Former foreign secretary Muchkund Dubey dies

Former foreign secretary Muchkund Dubey died at a hospital here on Wednesday due to health complications, one of his friends said. He was 90.

"He was not keeping well for the past few weeks and had been admitted at Fortis (Escorts) heart hospital in Delhi earlier this month. He had heart-related complications and also some other health issues. Prof Dubey died at the hospital today afternoon," his octogenarian friend Manoranjan Mohanty told PTI.

Dubey is survived by his wife and two daughters, he said.

The veteran diplomat served as India's foreign secretary during 1990-91. He was also India's High Commissioner to Bangladesh and the Permanent Representative to UN Organisations in Geneva.

The funeral has been planned at Lodhi Road Crematorium here Thursday evening, Mohanty said.

After retirement from foreign service, Dubey also served as the president of New Delhi-based Council for Social Development (CSD), he said.

The former foreign secretary was also considered an expert on disarmament.

He was about to complete his fifth term as the president of CSD, so he served it for about 20 years, Mohanty said.

Born in 1933 in undivided Bihar, Dubey had a Master's degree in economics from Patna University and later studied economics in Oxford and New York universities.

He had a D. Litt degree (honoris causa) from the University of Calcutta, according to his profile shared on the website of CSD.

"He had an illustrious career in the Indian Foreign Service, serving, among others, as India's High Commissioner to Bangladesh and the Permanent Representative to UN Organisations in Geneva," it reads.

After retirement from the Indian Foreign Service, he joined the Jawaharlal Nehru University as a professor where he taught for close to eight years. As an international civil servant, he served at the headquarters of both the United Nations and the UNDP.

He was the Indian Member on the Executive Board of UNESCO, Chairman of the Common School System Commission, Bihar, and Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission of Sikkim, the profile reads.

"He was a diplomat, educationist, social development thinker, and litterateur," Mohanty added.

His areas of specialisation ranged from international security and disarmament to international economic relations, and India's social and economic development to international development cooperation and world order issues.

Dubey also authored books, including "India's Foreign Policy: Coping with the Changing World".