MEA Spokesperson Vikas Swarup Named High Commissioner to Canada

Swarup addressed his weekly press briefing on Thursday, saying it was the last time he was doing it.

Vikas Swarup. (Photo: ANI Screengrab)

Vikas Swarup, the official spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs, was on Thursday appointed lndia's envoy to Canada.

Swarup, an Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer of the 1986 batch, is presently Additional Secretary. He is expected to take up his new assignment shortly, an official statement said.

Swarup will replace Arun Kumar Sahu, who is currently working as acting Indian High Commissioner to Canada.

Swarup, a well-known author, penned the novel "Q & A", which was adapted in film as Slumdog Millionaire, which won several Oscars.

The post of the Indian High Commissioner in Canada had been lying vacant after Vishnu Prakash’s retirement. India has close ties with Canada in a range of key sectors and the country has a sizeable number of Indians.

Born in Allahabad to a family of lawyers, he had studied history, psychology and philosophy at Allahabad University.

The MEA's social media outreach witnessed major expansion during Swarup's tenure.

In December, the Ministry had launched a 'Twitter Seva' service with an aim to centralise its grievance redressal mechanism by bringing over 200 social media handles under one platform.

In August, the MEA had launched an app, bringing websites and various social media handles of over 170 Indian missions on a common platform to further its public outreach.

(With inputs from PTI and IANS)