SKAND RANJAN TAYAL

Ambassador (Retd) Skand Ranjan Tayal is a graduate of Allahabad University and has Post-Graduate Degree in Chemistry from the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur.

After joining the Indian Foreign Service (1976), Ambassador Tayal served in Indian Missions in Sofia, Warsaw, Geneva and Moscow. He was India’s Consul General in Johannesburg (1996-98) and Houston (2002-05), and Ambassador of India to Uzbekistan (2005-08). He was the Ambassador of India to the Republic of Korea during 2008-11.

Ambassador Tayal was Secretary of the Indian National Commission for UNESCO during 1991-95 and served briefly as the Director in charge of IITs in the Department of Education, Ministry of Human Resource Development. He was Joint Secretary (Consular, Passport and Visa) in the Ministry of External Affairs and the Chief Passport Officer of India during 1999-2002, where he introduced far reaching reforms in the passport issue system, including comprehensive computerization, machine printing of passports and the Tatkal Scheme for fast track issues of passports.

Ambassador Tayal has a broad experience in both bilateral and multilateral diplomacy and has been a frequent speaker on contemporary affairs. He regularly writes for academic journals and The Asian Age.