The Association, with the co-operation of the Foreign Service Institute of the Ministry of External Afairs and the family of Late Ambassador Bimal Sanyal, a distinguished member of the Service, administers the award of (i) the “Ambassador Bimal Sanyal Memorial Prize" - for the Best IFS Officer Trainee each year and (ii) “Ambassador Bimal Sanyal Memorial Medal" for the Best dissertation amongst the Officer Trainees of that batch.
The medals have been made possible through a corpus established in 1991 by the family of Late Ambassador Sanyal.
The late Ambassador Sanyal served from 1948 to 1976, having earlier served in the Indian Navy. Fondly remembered by all his colleagues, he was a sincere and hardworking diplomat who pioneered many firsts in the service. He was the very first Secretary(ER) in the Ministry of External Affairs exclusively entrusted with ‘Economic Relations’ as a tool of diplomacy – that has since become a mantra for modern day diplomacy.
After retirement, he served as the first Secretary General of the Association of Iron Ore Exporting Countries, based in Geneva.
Originally, the competition for the Ambassador Sanyal Medal was open to all serving IFS officers, but since 2001 are being awarded to winners from amongst the graduating IFS Officer Trainees at the FSI.
Thereafter, till 2010, two medals were awarded annually, namely, "Ambassador Bimal Sanyal Memorial Gold Medal”, for the Best Officer Trainee and "Ambassador Bimal Sanyal Memorial Silver Medal”, for the Best Dissertation.
Since 2011, the Gold medal for the Best Probationer is being awarded by the Ministry of External Affairs. Hence, an "Ambassador Bimal Sanyal Memorial Prize” consisting of a book voucher worth Rs. 4,000 for the Best Officer Trainee and an "Ambassador Bimal Sanyal Memorial Gold/Silver Medal”, for the Best Dissertation is being awarded by the Association.
