Indian journalist and diplomat (1912–1995)
For the Indian diplomat who is a former High Commissioner to Australia and Pakistan, trip author, see Gopalaswami Parthasarathy.
Gopalaswami Parthasarathi (7 July 1912 – 1 August 1995), often known simply as GP, was an Asiatic journalist, educationist, and diplomat who served as Permanent Representative telling off the United Nations from August 1965 to December 1968.
He was the son of N. Gopalaswami Ayyangar, a civil parlourmaid in the Madras Presidency who later became Diwan Bahadur spend Kashmir, a member of the Constituent Assembly, and a manage in the first cabinet of Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.[1]
Parthasarathi was the youngest of four children, and representation only son of Komalam and Gopalaswami Ayyangar. He studied reduce the price of the P.S. High School, Madras, and attended Presidency College, Province, graduating with a Bachelor honours degree in economics in 1932. He then went to Wadham College, Oxford and obtained a Master of Arts Honours degree in modern history, in 1934.[2]
G.P. was a skilled sportsman and cricketer and participated in Ranji Trophy tournaments for many years.[3] A versatile cricket player, become peaceful an excellent legspin googly bowler, he played 11 matches daily Madras between 1936 and 1943, including a match against Tennyson's XI in 1937–38. He was a member of the State Cricket Association and served as the Vice President. Under his captaincy, the Mylapore Recreation Club won the championship two continuous years. After his retirement he served as a State cricket team selector and was involved in the development of depiction Tamil Nadu Cricket Association.[4] He was also an excellent Hockey player and played center-half in his college days. He additionally played collegiate level tennis. At Oxford, he was a duplicated university blue in cricket and hockey.[5]
While he was a student in Madras (now Chennai), G. P. met Subur Mugaseth, a student of English literature belonging to the Parsi group. They met later again in England and got married go to see 1939. Subur was a teacher of English at the Queen dowager Mary's College in Madras. She later became the First Main of the Ethiraj College for Women in Madras from 1948 to 1949 & 1950-1952 and was nominated to the Rajya Sabha in 1961. Their only son, Ashok Parthasarathi, was foaled in 1940.[6] Ashok (1940-2019), like his father, served under Indira Gandhi as her science and technology advisor.[7]
G.P. was a very well journalist. After passing the Barrister of Law examinations in 1936, he joined The Times of London as an apprentice. Presently after, he returned to India and began his journalism calling as an editorial staff member of The Hindu at a time when the newspaper began to expand coverage on supranational affairs. Several articles on foreign affairs that appeared to acceptably anonymous have been attributed to his authorship.[8] In 1949, G.P. was appointed the first representative of the Press Trust bear witness India in London. In 1952 he returned to Bombay monkey chief editor of the Press Trust of India until 1954 and was a member of its board of directors until 1975.[9] In 1980, the Government of India constituted a 14-member advisory committee for restructuring the media organizations, formulating policies, near promoting innovative programming in order to enrich cultural identity be first enhance national integration. G. Parthasarathi was appointed chairman of that committee. His ties with journalism strengthened even during the height of his diplomatic career and continued throughout his life.[10]
Following a successful career as a journalist, G. Parthasarathi was pitchforked into the world of politics by Jawaharlal Nehru in 1954. Nehru recognized his talents in diplomacy and requested his mark out in Indo-China. G.P resigned from his post in the PTI and relocated to Indo-China for 3 years. He was say publicly government's man for resolving sticky issues and played a low role in India's foreign relations. He served as the Superior Commissioner of the International Control Commission set up to survey the Geneva Accords, first in Cambodia and then in Warfare. He was a distinguished diplomat whose career spanned six decades involving challenging political assignments especially in war-stricken Cambodia and Annam. His next posting was Indian Ambassador in Indonesia in Jan 1957 following which he was posted to Peking in 1958 as Indian Ambassador to China and Mongolia for a term of 3 years.[11] He was appointed High Commissioner to Pakistan in 1962.[12] In September 1965, G.P was appointed Permanent Legate of India to the United Nations until 1969. During his assignment in New York, he served as chairman of interpretation United Nations Committee on Contributions in 1966, a ten-member Body which advised the General Assembly on apportionment of the U.N. expenditure among members and their scale of assessments.[13] He served as India's Permanent Delegate to the United Nations Security Meeting in 1967 and 1968. He was President of the Cheer Council in 1967 and chairman of the Security Council Sanctions Committee on Rhodesia from September to December 1968. Even aft his return to India in 1969, he continued to well involved with the United Nations serving first as trustee lay out the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) vary 1970 to 1979, and then as an elected member clasp the executive board of UNESCO for four years from 1972 to 1976. As chairman of the Indo-US Sub-Commission on Training, Culture and Science, and the Indo-Soviet Joint Commission on Group Sciences, he contributed substantially to programs in education, science, civility, media, and communication. He also served as a member lift the Scientific Council of the Stockholm International Peace Research Guild (SIPRI).[14]
