Diplomat says IFS favours the boys

NEW DELHI: For the first time in the history of the Indian Foreign Service, a secretary-level woman officer has charged the government with gender discrimination.

Veena Sikri, the officer in question, has taken issue with the UPA dispensation for bypassing her while selecting the candidate for the top job in the ministry. Sikri has written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, and has also used the Right to Information Act (RTI), to demand answers.

Sikri said she has not received a proper explanation from the authorities for the appointment of Shiv Shankar Menon, junior to her by a batch, as foreign secretary. Menon superseded Sikri and 15 others.

Menon’s appointment caused Sikri’s husband, Rajiv Sikri, to resign in protest. Shashi Triparthi, secretary (west), is also on leave.

In her last posting, Sikri was India’s envoy to Bangladesh. Though some resented Menon’s out-of-turn appointment, most took it in their stride. Shiv Mukherjee, India’s envoy to Nepal, was, like Rajiv Sikri, the frontrunner to take over from Shyam Saran, Menon’s predecessor.

Saran, who was picked by the NDA government to head the service, also jumped at least 14 seniors to become foreign secretary. But the feeling within the service was that Saran, a brilliant officer, justified his selection.

But Sikri, topper of the 1971 batch, has put the government in a spot. Unless an officer has a terrible record, a disgrace that the majority don’t carry, it is tough to prove that one officer is well ahead of the pack. An officer may score high on intangibles, but intangibles are difficult to quantify. Also, judgement is subjective.  

That said, Sikri’s decision to question the government on gender bias will be welcomed by women across the country in government as well as the corporate and academic worlds. An imponderable, however, is the fact that Menon has been promoted over 14 male colleagues.

“Women colleagues are generally brutally honest in giving their opinions,” said G Parthasarathy, former high commissioner for India in Pakistan. “This makes the politicians uncomfortable; they generally don’t appreciate such honesty.”

Parthasarathy, however, refused to comment on Sikri’s case.

Although the foreign service can point out that Chokila Iyer was appointed foreign secretary during the NDA regime, it must be acknowledged that she was the most senior officer. Her takeover was heralded by buzz suggesting that Kanwal Sibal, Iyer’s junior, was the first choice. But government was jittery because there was talk that Vinod Grover, an officer who had his eyes on the top slot, would go to court. Iyer was appointed and Sibal had to bide his time.

It is a fact, however, that women don’t make it to the top ambassadorial positions. Washington and Moscow embassies have never been run by women. But Nirupama Rao has been posted to Beijing as India’s ambassador, the first woman to hold such a position. Curiously,

Arundhuti Ghosh, who handled India’s case brilliantly in Geneva, was not even in the foreign-secretary race.