Inner Workings of International Politics: A Behind-the-Scenes Look
Abidullah Baba
CENTRES OF POWER: MY YEARS IN THE PRIME MINISTER’S OFFICE AND SECURITY COUNCIL by By Chinmaya R. Gharekhan Rupa Publications, New Delhi, 2023, 318 pp., INR 795.00
October 2024, volume 48, No 10

Diplomacy is a vital instrument that enables countries to interact, negotiate, and collaborate with one another often shaping the course of history. Centres of Power provides invaluable insight into the functioning of the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) and the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) by charting the chequered history of both institutions. Chinmaya R Gharekhan, a diplomat, has written an engaging inside account of various details that have affected the Indian political landscape vis-à-vis its neighbours, and far-off strategic partners and adversaries.
Gharekhan began his career in the Indian Foreign Service in 1958 and had a distinguished diplomatic career.

Additionally, he worked as Joint Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in 1981–1982 for a year between two stints in the PMO, where he oversaw the section responsible for Pakistan, Iran, and Afghanistan. Based on a diary he kept after being ushered into the administrative hallways, the account is, according to Gharekhan, prepared ‘with malice towards none’.

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