Pavan Varma
 Varma speaking at a book launch in Nehru Centre, London, in 2005, when he was its director | |
| Indian High Commissioner to Cyprus | |
|
In office August 8, 2001 – January 23, 2004 | |
| Preceded by | Shyamala Balasubramanian Cowsik |
| Succeeded by | Neelam D. Sabharwal |
| Indian Ambassador to Bhutan | |
|
In office 2009 – 2013 | |
| Preceded by | Sudhir Vyas |
| Succeeded by | Virupakshan Pranatharthi Haran |
| MP of Rajya Sabha for Bihar | |
|
In office 23 June 2014 – 7 July 2016 | |
| General Secretary of Janata Dal (United) | |
|
In office 10 November 2016 – Incumbent | |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
November 5, 1953 Nagpur[1] |
Pavan Kumar Varma (born 5 November 1953) is a former Indian Foreign Service officer and was an adviser to the Chief Minister of Bihar, Nitish Kumar, with cabinet rank.[2] Currently, he is the sitting member of parliament in Rajya Sabha representing Janata Dal (United).
He studied history at St. Stephen's College, Delhi, and at the University of Delhi.
Work
He joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1976. His career as a diplomat has seen him serve in several countries, including New York and Moscow. In New York, he was with India’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations. He also served as Executive Assistant to the Chairman of the Group of 77. In Moscow, he was the Director of the Jawaharlal Nehru Cultural Centre in the Indian Embassy. He has also been High Commissioner of India to Cyprus as well as Director of the Nehru Centre in London in 2005.[3] His assignments in India include that of Press Secretary to the President of India, Spokesman in the Ministry of External Affairs, Joint Secretary for Africa and Director General of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations, New Delhi, Indian Ambassador to Bhutan.
Varma took voluntary retirement from the Indian Foreign Service in 2012 to enter public life and was the Cultural Adviser to Nitish Kumar, Chief Minister of Bihar.
Bibliography
Fiction
- Pavan K. Varma (2012). When Loss is Gain. Rain Tree. ISBN 978-81-291-1941-4.
Non-fiction
- Pavan K. Varma (1989). Ghalib, the man, the times. Viking.
- Pavan K. Varma (1992). Havelis of Old Delhi. Bookwise (India).
- Pavan K. Varma (1993). Krishna, the playful divine. Viking.
- Pavan K. Varma (1996). Yudhishtar and Draupadi. Penguin Books India.
- Pavan K. Varma (1998). The great Indian middle class. Viking.
- Pavan K. Varma (1 April 2004). Being Indian: the truth about why the twenty-first century will be India's. Viking.
- Pavan K. Varma; Sandhya Mulchandani (1 June 2004). Love and lust: an anthology of erotic literature from ancient and medieval India. HarperCollins Publishers a joint venture with India Today Group.
- Pavan K. Varma (1 February 2007). Kamasutra: The Art of Making Love to a Woman. Roli Books Private, Limited. ISBN 978-81-7436-448-7.
- Pavan K. Varma (2010). Becoming Indian: The Unfinished Revolution of Culture and Identity. Penguin Books India. ISBN 978-0-670-08346-6.
As a sequel to The Great Indian Middle Class in 1998, he, in association with journalist Renuka Khandekar, published Maximize Your Life: An Action Plan for the Indian Middle Class (Viking 2000). His 2004 Being Indian was published by William Heinemann, in the United Kingdom, as Being Indian: Inside the Real India in March 2005.
Translations
- Selected Poems: Kaifi Azmi (Viking/Penguin 2001) is the English translation of the Urdu poems of Kaifi Azmi.
- 21 Poems (Viking/Penguin), a translation in English of the Hindi poems of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the then Prime Minister of India, was published in December 2001.
- Selected Poems: Gulzar (Penguin) a translated collection of the poems of Gulzar, one of India’s best-known poets, came out in April 2008.
- Neglected Poems, Pavan K. Varma’s second volume of translations of Gulzar’s poems was launched at the Jaipur Literary Festival in January 2012.
References
- ↑ india.gov,
- ↑ "A quick change". Mail Today. 21 January 2013. Retrieved 2 February 2013.
- ↑ "Tug-of-war in the offing over Nehru Centre in London director post". Retrieved 2016-12-17.