People

Ambassador Paramjit (Pummy) S Sahai served in the Indian Foreign Service (1963–2000) as India’s Ambassador/High Commissioner to Malawi, Lesotho, Yemen Democratic Republic, Sweden, and Malaysia; and as Deputy Chief of Mission in Moscow at the time of the split of the Soviet Union in 1991. He was extensively involved with consular work and Indian Diaspora and migration issues as Head of the Consular, Passport, and Visa Division, Ministry of External Affairs, New Delhi (1981–1984). He was responsible for the drafting and passage of the Indian Emigration Act (1983) and led the Indian delegation at the UN Working Group (1982–1984) for drafting the UN Convention on Migrant Workers and their Families. He has published papers dealing with cultural diplomacy, media, diaspora, migration, and India’s relationship with South, South-East, and Central Asia, ASEAN, and SAARC, including a paper on out-migration from India (published in a book by the ILO in 2004). He edited two books – India-Eurasia: The Way Ahead(2008) and Women Guiding the Destiny of South Asia (2010) – and published reports – The Study of Indian Diaspora with Particular Reference to Development and Migration from the State of Punjab for the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs, Government of India (2011) and  Migration and Development with Focus on Remittances in Agriculture Sector for FAO’s Country Study on India (2011).