Ravi Joshi is an old student of Mysore University where he did his MA in Political Science in 1974 after which he went on to do his M Phil on China from the School of International Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.
He passed the Civil Services exams in 1977 and joined the Indian Ordnance Factories Service and later moved to the Ministry of Defense as Under Secretary in 1986. In August 1988 he joined the Indian external intelligence service, the Research & Analysis Wing and served there for over 25 years. He served in Mizoram from 1990 to 1992 as Deputy Commissioner, Special Bureau.
During his tenure in the R&AW, he had three diplomatic assignments: in the Maldives, Kenya and Austria. He has served on several important desks such as China, Pakistan, Russia, Central Asia, Iran and West Asia and has travelled widely in all those countries.
After his retirement he was a Visiting Fellow at the Observer Research Foundation, a prominent Think Tank in New Delhi. He contributed regularly on the political affairs of the Maldives, Iran and West Asia to the ORF as well as to several print and online newspapers such as the Economic Times, the Quint and the Open Magazine. For the last four years he has been writing a monthly column for the Deccan Herald on the national political scene.
He and his wife Meena Joshi are now settled in Mysore.
