Chandrika Prasad Srivastava (born 8 July 1920) is a retired Indian civil servant and international administrator and diplomat.
Contents |
C.P. Srivastava was born on 8 July 1920 and was educated in Lucknow, India (BA, MA, LLB).[1] He started his career as a civil servant in India, serving as the district administrator in Meerut and Lucknow, and then went on to the post of Joint Secretary to the Indian Prime Minister's office of Lal Bahadur Shastri from 1964-1966.
C.P. Srivastava become the first chief executive of the Shipping Corporation of India and in 1974 was elected to serve as the Secretary-General of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), a United Nations agency based in London, serving successive four-year terms as Secretary-General from 1974 to 1989. During this time he played a pioneering role in the establishment of the International Maritime Academy in Italy, and the International Maritime Law Institute in Malta.[2] He was also the first Chancellor of the Sweden-based World Maritime University which was founded in 1983 to address a pressing need for maritime professionals in the developing world.[3][4]
C.P. Srivastava was married to Nirmala Srivastava, the founder of Sahaja Yoga, a new religious movement, based on an experience called self-realization. He is often referred to as 'Papaji' or 'Sir C.P.' within the movement. C.P. Srivastava has stated that his life has been greatly influenced by his wife and he has been motivated by her vision of one Almighty God and one human family. He has been motivated by this vision in all aspects of his life and believes it can be applied world wide.[8]
The couple have two daughters, Kalpana Srivastava[9] and Sadhana Varma.[10]
C.P. Srivastava practices Sahaja Yoga meditation and says it changes people from the core. He has described Sahaja Yoga practitioners as being miracles of transformation and displaying an angelic quality. He believes that the rapid spread of Sahaja Yoga is very important for the world.[8]