Krishnaswamy Subrahmanyam, a prominent international strategic affairs analyst, journalist and former Indian civil servant, was born on 19 January 1929. He died on 2 February 2011.
Krishnaswamy Subrahmanyam, a Tamil Nadu native, spent his formative years in Tiruchirapalli and Madras. He pursued his BSc and MSc in Chemistry at the University of Madras after completing his education.
He took the 1951 Indian Civil Services examination, placed first, and was given a position in the Indian Administrative Service. He then held a number of important posts in the federal government, including those of the convener of the National Security Advisory Board, secretary of defence production, and chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee.
During the Emergency years, he also served as Tamil Nadu's home secretary. The honourable administrator utilised his authority to defend those who were being persecuted at a time when many officials in the nation turned into willing collaborators in the suspension of civil liberties.
He was named a Rockefeller Fellow in Strategic Studies at the London School of Economics in 1966 after 15 years of outstanding performance.
Subrahmanyam had close contact with all of India's prime ministers (starting with Jawaharlal Nehru) during this time, in addition to Homi Bhabha, Raja Ramanna, Vikram Sarabhai, and all of the program's founders.
He played a key role in developing India's nuclear programme and strategic policy, straddling the domains of administration, academic research, and defence policy with an unmatched felicity.
He served as the chairman of a number of government-established committees and commissions of investigation, including one looking into the 1971 Indo-Pak War. By chance, he also served as the chair of a task committee on "Global Strategic Developments" that eventually produced the strategic plan for the agreement between the United States and India on cooperation in civil nuclear energy.
Subrahmanyam, a thinker, researcher, and true visionary, also welcomed specialists from other fields and professional backgrounds into the Indian strategic policy community. Furthermore, he sought a wider constituency of views through a sustained media presence.
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