Natwar Singh

K. Natwar Singh
Singh in 2005
Minister of External Affairs
In office 22 May 2004 – 6 December 2005
Prime Minister	Manmohan Singh
Preceded by	Yashwant Sinha
Succeeded by	Manmohan Singh
Minister without portfolio
In office 8 December 2005 – 22 May 2009
Prime Minister	Manmohan Singh
Preceded by	Mamata Banerjee
Succeeded by	Arun Jaitley
Personal details
Born	(1931-05-16)16 May 1931 Jaghina, Bharatpur State, British India (present-day Rajasthan, India)
Died	10 August 2024(2024-08-10) (aged 93) Gurugram, Haryana, India
Political party	Indian National Congress (1984–2006) Bahujan Samaj Party (2008)
Spouse	Heminder Kaur
Children	2, including Jagat Singh
Education	Mayo College
Alma mater	St. Stephen's College, Delhi. Corpus Christi College, Cambridge
Occupation	Politician
Awards	Padma Bhushan

K. Natwar Singh (16 May 1931 – 10 August 2024) was an Indian politician, former diplomat, and an author. He served as Minister of External Affairs of India from 2004 to 2005. A veteran leader of the Indian National Congress, Singh was honoured with the Padma Bhushan, India’s third-highest civilian honour, in 1984.

He held several significant diplomatic postings, including as Ambassador to Pakistan from 1980 to 1982, a period of strained bilateral relations. Entering politics in 1984 as a Congress leader, he was elected to Parliament and subsequently served as Union Minister of State for Steel and later as Minister of State for External Affairs until 1989.

In 2014, Singh published his autobiography One Life is Not Enough, which drew wide attention for its account of his diplomatic and political career.

Early life and education

Natwar Singh was born the fourth son of Govind Singh and Prayag Kaur in Deeg Palace, then part of the princely state of Bharatpur. His family belonged to the Jat ruling aristocracy of the region, being related to the dynasty of Bharatpur.

He was educated at Mayo College, Ajmer, one of India’s most prestigious schools established for princely families and nobility. He later studied history at St. Stephen's College, Delhi, before pursuing further studies at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, where he came into contact with leading intellectuals of the time. Singh also spent time as a visiting scholar at Peking University, which provided him with exposure to Chinese history and culture at a formative stage in his diplomatic career.

Diplomatic career

Singh joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1953 and went on to serve India for 31 years. Among his early postings was Beijing (1956–58). He later worked in New York (1961–66) at India’s Permanent Mission, and during that time also represented India on the executive board of UNICEF (1962–66). He contributed to various United Nations committees between 1963 and 1966. In 1966 he was entrusted with a role in the Prime Minister’s Secretariat under Indira Gandhi.

His overseas assignments thereafter included serving as India’s Ambassador to Poland from 1971 to 1973, then as Deputy High Commissioner to the United Kingdom from 1973 to 1977, and subsequently as Ambassador to Pakistan from 1980 to 1982. He was part of India’s delegation to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Kingston, Jamaica in 1975, and participated as an Indian delegate to the 30th Session of the United Nations General Assembly and the Commonwealth meeting in Lusaka in 1979, as well as to the 35th UN General Assembly in New York. He also accompanied Indira Gandhi on her state visit to the United States in 1982.

Beyond bilateral diplomacy, he served as Executive Trustee of the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) from 1981 to 1986, and was chosen as a member of the Commonwealth Secretary-General’s Expert Group in 1982. In 1983, he was appointed Secretary-General of the Seventh Non-Aligned Summit held in New Delhi and Chief Coordinator of the same year’s Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM). He then served as Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs between March 1982 and November 1984. His long and distinguished diplomatic contributions were recognised when he was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 1984.

Political career

The_External_Affairs_Minister_Shri_Natwar_Singh_and_the_Foreign_Affairs_Minister_of_Norway_Mr._Jan_Petersen_signing_agreements_in_New_Delhi_on_July_6,_2004

In 1984, after resigning from the Indian Foreign Service, Singh joined the Indian National Congress (INC) and was elected to the 8th Lok Sabha from the Bharatpur constituency in Rajasthan. In 1985, he was sworn in as Minister of State and was allotted the portfolios of steel, coal and mines, and agriculture. The following year, he was appointed Minister of State for External Affairs.

During this period, Singh played an active role in international diplomacy. In 1987, he was elected President of the United Nations Conference on Disarmament and Development in New York, a recognition that underscored India’s growing stature in global affairs and his own standing as a senior diplomat-politician. He also led the Indian delegation to the 42nd Session of the UN General Assembly, further consolidating his reputation as a capable representative of India on the world stage.

Singh continued as Minister of State for External Affairs until the Congress party lost power in the 1989 general election. He contested the Mathura seat in Uttar Pradesh that year but was defeated. When the Congress returned to power in 1991 under Prime Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao, Singh was not a Member of Parliament and therefore did not hold ministerial office. He subsequently left the party along with N. D. Tiwari and Arjun Singh to form the All India Indira Congress.

In 1998, the new party merged back into the Congress. Singh contested the general elections that year and was elected to the 12th Lok Sabha (1998–99) from Bharatpur, defeating Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Digamber Singh. He served in the opposition during that term but lost his seat in the 1999 election. In 2002, he was elected to the Rajya Sabha from Rajasthan. Following the Congress party’s return to power in 2004, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh appointed him as India’s Minister of External Affairs.

