Bhopal: San Diego, a city in California has dedicated July 20 to an IPS officer from Madhya Pradesh and observes the day as 'Manish Shankar Sharma' Day since 2015.
The honour was conferred by the then San Diego Mayor Kevin L Faulconer for his initiatives to portray a positive image of India along with strengthening Indo-US relationship. Senior IPS officer Sharma, currently serving as additional director general of police said he had gone to San Diego for a higher education fellowship programme of Madhya Pradesh Police on international security and public policy. During his two and a half year stay there he started interacting with people and discussed on issues pertaining to India.
Recalling his journey Sharma, the 1992-batch IPS officer said, "There was a time when people considered India to be a country of snake charmers. People had a conception that we impose restrictions on our womenfolk and do not allow them to venture outdoor. Whenever I took part in discussions I tried to negate such misconceptions with examples of how we have had women as prime minister, chief minister, president and in other important positions."
When Sharma was supposed to return to India, a farewell was organised for him by San Diego Mayor. The Mayor felicitated him and announced observing July 20 as 'Manish Shankar Sharma' Day, he added. Every year on this day, Sharma receives greetings and wishes from people in San Diego.
Sharma said till now he has visited 55 countries and loves interacting with the local community apart from work. "At one time people used to wonder how India could conduct nuclear tests. When India conducted nuclear tests in 1998, I was in abroad. Nobody could believe that we actually did it. Today, when we launched Chandrayaan-3 mission, no one has an iota of doubt about India's capability. This is how things have changed in the last 10 to 12 years," Sharma said.
Sharma worked in Bosnia and Herzegovina under the United Nations Mission in the year 1997 to 1998 and trained the local police officers there. He has also served as the director of security, Airport authority and Tea Board of India. Also he has been a member of the Board of Directors of the San Diego World Affairs Council. He was conferred the Certificate of Special Congressional award from the US House of Representatives.
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Sharma's father had served as the chief secretary in the Government of Madhya Pradesh and former Assembly Speaker Dr Sitasharan Sharma is his uncle. He studied at Daly College in Indore and did his MBA from Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani.
Shankar also holds a Masters degree in International Security, Counter Terrorism and Public Policy from the University of California. Hailing from Narmadapuram (erstwhile Hoshangabad) he worked as SP in Raisen, Satna, Chhindwara and Khandwa districts of the state.
