imported>Citation bot: Add: work, title. Changed bare reference to CS1/2. Removed parameters. Some additions/deletions were parameter name changes. | Use this bot. Report bugs. | Suggested by Abductive | Category:Pages using infobox officeholder with unknown parameters | #UCB_Category 3345/3527

2021-06-28T14:32:35Z

Add: work, title. Changed bare reference to CS1/2. Removed parameters. Some additions/deletions were parameter name changes. | Use this bot. Report bugs. | Suggested by Abductive | Category:Pages using infobox officeholder with unknown parameters | #UCB_Category 3345/3527

New page

{{short description|Indian civil servant}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2020}}
{{Use Indian English|date=April 2014}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|name = P. N. Haksar
|office1 = 1st [[Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister of India]]
|predecessor1 = ''Office established''
|successor1 = [[V. Shankar]]
|office2 = 2nd [[Secretary to Government of India|Secretary to the Prime Minister of India]]
|predecessor2 = [[Lakshmi Kant Jha]]
|successor2 = ''Office temporarily abolished''
|image = P. N. Haksar.jpg
|primeminister1 = [[Indira Gandhi]]
|office = [[Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission]]
|primeminister = Indira Gandhi
|birth_date = 4 September 1913
|birth_place = [[Gujranwala]], [[Punjab Province (British India)|Punjab]], [[British India]] (now in Pakistan)
|death_date = 25 November 1998 (aged 85)
|death_place = New Delhi, Delhi, India
|spouse = Urmila Sapru
|children = Nandita Haksar, Anamika Haksar
|son in law = Ravindra Sahu
|grandchild = Raayaan Sahu
|religion = [[Hindu]] ([[Kashmiri Pandit]])
|term_start1 = 6 December 1971
|term_end1 = 28 February 1973
|term_end2 = 5 December 1971
|term_start2 = 1967
|term_start = 4 January 1975
|term_end = 31 May 1977
|birthname = Parmeshwar Narayan Haksar
}}

'''Parmeshwar Narayan Haksar''' (4 September 1913 – 25 November 1998) was an Indian bureaucrat and diplomat, best known for his two-year stint as Prime Minister [[Indira Gandhi]]'s [[Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister of India|principal secretary]] (1971–73). In that role, Haksar was the chief strategist and policy adviser behind his inexperienced prime minister's rise to near-absolute power in the mid-1970s. After this he was appointed deputy chairman of the [[Planning Commission of India|Planning Commission]] and then the first-ever chancellor of New Delhi's [[Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi|Jawaharlal Nehru University]].

An advocate of [[centralization|centralisation]] and [[socialism]], he was a [[Kashmiri Pandit]] who became Gandhi's closest confidant in her inner coterie of bureaucrats, the so-called "Kashmiri mafia". Prior to this, Haksar was a diplomat of the [[Indian Foreign Service]], who served as India's [[ambassador]] to Austria and Nigeria.

==Personal life==
Haksar was born in 1913, Gujranwala (now in Pakistan) in a [[Kashmiri Pandit]] family. He studied Sanskrit at home and obtained an M.Sc. from University of Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh. He went on to study in the [[London School of Economics]].<ref name="independent">{{cite news |title=Obituary: P.N. Haksar |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/obituary-p-n-haksar-1188604.html |publisher=www.independent.co.uk |first=Kuldeep |last=Singh |date=2 December 1998 |access-date=24 July 2012}}</ref> As a student of Allahabad university, he was a resident of Mayo Hall and made frequent visits to the [[Anand Bhawan]], the house of [[Motilal Nehru]].<ref name=rediff>{{cite news |title=The P.N. Haksar Story |url=http://www.rediff.com/news/1998/dec/12mitra.htm |work=rediff.com |first=Ashok |last=Mitra |date=12 December 1998 |access-date=24 July 2012}}</ref> Parmeshwar was a voracious reader of art history and also a connoisseur of paintings.<ref name=rediff /> During his interlude in London as a student, he was influenced by [[Fabian Society|Fabian]] socialism and later become associated with Marxists.<ref name=independent /><ref name=rediff />

During the latter years of his life, Haksar became associated with the Delhi Science Forum, initiatives on human rights, and opposition to neo-liberal policies and secularism. He lost his eyesight during the last 10 years of his life. Haksar died at the age of 85, on 25 November 1998.<ref name=frontline>Praful Bidwai. "[http://www.frontline.in/static/html/fl1526/15261180.htm The last of the Nehruvians]". ''Frontline''. 19 December 1998.</ref>

==Career==
[[File:Indira Gandhi in 1967.jpg|thumb|As [[Indira Gandhi]]'s (''pictured'') principal secretary, Haksar helped a beleaguered and inexperienced prime minister's rise to near-absolute power.]]

===Early career===
Haksar had already made his mark as a prominent lawyer in [[Allahabad]], before he was selected in the [[Indian Foreign Service]] in 1947,<ref name=ITod>{{cite web |title=100 People who shaped India |url=http://www.india-today.com/itoday/millennium/100people/haskar.html |publisher=indiatoday.com |first=N.N. |last=Vohra |access-date=24 July 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924042429/http://www.india-today.com/itoday/millennium/100people/haskar.html |archive-date=24 September 2015 |url-status=dead }}</ref> and was close to fellow-Kashmiri from Allahabad [[Jawaharlal Nehru]], the latter who would go on to become independent India's first prime minister. A one-time student at the [[London School of Economics]], he was a junior colleague of [[V. K. Krishna Menon]] at the India League in London.

