Kewal Singh

Kewal Singh was trained in law at Lahore and attended Balliol College, Oxford, before entering the Indian Civil Service in 1939. Born in the Lyallpur district of Punjab in 1915, he spent his early administrative career in Punjab and later moved into diplomacy. His overseas assignments included Cambodia, Sweden, Pakistan, the Soviet Union, and West Germany. ¹

As consul general at Pondicherry, Singh helped administer the transition of France's Indian settlements to Indian rule. On November 1, 1954, the French representative Pierre Landy formally transferred administrative authority to him on behalf of India. Singh became chief commissioner after the transfer. The handover covered Pondicherry, Karaikal, Mahe, and Yanam, preceding their later constitutional organization as a union territory. ^{2, 1}

Singh served as foreign secretary from December 1972 until March 1976, following assignments as ambassador in Moscow and Bonn and secretary responsible for western affairs. India then nominated him to Washington. The State Department's August 1976 appointment memorandum reviewed his administrative and diplomatic career and recommended American agreement. His ambassadorship lasted into 1977; he died in 1991. ^{1, 3}