MEA tells States not to ‘intrude’ into foreign affairs after Kerala appoints senior officer for ‘external cooperation’

Days after the Kerala government appointed senior IAS officer K. Vasuki as an officer in charge of ‘external cooperation’, the Ministry of External Affairs on Thursday reminded the State governments that they should not “intrude” into domains that are beyond the “Constitutional jurisdiction” of the States. “The Constitution of India under the 7th Schedule list 1 - Union list, item 10, clearly specifies that foreign affairs and all matters which bring the Union into relation with any foreign country, are the sole prerogative of the Union Government,” said Official Spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs Randhir Jaiswal in response to a question. The Kerala government had on July 15 appointed Ms. Vasuki as “secretary in charge of matters concerning “external cooperation”. Kerala’s decision to have an officer to deal with “external cooperation” was evidently focussed on the diaspora of Kerala, foreign investment and other issues that are relevant to the State however, the MEA clarified that the domain of foreign policy formulation is beyond the reach of the state administrations saying: “It is not a Concurrent subject and definitely not a State subject.