NatishaMooring9 at 00:13, 3 January 2026

2026-01-03T00:13:45Z

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{{Short description|Indian diplomat (1915–2003)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2019}}
{{Infobox person
|image = Portrait of Mr. Chakravarthi V. Narasimhan 1962.jpg
|caption = Narasimhan's official [[United Nations|UN]] portrait, 1962
|birth_name = Chakravarthi Vijayaraghava Narasimhan
|name = C.V. Narasimhan
|birth_date = {{birth date|1915|5|21|df=y}}
|birth_place = Madras, Tamilnadu
|occupation = ICS officer
|death_date = {{death date and age|2003|11|2|1915|5|21|df=y}}
}}
'''Chakravarthi Vijayaraghava Narasimhan''' [[Order of the British Empire|MBE]], [[Indian Civil Service|ICS]] (21 May 1915, [[Madras]], [[British Raj|India]]{{snd}}2 November 2003, [[Chennai]], [[India]]<ref>[https://archive.today/20141013165747/http://www.thehindu.com/2003/11/03/stories/2003110304411100.htm C.V. Narasimhan passes away]</ref>) was an [[Indian Civil Service]] officer and a former [[Under Secretary-General]] of the [[United Nations]], serving twenty-two years in the [[UN]].

Born in Madras, he was educated at St. Joseph's College, Tiruchi, the University of Madras and [[Oxford University]]. He entered the Indian Civil Service in September 1937.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=34442|page=6233|date=8 October 1937}}</ref> As a Deputy Secretary in the Development Department of the Madras Government, he was appointed a Member of the [[Order of the British Empire]] (MBE) in the 1946 New Year Honours.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=37407|page=61|date=28 December 1945}}</ref>

He transferred to the service of the new Union Government in 1950, joining the Ministry of Agriculture. In 1953, he joined the Ministry of Finance and headed the Economic Affairs Department, responsible for development and co-ordination of foreign aid programmes. He was appointed to the United Nations in 1956, as Executive Secretary of the U.N. Economic Commission for Asia and Far East. In 1958, he was appointed Under-Secretary for Special Political Questions in the U.N., to work directly under the U.N. Secretary General, [[Dag Hammarskjöld]], and with [[Nobel Prize|Nobel]] laureate [[Ralph Bunche]].

In 1961, he became Chef de Cabinet in the U.N. His last post was as Under Secretary-General before retirement in 1978.
In 2001, he received India's second highest honor, the [[Padma Vibhushan]].

A vocalist, scholar and connoisseur of [[Carnatic music]], he also wrote an English translation of the ''[[Mahābhārata]]'' based on selected verses in 1965. His translation was criticized by [[James L. Fitzgerald]], [[Purandara Dasa|St. Purander Das]] Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Classics at Brown University, as being "dry and oversimplified", but praised it as a "useful recapitulation of the bare bones of the story".<ref>{{Cite web|last=Fitzgerald|first=James L.|date=2009|title=Reading Suggestions for Getting Started|url=https://www.brown.edu/Departments/Sanskrit_in_Classics_at_Brown/Mahabharata/MBh2Biblio.html|url-status=live|website=Brown|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090831224551/http://www.brown.edu:80/Departments/Sanskrit_in_Classics_at_Brown/Mahabharata/MBh2Biblio.html |archive-date=31 August 2009 }}</ref>

== References ==
{{reflist}}
*[http://www.munzinger.de/search/go/document.jsp?id=00000013988 Munzinger Archiv] (German)

{{Padma Vibhushan Awards}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Narasimhan, Chakravarthi V.}}
[[Category:1915 births]]
[[Category:2003 deaths]]

[[Category:20th-century Indian civil servants]]
[[Category:Members of the Order of the British Empire]]
[[Category:Indian Civil Service (British India) officers]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Padma Vibhushan in civil service]]
[[Category:Indian officials of the United Nations]]

Chakravarthi V. Narasimhan - Revision history

NatishaMooring9 at 00:13, 3 January 2026