Former IAS officer P R Chari passes away

Former Indian Administrative Service officer, Professor P. R. Chari, passed away here on Friday.

His final rites will be held tomorrow at the Lodi Crematorium in New Delhi.

Co-founder of the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies, Chari, was a former member of the Indian Administrative Service (1960 batch/Madhya Pradesh Cadre).

He served in several senior positions in the Central and state governments, and sought voluntary retirement in 1992 after 32 years in the government.

During the course of his official career he served two spells (1971-75 and 1985-88) in the Ministry of Defence.

His last position there was Additional Secretary.

He retired from the position of Vice-Chairman (Chief Executive) of the Narmada Valley Development Authority.

On the academic side he was Director, Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses New Delhi (1975-80); International Fellow, Centre for International Affairs, Harvard University (1983-84); Visiting Fellow, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (1998); Research Professor, Centre for Policy Research (1992-96); Co-Director and Director of the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies (IPCS) New Delhi (1996-2003).

He worked extensively on nuclear disarmament, non-proliferation and Indian security issues and published over 1400 op-ed articles in newspapers/web sites and over 130 monographs and major papers in learned journals/chapters in books abroad and in India.

He served as a Research Professor at the IPCS until his death.