Even Mars no bar for desi diplomats!

Barely three or four officers were inducted into the Indian Foreign Service (IFS) in the initial years after Independence. With periodic increases, this year the figure stands at 45.

And the recent tweet by external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj reveals a possible reason why: she has reassured a man supposedly on Mars awaiting supplies from Mangalyaan II that "even if you are stuck on the (sic) Mars, Indian Embassy there will help you". The implication is that a vanguard of doughty Indian diplomats will be stationed on the red planet by the time it becomes a regular — if inhospitable — destination for intrepid earthlings. Diplomats readily vouch that there are equally desolate places right on this planet that has Indian embassies, so Mars would not be that much of a stretch.

If planets are also to have Indian diplomats, it means larger batches every year, as Earth itself is getting more independent countries. And Indian embassies can no longer be absent from any of them as Indian citizens are present practically everywhere and there’s no telling who will tweet the next SOS from some remote place. Of course, in the case of Mars and other planetary postings, who the diplomats would deal with as part of their quotidian work is also moot, as bailing out Indians in distress is only one aspect of their responsibilities.