Edward Nirmal Mangat Rai

Edward Nirmal Mangat Rai (1915-2003) was a Punjabi Indian Christian diplomat who served as the Chief Secretary of East Punjab from 1957 to 1962 and the Chief Secretary of Jammu and Kashmir from 1964 to 1966, among holding other government positions in colonial India and independent India. Receiving an education in both India and England, Edward Nirmal Mangat Rai was a member of the Indian Civil Service. During his tenure as the Chief Secretary of East Punjab, Edward Nirmal Mangat Rai was instrumental in designing the city of Chandigarh. Edward Nirmal Mangat Rai was born on 30 March 1915, with his family hailing from Multan, Punjab, colonial India. The Mangat Rais settled in Abbottabad, North-West Frontier Province, colonial India. Edward Nirmal Mangat Rai belonged to a Punjabi family of the Khatri caste who adhered to the Christian religion. Edward Nirmal Mangat Rai's maternal grandfather Kali Charan Chatterji was a Bengali Christian of the Brahmin caste. His siblings included Charles Rajinder Mangat Rai, who later served as a Brigadier in the Indian Army, Priobala Mangat Rai, who served as the principal of Kinnaird College in Lahore, and Leena Sushiela, who married Arthur Lall, a Punjabi Christian who belonged to the Indian Civil Service and represented India at the United Nations. In Abbottabad, Edward Nirmal Mangat Rai was educated, after which he subsequently studied in St. Stephen's College in Delhi, where he earned a B.A and M.A. in History. He then studied at the Prince of Wales Royal Indian Military College in Dehra Dun. He was academically astute and "carried away just about every academic prize in his class", according to his classmate and renowned diplomat Khushwant Singh. At the Prince of Wales Royal Indian Military College, he sat for the Civil Services Examination to join the Indian Civil Service. After clearing the exam, Edward Nirmal Mangat Rai completed his probationary year at Keble College, Oxford, a constituent college of the University of Oxford, England.