Shivshankar Menon Biography 
Shivshankar Menon is an Indian diplomat from Ottapalam, Kerala who served as the National Security Adviser to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. A top diplomat of the country in the recent times, he served as the Foreign Secretary before being appointed as Adviser to PM in 2011. He served the position during the time period, 17 January 2011 – 28 May 2014. High Commissioner to Pakistan, and Sri Lanka and ambassador to China and Israel are other major positions held by him before that. He is grandson of K. P. S Menon, India’s first foreign secretary.
Menon hails from Palakkad district, Kerala. Ottappalam is his hometown. He was born into a family of diplomats. His grandfather K. P. S Menon (senior) was India's first Foreign Secretary. His father Parappil Narayana Menon served as the ambassador to Yugoslavia. His uncle K. P. S Menon (junior) was an Indian ambassador to China. His great-grandfather Sir C Sankaran Nair was a freedom fighter and prominent Congress leader who presided over the party in 1897. Thus his family included many prominent diplomats from the state, Kerala.
Though born in Kerala, he was brought up in North India. He finished his schooling from Gwalior and higher education from Delhi. He joined Indian Foreign Service in 1972 and since then he has served the country as a diplomat for more than 4 decades. He is married to Mohini Menon and the couple ha stwo children. Menon’s prime hobbies include classical music.
As a successful diplomat he is known for Indo-US nuclear deal – his career milestone, where he was able to convince NSG nations to supply nuclear power in India. He served the Department of Atomic Energy s Advisor to the Atomic Energy Commission. He served as Ambassador to Israel and China, and High Commissioner to Sri Lanka and Pakistan before being appointed as Foreign Secretary in 2006.
Published: N/A
Updated: September 25, 2017
