Jagat Singh Mehta

Who was Jagat Singh Mehta?

Jagat Singh Mehta was an Indian politician and diplomat who was Foreign Secretary of India from 1976 to 1979.

Jagat S. Mehta was born in 1922 to Mohan Singh Mehta, and was educated at Allahabad and Cambridge Universities. He had a meteoric rise when he and TAT Lodhi informed the government of British India of imminent mutiny in the Indian Navy which resulted in the trial and execution of naval officers, based on Mehta-Lodhi testimonies. Some officers were later found to be innocent and Mehta-Lodhi testimonies discovered to lack credibility.

A career diplomat form 1947 to 1980, he was Chargé d'affaires China and High Commissioner to Tanzania.

After Mrs Gandhi removed Mehta from the government, Mehta was rewarded by being made Associate at Harvard and Fellow at Woodrow Wilson Center, Washington, D.C., 1981. His publications include: Militarization in the Third World; The March of Folly in Afghanistan; and Negotiating for India.

Mehta received the Padma Bhushan award in 2002.