Background
SINGH, Kewal was born on June 1, 1915 in Lyallpur (West Pakistan). Son of late S. Mihan Singh and Ganga Devi.
SINGH, Kewal was born on June 1, 1915 in Lyallpur (West Pakistan). Son of late S. Mihan Singh and Ganga Devi.
He was educated at the Forman Christian College, Lahore, the Law College, Lahore and at the Oxford University.
He joined the Indian Civil Service in 1939 and served in Punjab in administrative positions until Independence after which he opted for the Indian Foreign Service. Kewal Singh was appointed the first Indian chief executive of Pondicherry after the French handed control of the territory back to India and served as French India"s High Commissioner from November 1, 1954 to 1957. He later served at Indian missions in Stockholm, London and in Germany.
Kewal Singh was India"s ambassador to Portugal in 1962 when India"s annexation of Goa led to the breaking off of diplomatic relations between the nations.
A similar fate befell him in 1965 when, as high commissioner to Pakistan, he had to leave that country after the cessation of diplomatic relations following the Indo-Pak War of 1965. He served as India"s ambassador to the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics from 1966 to 1968 and as Ambassador to the United States of America from 1976 to 1977.
He succeeded T. North. Kaul as foreign secretary, serving from November 1972 to October 1976. India took over Sikkim, its protectorate, following prolonged internal disturbances there while Singh was foreign secretary.
During his tenure, India signed an agreement for demarcating the maritime boundary with Sri Lanka and led a series of talks with the then Pakistani Foreign Secretary Agha Shahi on normalising communications and travel between the two countries.
Following his retirement as the ambassador to United States of America, Kewal Singh taught at the University of California, Los Angeles and at Kentucky University"s Patterson School of Diplomacy and International Commerce where he was distinguished world statesman in residence until his death in 1991. He authored a book, Partition and Aftermath: Memoirs of an Ambassador.
Married Shamie Grewal in 1942.