Oil-for-Food controversy

Singh assumed office on 23 May 2004 as India’s Minister of External Affairs. On 27 October 2005, the Independent Inquiry Committee chaired by Paul Volcker released its report on the United Nations Oil-for-Food Programme, naming the Indian National Congress (then led by Sonia Gandhi) among “non-contractual beneficiaries” and referring to Singh in connection with certain Iraqi oil allocations. Singh denied wrongdoing and described the allegations as politically motivated.

The report also cited a number of companies and individuals internationally. Siemens stated that it had “found no evidence of kickbacks” allegedly paid by its subsidiaries, and AstraZeneca likewise denied the allegations. In the United Kingdom and France, figures such as MP George Galloway and former interior minister Charles Pasqua were named in relation to allocations, but no cabinet-level ministers in either country resigned or faced prosecution as a result of the Volcker findings. Several companies, including Total and Vitol, later faced proceedings in France; some cases resulted in fines, while others ended in acquittals.

India was among the countries that initiated a formal judicial inquiry. A one-man authority headed by former Chief Justice R. S. Pathak was established in 2006. The Pathak report concluded that no financial or personal gain could be traced to Singh and that the Congress party had no proven link to illicit oil transactions. No criminal charges were filed. Singh resigned from his ministerial position in December 2005, making his departure one of the most prominent ministerial resignations internationally linked to the Volcker report.

The Volcker Inquiry itself has been the subject of criticism. Analysts have noted that it relied heavily on Iraqi ministry documents for its findings, despite Iraq at the time being under Saddam Hussein’s authoritarian regime where official records were vulnerable to manipulation. Other critiques highlighted the inquiry’s limited powers and questioned its independence; a U.S. Congressional hearing in 2005 raised concerns about the scope and reliability of the report. Commentators also observed that while the inquiry documented widespread irregularities, national governments responded unevenly across jurisdictions.

Later years

In February 2008, Singh announced his resignation from the Indian National Congress during a Jat community rally in Jaipur. He shared the stage with Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje.

Later that year, Singh joined the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) but remained associated only briefly. He subsequently stepped back from active politics and focused on writing, publishing books, essays, and columns on diplomacy and public life.

Personal life and death

In August 1967, Singh married Heminder Kaur, the eldest daughter of Yadavindra Singh, the last Maharaja of Patiala and his wife Mohinder Kaur. She is the sister of Amarinder Singh, who later served as Chief Minister of Punjab.

Their son, Jagat Singh, has been elected as a Member of the Legislative Assembly three times in Rajasthan and represents Nadbai constituency from the BJP in Bharatpur district.

Natwar Singh died in Gurugram on 10 August 2024 at the age of 95, after a prolonged illness.

Tributes

Following Singh’s death in August 2024, leaders across parties paid tribute. Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed condolences, noting Singh’s “rich contributions to the world of diplomacy and foreign policy.”

External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar called him a “distinguished diplomat and former External Affairs Minister.”

The Indian National Congress leadership also offered condolences. Sonia Gandhi said he made “important contributions to national affairs.” Congress leaders hailed his role in Indian diplomacy, with tributes published in national media.

Writing career

Natwar Singh was also active as an author. Early in his career he edited a tribute volume to the novelist E. M. Forster, with whom he developed a long friendship dating back to his years at Cambridge.

He went on to write historical studies of two prominent north Indian rulers: Maharaja Suraj Mal, 1707–1763: His Life and Times (1981) and The Magnificent Maharaja: The Life and Times of Maharaja Bhupinder Singh of Patiala (1891–1938) (1997). The former reflected his ancestral connection to Bharatpur, while the latter drew upon his family ties to Patiala through his marriage.

In 2013 he published Walking with Lions: Tales from a Diplomatic Past, a memoir of fifty episodes from his career. The book was launched by Vice-President Hamid Ansari and was noted for portraits of world figures including Fidel Castro, Lord Mountbatten, Nelson Mandela and others Singh met during his diplomatic career. It also recounted his friendship with the painter M. F. Husain, one of India’s most prominent modern artists.

He later published Treasured Epistles in 2018, a curated selection of his correspondence with political and literary figures, including material highlighting his friendship with Forster.

In 2014 Singh’s autobiography One Life is Not Enough became widely discussed and drew significant attention for its candid account of his diplomatic and political career. Its release occurred in the same year as Sanjaya Baru’s The Accidental Prime Minister, and the two works were widely discussed together in media coverage of that year’s political memoirs. Singh’s remarks on the Congress leadership attracted widespread comment; Sonia Gandhi publicly rejected some of the book’s claims and indicated her intention to publish her own memoir.

Books published

• E.M. Forster: A Tribute (1964), editor, with contributions by Ahmed Ali, Narayana Menon, Raja Rao & Santha Rama Rau. Amazon
• The Legacy of Nehru: A Memorial Tribute (1965). Amazon
• Tales from Modern India (1966). Amazon
• Stories from India (1971). Amazon
• Maharaja Suraj Mal, 1707–1763: His Life and Times (1981). Amazon
• Curtain Raisers (1984). Amazon
• Profiles & Letters (1997). Amazon
• The Magnificent Maharaja: The Life and Times of Maharaja Bhupinder Singh of Patiala (1891–1938) (1997). Amazon
• Heart to Heart (2003). Amazon
• Yours Sincerely (2009). Amazon
• Walking with Lions: Tales from a Diplomatic Past (2013). Amazon
• One Life is Not Enough: An Autobiography (2014). Amazon
• Treasured Epistles (2018). Amazon