Foreign Service (IFS) and rose up in rank over time. In 1985, she started serving the post of a director in the Prime Minister’s office and after six years, she was chosen to serve as the Commerce Minister in India’s embassy in Washington, DC, which was her first posting to the US. She became the first serving diplomat in Washington, DC in more than two decades after G.Shankar Bajpai.
In the year 1995, Shankar moved back to India and went on to head the Indian Council for Cultural Relations in New Delhi. At this post, she was given the responsibility of overseeing India’s cultural diplomacy. Later, she was leading the two divisions in the Ministry of External Affairs - one being, the South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation (SAARC) and the other, relations with Nepal and Bhutan.
Due to her dedication and hard work, Shankar was consistently climbing up the ladders of success and in 2002, she was promoted to the rank of Additional Secretary. At the position, she was handed over the responsibility for the United Nations and International Security. After holding the office for three years, she was chosen top become India’s ambassador to Germany and efficiently held the position from December 2005 to April 2009.
After returning from Germany, Shankar became the ambassador to the US in 2009. A year later, she was caught up in the middle of a controversy as in December 2010, she was frisked by airport authorities in Jackson, Mississippi. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officials stated that they were suspicious of what could be under her saree, hence they pulled her aside for an extended pat-down.
While the frisking incident is usual for the common people, foreign ambassadors at American airports are exempted from such screenings. And since this a general rule, the incident was highly criticized by Indian government. Following that, the Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton publicly apologized for the indiscretion. Shankar served as the Indian ambassador to teh US until 2011.
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