View source for Maharaja Krishna Rasgotra

{{Short description|Indian diplomat and academic}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2019}}

{{Infobox officeholder
| name                = Maharaja Krishna Rasgotra
| image               = Rasgotra.jpg
| office              = 12th [[Foreign Secretary of India]]
| term_start          = 1 May 1982
| term_end            = 31 January 1985
| predecessor         = R. D. Sathe
| successor           = [[Romesh Bhandari]]
| awards              = [[Padma Bhushan]]
| education           = [[Panjab University|Punjab University]] ([[Master of Arts|MA]])
| birth_date          = {{birth date and age|11 September 1924}}
}}

'''Maharaja Krishna Rasgotra''' (born 11 September 1924), often shortened to '''M. K. Rasgotra''', is an Indian diplomat and academic who served as the 12th [[Foreign Secretary of India]] from 1 May 1982 to 31 January 1985.<ref name="Padma Awards">{{cite web|url=http://mha.nic.in/sites/upload_files/mha/files/LST-PDAWD-2013.pdf |title=Padma Awards |publisher=Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India |date=2015 |access-date=July 21, 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://www.webcitation.org/6U68ulwpb?url=http://mha.nic.in/sites/upload_files/mha/files/LST-PDAWD-2013.pdf |archive-date=November 15, 2014 }}</ref>

==Early life==
He was born 11 September 1924 in a Dogra-Brahmin family from Shakargarh, Jammu and Kashmir. He was the second son out of three sons and two daughters. He received a [[Master of Arts]] degree in English from [[Panjab University|Punjab University]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Rasgotra|first=Maharajakrishna|title=A life in Diplomacy|publisher=[[Penguin Books]]|year=2019|isbn=9780143447276|location=India|pages=24-44|language=English}}</ref>

==Career==

=== Early career ===
Rasgotra was tutor at [[Government College, Lahore]] from 1944 to 1946, head of the English department at SA College for Women, [[Sialkot]] in 1946, and head of the English department at Arya College, [[Ludhiana]] in 1947. He was appointed to the Punjab Educational Service in March 1948 and also worked as a lecturer in English at the [[Satish Chander Dhawan Government College]] in 1948 and 1949.

He was appointed to the [[Indian Foreign Service]] on 27 September 1949. Later in his career, he was [[List of High Commissioners of India to the United Kingdom|High Commissioner of India to the United Kingdom]] and Ambassador to Morocco, Tunisia, the Netherlands, Nepal, France, and [[UNESCO]].<ref>[http://www.outlookindia.com/author.asp?name=M.K.%20Rasgotra Information from www.outlookindia.com]{{dead link|date=January 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

===Bhopal disaster===
{{Main|Bhopal disaster}}
He was the foreign secretary during the [[Bhopal disaster]]. It is claimed by the then-Deputy Chief of Mission of the [[Embassy of the United States, New Delhi|Embassy of the United States in New Delhi]] in 1984, in an interview with a news channel, that communications between the government of India and himself relating to the release of [[Warren Anderson (American businessman)|Warren Anderson]] went through the Foreign Secretary.<ref>[http://www.ndtv.com/news/india/bhopal-gas-tragedy-centre-arranged-warren-andersons-release-says-ex-us-diplomat-tells-ndtv-32186.php Interview with NDTV]</ref> In a subsequent interview with [[Karan Thapar]], Rasgotra held that releasing Warren Anderson was the right thing to do, since he had been earlier promised safe passage.<ref>
{{Citation
 |title=Interview with M. K. Rasgotra 
 |newspaper=The Hindu 
 |date=18 June 2010 
 |url=http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article472296.ece 
 |archive-url=https://www.webcitation.org/5qaIF24ut?url=http://beta.thehindu.com/news/national/article472296.ece 
 |archive-date=18 June 2010 
 |url-status=dead 
}}</ref>

==Later life==
In September 2020, it was noted that Rasgotra was still active and was one of the oldest living former [[Indian Foreign Service]] (IFS) officers.<ref>[https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/open-page/no-nervous-nineties-for-veteran-diplomats/article32649718.ece No nervous nineties for veteran diplomats]</ref>

== Books ==

* A Life in Diplomacy, Viking, 2016; Penguin Books, 2019.

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

{{PadmaBhushanAwardRecipients 2000–09}}
{{Indian civil servants}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rasgotra, Maharaja Krishna}}
[[Category:1924 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Indian diplomats]]
[[Category:Indian Foreign Secretaries]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Padma Bhushan in civil service]]
[[Category:High Commissioners of India to the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Ambassadors of India to Nepal]]
[[Category:Ambassadors of India to Morocco]]
[[Category:Ambassadors of India to Tunisia]]
[[Category:Ambassadors of India to France]]
[[Category:Ambassadors of India to the Netherlands]]


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