Tag Archives: Cambridge University

British Mission in India, gets its First Indian-Origin Diplomat. July 2013 .

In a first Kumar Iyer, a Diplomat of Indian-origin is appointed as the British Deputy High Commissioner for Western Region. He will have responsibility of all aspects of diplomatic engagement in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Goa.

He will also simultaneously be Director General India for UK Trade & Investment (UKTI),for the whole of India – a new top-level post that has been created to reflect the increasing importance of the UK-India business ties.

He will be take up both positions based in Mumbai at the British Mission on August 05th, 2013.

Kumar Iyer has a MPhil in Economics from Cambridge University, where he was a Bank of England scholar. He was an undergraduate tutor in Microeconomics. He was also a Kennedy Scholar and Teaching Fellow in International Capital Markets at Harvard University.

He joined the British Government in 2008 as Deputy Director, Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit. In 2010 he moved to the Treasury, first as Deputy Director, Strategy Plannig & Budget and then as Head of Financial Sector Intervention. Prior to that he was at the Boston Consulting Group where he worked mainly in the Financial Services Practice.

Kumar Iyer was born in London to parents of Indian origin. He spent his formative years in India, including time in Mumbai. He is married to Kathryn, a barrister practicing criminal law and they have 2 children a son and a daughter. He is a keen cricketer and chess player.

Anmol Rajan appointed ‘ The Independent ‘s Editor and becomes first non-white Editorial head of a UK national newspaper . June 2013 .

In a bold move Evgeny Lebedev the Russian owner of The Independent named, Anmol Rajan, a  29-year old Indian-origin journalist,as the newest editor of  The Independent newspaper on June 17th, 2013. He was the editor of The Independent Voics section. Rajan takes over from Chris Blackhurst who became Group Content Director.

Anmol Rajan one of the youngest ever at 29, makes Fleet Street history by becoming first non-white newspaper editorial head of a UK national newspaper creating ripples in London’s all-white Oxbridge media elite. And also the first- ethnic minority editor, a first-British Asian editor of a British national newspaper.

Rajan was born in Calcutta (Kolkata)on July 04th, 1983 , before moving to London as a three year old. He grew up in Tooting, South London and went on to read English literature at Downing College, Cambridge University and edited the prestigious student magazine ‘Varsity’. He spent his gap year working at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

After graduating, Rajan worked briefly for the ‘Evening Standard’ and ‘Channel 5’ before moving to ‘The Independent’ in August 2007 where he rose through the ranks from being a news reporter , columnist, comment editor and editor of Independent Voices. He is also a devoted foodie, writing a restaurant column for The Independent on Sunday and appeared as a judge on BBC1’s Masterchef in April. Rajan was the secondary presenter on ‘The Wright Stuff’ the daytime talk show on the Five Network during its 2006-07 season. A former columnist of ‘The Salisbury Review’.

Anmol Rajan is also a volunteer youth worker with Prospex, a charity based in Islington.

Books: Anmol Rajan is a keen cricket fan and has even written a well regarded book ‘Twirlymen: Unlikely History of Cricket’s Greatest Spin Bowlers’ published by Random House in 2011.