Chandrika Prasad Srivastava


Chandrika Prasad Srivastava KCMG, ComIH, IAS was a retired Indian civil servant, international administrator and diplomat.

Biography

C.P. Srivastava was born on 8 July 1920 and was educated in Lucknow, India. He started his career as a civil servant in India, entering the Indian Administrative Service, becoming a Joint Secretary to the Indian Prime Minister's office from 1964–1966, during the premiership of Lal Bahadur Shastri.
C.P. Srivastava became the first chief executive of the Shipping Corporation of India and in 1974 was elected to serve as the Secretary-General of the International Maritime Organization, a United Nations agency based in London, serving successive four-year terms as Secretary-General from 1974 to 1989. During this time he played a pioneering role in the establishment of the in Italy, and the in Malta. He was also the first Chancellor of the Sweden-based World Maritime University which was founded in 1983 to address a pressing need for maritime professionals in the developing world.

Awards

Academic honours

C.P. Srivastava was married to Nirmala Srivastava, the founder of Sahaja Yoga - a spiritual movement, based on an experience called "Self-realization". C.P. Srivastava has stated that: "his life has been greatly influenced by his wife and he has been motivated by her vision of one Almighty God and one human family". He has been motivated by this vision in all aspects of his life and believes it can be applied worldwide.
The couple had two daughters, Kalpana Srivastava and Sadhana Varma.

Relationship to Sahaja Yoga

Sir C.P. Srivastava practised Sahaja Yoga, he has said it changes people from the core. He has described Sahaja Yoga practitioners as being miracles of transformation and displaying an angelic quality. He believed that the rapid spread of Sahaja Yoga is very important for the world.