India’s first woman UN envoy as she takes charge: ‘To the girls out there…’

Hindustan Times:

Senior diplomat Ruchira Kamboj who took charge as India’s new permanent representative to the United Nations on Tuesday presented her credentials to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. In a tweet, she said it was a privilege to be the first Indian woman to be given the honour to hold this position. She also slipped in a note for the girls: “To the girls out there, we all can make it!”

A 1987-batch Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer, Kamboj had been serving as India’s envoy to Bhutan. She succeeds T S Tirumurti as the Indian ambassador to the UN. She is also the country’s first woman envoy to be serving at the world body’s headquarters in New York.

As she took charge as India’s envoy to the UN, congratulations poured in. Kamboj’s predecessor Ambassador T S Tirumurti said, “Congratulations and all good wishes for your success Ruchira! @IndiaUNNewYork.”

Kamboj was the all-India women’s topper of the 1987 Civil Services batch and the topper of the foreign service batch of that year.

She began her diplomatic journey in Paris where she was posted in the Indian Embassy to France from 1989-1991. Kamboj, however, later returned to Delhi where she worked as under secretary in the Europe West Division of the ministry of external affairs from 1991–96.