Daya Singh Bedi

Ambassador Col. Baba Daya Singh Bedi
Chief Commissioner of Coorg State
In office 1951–1956
Preceded by	C. T. Mudaliar
Succeeded by	Position abolished
Indian Ambassador to Australia
In office 1948–1951
Indian Civil Service
In office 1937–1948
Indian Political Service
In office 1928–1937
Military  British Indian Army
In office 1921–1928
Personal details
Born	27 January 1899 Kallar, Rawalpindi
Died	1975
Spouse(s)	Bibi Anand Kaur Dhall
Children	Tika Aridaman Singh Bedi, Bibi Manmohini Kumari, Bibi Sheilla Kumari
Profession	Military, Civil Service and Indian Foreign Service
Religion	Sikh

Ambassador Lieutenant-Colonel Baba Daya Singh Bedi (1899–1975) was an Indian diplomat, Civil Servant and a Cavalry officer in the British Indian Army with the 6th Duke of Connaught's Own Lancers (Watson's Horse) who after the partition of India served as India's First High Commissioner to Australia^[1] from 1948 to 1951 and Chief Commissioner of Coorg State from 1951 to 1956.

Personal life

Daya Singh Bedi (1899-1975)^[2][3] was born to Raja Sir Gurbaksh Singh Bedi K.B.E., Kt., CLE., (1862-1946)^[4] an extremely influential Sikh spiritual and political leader who was the direct descendant, in the fifteenth place of Sri Guru Nanak, a member of the Legislative Council of the Punjab Province (British India) and the Raja of Kallar (Jagir)^[5][6] near Rawalpindi (now in Pakistan).

Daya Singh Bedi was married to Bibi Anand Kaur Dhall.^[7][8]

Career

Bedi was commissioned as a Second lieutenant in July 1921 as a King's Commissioned Indian Officer (KCIO)^[9] and rose to the rank of Lieutenant before he was transferred in September 1928 to the Indian Political Service. He was subsequently given the honorary rank of Lieutenant Colonel in 1947 during his military assignment in Nepal.

He achieved promotions from 1928 till 1937 as Political Agent (1931, Southern States and Central India) / Undersecretary (1932, States of Western India) / Assistant Commissioner in the Princely states of Rajputana (1933), Travancore (1935) and Orissa Province (1937). Bedi also had responsibilities inherited with his title in Pashtunistan and the Punjab region and he combined his professional and personal roles after the 1935 Balochistan earthquake. He served with distinction as an officer of the Indian Civil Service (British India) in the regions where his family patronage existed and had a record of reconstruction and administrative efficiency in the aftermath of the earthquake. Bedi was the Political Resident in Quetta-Pishin District till 1938, Political Resident of Loralai, Balochistan, Pakistan from 1939 to 1941, Political Resident and Deputy Commissioner of Hazara, North-West Frontier Province from 1942 to 1944, Political Agent Kurram in1945, Political Agent Orissa States from1946-47, Regional Commissioner Rajputana in1948.

At Indian independence, Bedi joined the newly formed Ministry of External Affairs and Commonwealth Relations which was later renamed Ministry of External Affairs (India) in the Indian Foreign Service department. His negotiation was instrumental in the amicable division of weapons, equipment, regiments and rights of the Gurkhas in military service and he was a signatory to the Britain-India-Nepal Tripartite Agreement.^[10] The following year in 1948 he was appointed as the Indian High Commissioner (Commonwealth) and Plenipotentiary^[11][12] to Australia and served till 1951. On his return to India, Bedi was appointed as Chief Commissioner of Coorg State where he served till 1956 when the province was dissolved and merged with the neighbouring Mysore State.

Death

On retirement, Baba Daya Singh Bedi studied Sufi poetry. He died in 1975.

References