===Civil services===
P. N. Haksar served as the India ambassador to Nigeria and Austria.<ref>{{cite web |title=Indian Embassy, Vienna, Austria |url=http://www.indianembassy.at/?page_id=603 |publisher=Indian Embassy, Govt of India |access-date=18 August 2012 |archive-date=22 September 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130922155259/http://www.indianembassy.at/?page_id=603 |url-status=dead }}</ref> In the 1960s, he also served as a deputy high commissioner in London.<ref name=independent /> After twenty years in the Indian foreign service, he was appointed as an aide to the then [[Prime Minister of India|prime minister]], Indira Gandhi.<ref name=ITod /> In 1967, he replaced [[L. K. Jha]] as Secretary to the Prime Minister of India, and was promoted to the newly formed post of [[Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister of India]] in 1971, thus becoming the most powerful and senior civil servant in the prime minister's office. He authored the 'Stray Thoughts Memorandum' at the [[Congress Working Committee]] meeting in Bangalore which ultimately led to the [[defenestration]] of her political rivals such as like [[Morarji Desai]].<ref name="Austin">{{Cite book |last = Austin |first = Granville |title = Working a Democratic Constitution - A History of the Indian Experience |publisher = Oxford University Press |year = 1999 |location = New Delhi |pages = [https://archive.org/details/workingdemocrati00aust/page/n102 184]–185 |url =https://archive.org/details/workingdemocrati00aust|url-access = limited |isbn = 019565610-5 }}</ref> Until he vacated the position of Principal Secretary to Indira Gandhi, Haksar exercised significant influence on the formulation of domestic and foreign policies in [[Raisina Hill]].<ref name=ITod /> As Principal Secretary, Haksar fashioned Indira Gandhi's decision about the timing and level of support to be given to [[Bangladesh]]i freedom struggle, issuing directives from her private office to the top military leadership in some cases.<ref name=mainstream>{{cite web |title=Remembering P.N. Haksar: A true friend of Bangladesh |url=http://www.mainstreamweekly.net/article1799.html |first=Monaem |last=Sarker |date=11 November 2009 |access-date=24 July 2012}}</ref>

===Administrator and strategist===
Haksar was noted for his strategising on the nationalisation of banks, insurance firms and foreign-owned oil companies, the 1971 Indo-Soviet Treaty and India's support to the liberation of what would become Bangladesh. He is also the chief architect of the [[Shimla Agreement]] with Pakistan, as he was of the creation of the [[Research and Analysis Wing]] (R&AW), India's foreign secret intelligence agency<ref name=frontline/>

===Refusal of Padma Vibhushan===
Upon his retirement from the civil service in 1973, Indira Gandhi offered Haksar India's second highest civilian honour, the [[Padma Vibhushan]], for his numerous distinguished services to India; however, in a letter to [[Govind Narain]] he declined the honour stating that "Accepting an award for work done somehow causes an inexplicable discomfort to me." The prime minister duly rescinded her offer.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/Haksar-and-the-Padma-Vibhushan/article17029692.ece|title=Haksar and the Padma Vibhushan |date=13 January 2017|access-date=11 May 2018|newspaper=The Hindu}}</ref>

==Books==
{{Expand section|date=July 2012}}
*''Premonitions'' (1979)
*''Reflections on our Times'' (1982)
*''One more Life'' (1990)
*''Genesis of Indo-Pakistan Conflict on Kashmir''
*''Haksar Memorial Vol-1Contemplations on the Human Condition''
*''Haksar Memorial Vol-2 Contribution in Remembrance''
*''Haksar Memorial Vol-3 Challenge for Nation Building in a world in turmoil''
*''Nehru's Vision of Peace and Security in Nuclear Age''
*''Studies in Indo-Soviet Relations''

<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/157997.P_N_Haksar|title=Goodreads Authors}}</ref>
<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.amazon.in/Books-P-N-Haksar/s?ie=UTF8&page=1&rh=n%3A976389031%2Cp_27%3AP.N.Haksar|title = Online Shopping site in India: Shop Online for Mobiles, Books, Watches, Shoes and More - Amazon.in}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==External links==
*[[K. R. Narayanan]]: [https://web.archive.org/web/20070929092825/http://pib.myiris.com/speech/article.php3?fl=010612181840 Speech in memory of P. N. Haksar; 7 January 1999]
*[http://www.rediff.com/news/1998/dec/12mitra.htm Ashok Mitra: The P. N. Haksar story]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Haksar, P. N.}}
[[Category:1913 births|Haksar, P. N.]]
[[Category:1998 deaths|Haksar, P. N.]]
[[Category:Kashmiri people|Haksar, P. N.]]
[[Category:People from Gujranwala District|Haksar, P. N.]]
[[Category:University of Allahabad alumni]]
[[Category:Alumni of the London School of Economics]]
[[Category:Scholars from Allahabad]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian lawyers]]
[[Category:Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister of India|Haskar, P. N.]]

P. N. Haksar - Revision history

imported>Citation bot: Add: work, title. Changed bare reference to CS1/2. Removed parameters. Some additions/deletions were parameter name changes. | Use this bot. Report bugs. | Suggested by Abductive | Category:Pages using infobox officeholder with unknown parameters | #UCB_Category 3345/3527