Harsh Vardhan Shringla appointed new Indian Ambassador to US
New Delhi, Dec 20: Seasoned diplomat Harsh Vardhan Shringla was Thursday appointed as the next Ambassador of India to the US, considered a high-profile posting where he will face the task of engaging with the Trump administration on a number of key issues including the H1B visa.
Shringla, a 1984-batch Indian Foreign Service official, will succeed Navtej Sarna.
"He is expected to take up the assignment shortly," the Ministry of External Affairs said.
At present, Shringla is serving as Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh. Senior diplomat Riva Ganguly Das, presently Director General of Indian Council for Cultural Relations, has been appointed as new High Commissioner to Bangladesh.
Besides the H1B visa issue, Shringla will also have to engage with Washington on resolving issues relating to India's purchase of S 400 air defence missile systems from Russia.
India risked the threat of US sanctions when it finalised the USD 5 billion deal with Russia in October.
Shringla will also have to engage with the Trump administration on several other issues including India's import of crude oil from Iran. The US has given India temporary waiver from the sanctions regime against import of Iranian oil.
The waiver will come to an end on April 4.
In the course of a diplomatic career spanning 34 years, Shringla has held a variety of positions in New Delhi and abroad.
Before his appointment as High Commissioner in Bangladesh nearly three years back, he served as India's Ambassador to Thailand. He has also served in Vietnam, Israel and South Africa.
He has also served in the Ministry of External Affairs here as Joint Secretary responsible for Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Maldives.
He has also headed the United Nations Political and SAARC Divisions in the Ministry.
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Chakankar's resignation forwarded to CM Fadnavis, says Sunetra Pawar
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Mumbai (PTI): NCP chief and Maharashtra deputy CM Sunetra Pawar on Saturday said she has forwarded Rupali Chakankar's resignation as state women's commission chairperson to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis for acceptance.
Chakankar, a leader of the Nationalist Congress Party, on Friday tendered her resignation after facing flak from opposition parties over her association with rape-accused 'godman' Ashok Kharat.
Following a meeting with CM Fadnavis, who asked her to step down, she handed the resignation letter personally to Sunetra Pawar late in the evening.
"Chakankar has tendered her resignation considering the current circumstances and ongoing investigation. To ensure that the probe is conducted in a fair and transparent manner, I have forwarded her resignation to the Chief Minister for further process," Pawar said in a statement.
Appointed as chairperson of the Maharashtra State Women's Commission first in October 2021, Chakankar was given another three-year term in 2024.
Kharat, who heads a temple trust at Sinnar and had several political leaders visit him over the years, was arrested by Nashik Police on Wednesday for allegedly repeatedly sexually assaulting a woman.
As per the complainant, he called her to his office sometime in 2022 after her marriage, claiming that his astrological predictions point to a threat to her husband’s life and she needed to perform certain rituals to ward it off. He then gave her a sedative-laced drink and raped her, the woman alleged, claiming that he raped her multiple times over the next three years.
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