Gautam Mukhopadhaya

Gautam Mukhopadhaya, IFS
(Retid.)
Ambassador of India to Myanmar
In office
14 June 2013 – 31 May 2016
Preceded byV S Seshadri
Succeeded byVikram Misri
Ambassador of India to Afghanistan
In office
March 2009 – December 2013
Preceded byManpreet Vohra
Succeeded byVinay Kumar
Indian Ambassador to Syria
In office
2006–2008
Personal details
Born (1956-05-25) 25 May 1956
India
Alma mater(B.A.) St Stephen's College, Delhi
Delhi University
(M.A.) Delhi School of Economics
Delhi University[1]
Professionretired diplomat

Gautam Mukhopadhaya is a retired Indian diplomat of the Indian Foreign Service who has served as the Indian Ambassador to Syria, Afghanistan, and Myanmar.[2] He has also worked in the United Nations Headquarters in New York as a Consultant on Social Development and has been a visiting scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.[3][4]

Early life and education

He was born on 24 May 1956, and studied at the all-boys' boarding school, The Doon School in Dehradun. He completed his B.A. degree from St Stephen's College, Delhi and M.A. in sociology from Delhi School of Economics of Delhi University in India.[5][6]

Career

He joined the Foreign Service in 1980, and has served in various capacities in Indian Embassies in Mexico, France, Cuba, Afghanistan and Syria, the UN Mission in New York City, and the Ministry of External Affairs and Ministry of Defence, in India. He has also worked in the UN Headquarters in New York as a Consultant on Social Development. He re-opened the Indian Embassy in Kabul in November 2001 after the new regime took over in Afghanistan. His father, B.Mukhopadhaya, was a very famous doctor of his times in Bihar.

He has served in various capacities in the media and culture wings of the Ministry of External Affairs. He also coordinated the year-long ‘Festival of India’, the ‘l’annee de l’inde’ in France (1985–86). As India's representative to the Third Committee of the UN in New York (1996–1999), he dealt with issues relating to social development, human rights and advancement of women. He was also invited to join the UN Secretariat as a Consultant on social development for the preparatory process of the Copenhagen Social Summit plus Five UN General Assembly Special Session (2000) for which he wrote reports on the ‘Social impact of Globalization’. He also then spent 6 months (October 2009-March 2010) at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Washington, as a visiting scholar.

Mr. Mukhopadhaya's career in the Indian Foreign Service has been notable for the range of his professional experience. These include media, culture, human rights, social development, defence and security, and conventional political and diplomatic assignments.

References

  1. ^ "Gautam Mukhopadhyaya". Carnegie Endowment. Retrieved 19 June 2025.
  2. ^ "H.E. Mr. Gautam Mukhopadhaya". Archived from the original on 26 November 2016. Retrieved 25 November 2016.
  3. ^ "Gautam Mukhopadhaya". Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Archived from the original on 25 November 2016. Retrieved 25 November 2016.
  4. ^ "Shri Gautam Mukhopadhaya appointed as the next Ambassador of India to the Republic of the Union of Myanmar". mea.gov.in. Retrieved 24 February 2019.
  5. ^ "Gautam Mukhopadhyaya". Carnegie Endowment. Retrieved 19 June 2025.
  6. ^ "'I am working on two books and they are keeping me busy'". The Telegraph. India. 14 June 2015. Retrieved 23 May 2023.