Virendra Dayal

Virendra Dayal (born 29January1935) is a retired Indian Administrative Service officer and United Nations civil servant who served as Chef de Cabinet to Secretary General of the United Nations for more than a decade. He has served as the director of the Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs of the United Nations and as the special envoy who probed the allegations levelled against a number of India politicians including Natwar Singh, a former Minister of External affairs, in the Paul Volcker Committee report of 2005. A former Indian Administrative Service officer and a Rhodes Scholar of 1956 Dayal sat on the National Human Rights Commission of India as a member for twoterms from 1998 to 2006. The Government of India awarded him the thirdhighest civilian honour of the Padma Bhushan, in 1992, for his contributions to society.

Early and personal life Born on 29January1935 in the Allahabad district of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, Subsequently, he graduated from St. Stephen's College at the University of Delhi in 1954 and continued there to secure his master's degree (MA) in history in 1956. He was selected for the Rhodes Scholarship for the year, At the centre, he was posted as a director in the now erstwhile Ministry of Community Development and Cooperation, a post he held till 1965 when he moved to the United Nations.

United Nations days Dayal's career at the United Nations (UN) started at the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and a year later, he was appointed as the chief of the UHCR's Asia Desk at Geneva. In 1968, he was promoted as Deputy Regional Representative and in 1971, he became Regional Representative when he was a member of the UNHCR Focal Point Team, working for the rehabilitation of refugees who fled to India during the 1971 Bangladesh genocide. and three years later, he became Chef de Cabinet to Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, fifthSecretary-General of the United Nations. but, Dayal's nomination was blocked by the United States due to opposition from Ronald Reagan, the country's president. On this Dayal commented:

Japanese diplomat and academic, Sadako Ogata, was eventually appointed to the post of United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

Post-United Nations career Dayal returned to India in 1993 and soon was included in the Indian delegation to the Vienna Conference on Human Rights of June1993 which precipitated the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action. his term was extended by the president for a further of fiveyears in 1998. His stint with NHRC allowed him to be a part of committees such as the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, the International Coordinating Committee of National Human Rights Institutions and the Asia Pacific Forum and to attend several international conferences on human rights, which included the World Conference against Racism of 2001, held in Durban, South Africa.

In 2004, the Paul Volcker Committee set up by Kofi Annan, then Secretary-General of the United Nations, reported that some Indian politicians were beneficiaries in the Iraq Oil-for-Food Programme, in repose to this, the Government of India set up a machinery with Dayal, as a special envoy, to liaise with the United Nations agencies and probe the alleged involvement of Indian politicians including Natwar Singh, Minister of External Affairs at the time. He reportedly submitted fournotes of his findings in 2005 and 2006, based on 1,200pages of documents received from the United Nations, but, the reports were never published as the Supreme Court of India, after protracted litigation, accepted the contention of the Prime Minister's Office that the contents could only be used for investigation of possible violations of law.

Honours

Dayal was conferred the Padma Bhushan, India's thirdhighest civilian honour, for his contributions in the field of civil service by the president of India in the year 1992. Dayal was a member of the UN Focal Point Team of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees which was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1981 for its efforts in handling the refugee crisis in the wake of the 1971Bangladesh genocide.