Mani Shankar Aiyar

Mani Shankar Aiyar studied at The Doon School, St. Stephen’s College and later at Cambridge, where he was made an Honorary Fellow in 2010. He spent 26 years in the Indian Foreign Service, including a significant deputation to Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s office. He was elected three times to the Lok Sabha from Tamil Nadu and also served a six-year term in the Rajya Sabha. In 2006, he received the Outstanding Parliamentarian Award. From 2004 to 2009, he was part of the Union Cabinet, handling a range of important portfolios. He has authored nine books so far—his memoir Memoirs of a Maverick came out in August 2023, followed by The Rajiv I Knew in January 2024. The final volume of his autobiographical trilogy, A Maverick in Politics, was released in February 2025.