Education
She studied at the reputed Street.Mary"s Convent in Nainital and joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1973.
She studied at the reputed Street.Mary"s Convent in Nainital and joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1973.
She was India"s second female ambassador to the United States of America, Vijaya Lakshmi Nehru Pandit being the first. She was succeeded by Nirupama Rao on August 1, 2011. Shankar, an officer of the 1973 batch, was posted in Washington District of Columbia from 1991 to 1995.
She succeeded Ambassador Ronen Senator.
Meera Shankar served as Director in the Prime Minister’ General’ s Office from 1985 to 1991, and in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry from 1991 to 1995.
While serving in the Ministry of External Affairs, she headed two important divisions dealing with the South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) and relations with Nepal and Bhutan. Prior to 2009, she served as India"s Ambassador in Berlin, Germany.
Shankar was the first serving diplomat to be posted in Washington in more than two decades after G.Shankar Bajpai. Meera Shankar is married to Ajay Shankar, Institute for Advanced Study officer of the 1973 batch, who retired as secretary, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion.
Meera has a daughter Priya.
Meera Shankar was in the news after she went through a pat-down check at Jackson–Evers airport in December 2010, joining the list of Indian VIPs who underwent frisking or quizzing at United States airports. The incident led to diplomatic protests from India.
