Novelist and diplomat Vikas Swarup has been appointed as Secretary (CPV & OIA) in the India’s Ministry of External Affairs.
Born in Allahabad in a family of lawyers, he had studied history, psychology and philosophy at Allahabad University. Swarup joined the Indian Foreign Service (IFS) in 1986.
In his diplomatic career, Swarup has been posted in various countries including Turkey, the United States, Ethiopia, Britain, South Africa and Japan. He also served as Consul General of India in Osaka-Kobe, Japan from 2009 to 2013. Swarup had helmed the high-profile office since April 2015 when India’s external engagement witnessed a major traction. The MEA’s social media outreach had witnessed major expansion during Swarup’s tenure.
He had penned his first novel, Q & A when he was posted in London between 2000 and 2003. The book was made into the Oscar-winning movie “Slumdog Millionaire”
The novel has been published in 43 languages including Arabic, French, German, Chinese, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Danish, Swedish, Finnish, Norwegian, Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, Tamil, Malayalam, Czech, Slovak, Slovenian, Bulgarian, Romanian, Polish, Russian, Japanese, Korean, Turkish, Taiwanese, Thai and Hebrew.
He has also written for TIME, Newsweek, The Guardian, The Telegraph (UK), The Financial Times (UK) and Liberation (France), among others.
