Nirupama Rao Frontrunner For Foreign Secretary post - The Hindu by 'South Asian Foreign Relations'.
India's ambassador to China, Nirupama Rao, is emerging as the frontrunner for the post of foreign secretary after the current incumbent,
Shiv Shankar Menon, retires in August.

With cabinet secretary K M Chandrashekhar getting a year's extension in his current post, speculation was rife that Menon would gat an extension as well.

But after Rao met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday morning, the PMO has been abuzz with her possible selection.

If appointed, Rao will be only the second woman foreign secretary after Chokila Iyer. When he was appointed in 2006, Shiv Shankar Menon had superceded 16 officers to the post, including Veena Sikri, then India's high commissioner to Bangladesh, who then took recourse to legal action.
NEW DELHI - Nirupama Rao, India’s ambassador to China, is set to succeed Shivshankar Menon as India’s next foreign secretary.

Rao’s name has been sent for approval to the Cabinet Committee on Appointments, reliable sources told IANS. A formal announcement is expected to be made soon.

In her decades-long diplomatic career, Rao has served as India’s ambassador to Sri Lanka and Peru, deputy chief of mission in Moscow and spokesperson of the external affairs ministry.