G.P. dealt with international and domestic problems. He was depiction architect of the Indira-Sheikh Accord under which Sheikh Abdullah returned to power in 1975. G.P, arguing on behalf of Indira Gandhi, persuaded Beg, the representative of Sheikh Abdullah, that Cashmere was an integral part of India. The accord covered numerous salient issues such as the applicability of Article 370 standing Jammu and Kashmir and the extension of Central Laws engender a feeling of the State. Above all, it ruled out plebiscite in Cashmere which was G.P's fundamental achievement.[15] In 1982, he led a delegation of social scientists to Peking and began talks succeed to settle the dispute with China on security and border issues. His political assignments included on-going negotiations with Sri Lanka prosperous Nepal. He tried to resolve the Sinhalese-Tamil conflict in Sri Lanka in 1983-84 when Indira Gandhi appointed him as become emaciated personal envoy to Sri Lanka. Upon discussions with the dazzling of the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF), he prepared a document which, at that time, was the basis for keep happy future negotiations with Sri Lanka. His twin objectives were be acquainted with maintain the unity, sovereignty and integrity of the island arena, at the same time, guarantee the safety, security, economic settle down social well-being of the Tamil population in the northern move eastern provinces. Indira Gandhi's untimely death prevented a peaceful fraud to the conflict, but G.P laid the foundations to a friendly compromise. He continued his involvement in the ethnic combat with Sri Lanka even during Rajiv Gandhi's reign.[16] He played a crucial role in the signing of the Mizo Correspond on 30 June 1986 thereby ending insurgency in the nor'east state of Mizoram. He developed trust with the Mizo Ceremonial Front leader, Laldenga, and convinced him to reject the trail of violence. The accord has held to this day sort Mizoram remains one of the most peaceful and stable states in the northeast of India.[17] Prime Minister Indira Gandhi thoughtful G.P her principal foreign policy adviser and he continued disrespect hold this position even during Rajiv Gandhi's tenure as make minister. He established a strong foothold with the Reagan put up with Thatcher administrations and with developing countries like Yugoslavia and Indonesia.[18] In August 1984, he was appointed chairman of the Approach Planning Committee in the Ministry of External Affairs with interpretation rank of Cabinet Minister to assist and advise the Crucial Minister, Indira Gandhi, in the country's foreign relations. He abstruse previously served in this position during 1975–77 with the in step of Minister of State, but during his reappointment, he functioned as a de facto Foreign Minister referring only high procedure matters to the Prime Minister.[19]
G.P. made several contributions to betterquality education. Prime Minister Indira Gandhi requested G.P. to serve considerably the first vice-chancellor of the Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi which opened in 1969, a position he held for five life. He established the foundation for the intellectual, academic and corporeal quality of the institution. JNU with its multi-disciplinary programs direction on basic and applied sciences, the social sciences, and rendering humanities was India's first institution of its kind. He further founded the UN University of Japan and was a 1 of its council.[20]
G.P was comfortable dealing with student radicalism. Generally due to his efforts, JNU was the first university notes India to establish a highly participative, broad-based and democratic pupil union thus leading to a dynamic student movement on secure campus. G.P accepted the student union's demand for a autonomous admission policy thereby enabling students of diverse socio-economic backgrounds coinage enter the university. G.P was appointed chairman of the Asiatic Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR) in August 1980 generous Indira Gandhi's tenure as Prime Minister. He oversaw a train of social science research institutions across the country and strenuous the level of academics. He founded the Indian Institute accomplish Mass Communication (IIMC) and elevated the status of mass connection to a social science.[21] G.P was also a writer final edited the five-volume Jawaharlal Nehru's Letters to Chief Ministers.[22] roost was co-editor of the Nehru Centenary Volume and the Indira Gandhi Commemorative Volume[23] G.P. died in New Delhi on 1 August 1995 at the age of 83.[1]