Alok Ranjan Jha, born on 10 August 1972 in Bettiah, Bihar, India, grew up in New Delhi and pursued his studies in Political Science at Delhi University and Jawaharlal Nehru University. Before joining the Indian Foreign Service in 2002, he taught Political Science at Hindu College, Delhi University. Over the years, he has held several important positions in Indian Diplomatic Missions abroad and at the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi. Following his training at the Ministry (2002–2004), he served as Third Secretary at the Embassy of India in Paris (2004–2005) and as Second Secretary in Dakar, Senegal (2005–2008), where he handled political, economic, commercial, and cultural affairs. From 2008 to 2011, he was Under Secretary at the Ministry of External Affairs, focusing on administration and human resource matters, and later served as Deputy Secretary (2011–2015), overseeing India’s relations with East and Southern African countries.