Rajiv Dogra

Rajiv Dogra is an Indian diplomat, television commentator, writer and an artist. He was the Indian Ambassador to Italy and Romania and Consul General to Karachi, Pakistan. He was also India's Permanent Representative to the United Nations Agencies based in Rome. He has advised a government on restructuring its foreign ministry and has sat on the advisory boards of multinational corporations.

Rajiv Dogra started his career with the Indian Foreign Service in 1974, following a degree in electrical engineering from Benares Hindu University (Now Indian Institute of Technology (BHU) Varanasi). He began his career with a posting at the Indian Embassy in Stockholm, Sweden, and rose to national and international prominence during his tenure as Consul General of India in [Karachi, Pakistan]. It was one of the most tense period in the [Indo-Pak] relations in the aftermath of [Babri] incident and the serial bomb blasts in [Bombay] in 1993. The [Indian Consulate General] in [Karachi] has remained closed after Rajiv Dogra completed his tenure there.

He next served as Minister of the High Commission of India in London from 1994 to 1997 and as the Ambassador to Romania from 1997 to 2001. In the course of his career, he served in [Italy] twice and in Qatar, and as Additional Secretary for Administration,International Economic Relations and Consular Affairs of the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi. His final posting before retirement was to Italy, where he served as Indian ambassador to Italy and San Marino and concurrently as India's permanent representative to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, World Food Programme and IFAD. He was Secretary to the Indian Government then.

Rajiv Dogra is an active public speaker and one the foremost Indian commentator on foreign policy and strategic affairs. He appears regularly on television and writes columns for leading Indian newspapers and magazines. He is noted for his considered and assertive views.

He is fluent in foreign languages including Swedish and Italian. He received an honorary doctorate from the University of Oradea in Romania, where he is also an associate professor, and was made an honorary professor by Valahia University in Targoviste, Romania.

He has written several short stories and editorials in magazines and newspapers. He has also published four books; two novels and two non-fiction. The first, Footprints in Foreign Sands, was published in 1997, and deals with the issues of migration. Almost an Ambassador, a satirical look at the diplomatic corps, followed in 2005, and featured in the Indian bestseller list for several weeks. His first non-fiction book "Where Borders Bleed", published in February 2015, is regarded as one of the most authoritative books on India-Pakistan relations. Rajiv Dogra's latest book is "Durand's Curse." It is the first book written in the world on the Durand agreement which divided pathans and has bedeviled the world ever since.

Rajiv Dogra resides in Delhi, and is married with two children.