Primrose Raikhan (IFS), the former Indian Ambassador to Portugal (Lisbon, 2008-2011) has passed away at around 8:15 pm on 25 June 2026 at Medanta Hospital, Gurugram.
Primrose Raikhan who hailed from Talui Village was the daughter of Lt. Mazachang Raikhan, the 1st Indian Railways Service (IRS) officer from Manipur (1959), who subsequently became the Chairman of MPSC upon his retirement. Primrose Raikhan was the sister of Christiansen Raikhan, (the first woman direct recruit IAS officer of Manipur of 1978 batch), late Doctor Ngampam Raikhan (MD, AIIMS), and sister Lt. Orchid Raikhan predeceased her in 2024.
A graduate of Miranda House, Delhi University, Lt. Primrose Raikhan was the first woman from Manipur and also the first Tribal woman from the North East Region to be recruited directly as an Indian Foreign Service (IFS) Officer by the UPSC in 1975. She had her 1st bureaucratic assignment as the First Secretary at the Indian Embassy in Tokyo, Japan.
In 2008, Madam Raikhan became the 1st woman Direct Recruit IFS officer from the North East Region who was elevated as the Ambassador of India (Lisbon, Portugal).
