Riva Ganguly Das, a 30-year veteran of the Indian Foreign Service, is the new Consul General of India in New York. She takes over from Dnyaneshwar Mulay who held the position since April 2013, at what is considered one of the most important hubs of Indian diplomacy in this country, second only to the Indian Embassy in Washington, D.C.
Ganguly Das will be in charge of a Consulate that handles a large population of Indian-Americans, and Indian citizens concentrated in the Tristate area and adjacent states. New York City being the financial capital attracts enormous business interests perhaps second only to Silicon Valley. It is also the first pit-stop for visiting dignitaries and politicians from India en route to Washington, D.C. or other cities in the U.S.
Das will be taking over the consulate when diplomatic relations are at a relatively even keel. Mulay, along with India’s then Ambassador Subramanyam Jaishankar, had to deal with the aftermath of the arrest of consular official Devyani Khobragade, by U.S. authorities on grounds of alleged visa irregularities relating to household help.
A political science graduate of Delhi University, Ganguly Das was a lecturer before joining the Indian Foreign Service in 1986.
Her first posting was in Spain. Thereafter, she was at South Block in New Delhi dealing with external publicity, Nepal and passport/visa work, according to the website of the New York Consulate.
She was head of the cultural wing of the Indian High Commission in Dhaka, after which she took over as Director at the United Nations Economic and Social Affairs Division and participated in environmental negotiations, particularly climate change.
Ganguly Das was deputy chief of mission in the Embassy of India at The Hague. She was also the alternate permanent representative of India to the Organization for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons at The Hague.
From 2008-2012, she served as consul general of India in Shanghai. On her return, she headed the Public Diplomacy Division in India’s Ministry of External Affairs and was in charge of the Latin America & Caribbean Division at MEA.
She comes to New York after serving as ambassador in the Embassy of India, Bucharest , Romania. She is married and has two children.
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