Background
HAKSAR, Parmeshwar was born on September 4, 1913 in Gujranwala, Punjab. Son of the late Jagdish Narain Haksar and of Dhanraj Haksar.
government official and diplomatist
HAKSAR, Parmeshwar was born on September 4, 1913 in Gujranwala, Punjab. Son of the late Jagdish Narain Haksar and of Dhanraj Haksar.
University of Allahabad, University College, London, London School of Economics, Lincoln’s Inn.
In that role, Haksar was the chief strategist behind his inexperienced prime minister"s rise to near-absolute power in the mid-1970s. After this he was appointed deputy chairman of the Planning Commission and then the first-ever chancellor of New Delhi"s Jawaharlal Nehru University. Prior to this, Haksar was a diplomat of the Indian Foreign Service, who served as ambassador to Austria and Nigeria. from Allahabad university, Uttar Pradesh.
He went on to study in the London School of Economics.
As a student of Allahabad university, he was a resident of Mayo Hall & made frequent visits to the Anand Bhawan, the house of Motilal Nehru. Parmeshwar was a voracious reader of art history & also a connoisseur of paintings.
During the latter years of his life, Haksar became associated with the Delhi Science Forum and initiatives on Human Rights, opposition to mindless neo-liberal policies and secularism. He lost his eyesight during the last 10 years of his life.
Haksar died at the age of 85, on 25 November 1998.
Early career Haskar had already made his mark as a lawyer in Allahabad, before he moved to the Indian Foreign Services in 1947. and was quite close to fellow-Kashmiri-from-Allahabad Jawaharlal Nehru. Civil services P. North. Haksar served as the Ambassador to Nigeria & Austria. In the 1960s, he also served as a Deputy High Commissioner in London.
After twenty years of diplomatic service, he was appointed as the secretary to the then Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi.
In 1967 he replaced L. K. Jha as Principal Secretary to Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. He authored the "Stray Thoughts Memorandum" at the Congress Working Committee meeting in Bangalore which ultimately led to the defenestration of her political rivals like Morarji Desai.
Till the time he moved out from the position of Principal Secretary to Indira Gandhi, Haksar exercised significant influence on the formulation of domestic & foreign policies. As Principal Secretary, Haksar fashioned Indira Gandhi"s decision about the timing and level of support to be given to Bangladeshi freedom struggle.
Administrator and strategist Haksar was noted for his strategising on the nationalisation of banks, insurance & foreign oil companies, the 1971 Indo-Soviet treaty and the liberation of Bangladesh.
He is also the chief architect of the Shimla accord with Pakistan, as he is of the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW).
An advocate of centralization and socialism, he was a Kashmiri Pandit who became Gandhi"s closest confidant in her inner coterie of bureaucrats, the "Kashmiri mafia". During his interlude in London, United Kingdom, he was influenced by Socialism and become associated with the Marxists.
United Nations Institute Civil Service Commission 1975-1980. Atomic Energy Commission, of India, Space Commission University Grants Commission Standing Advisory Committee on Area Studies Programme, Nehru Foundation, member National Integration Council, Convenor, Sub-Group National Integration Council, Hony.
Married Urmila Sapru.