Sabha may refer to:

in Libya:

Sabha, Libya, city in Sabha District, Libya

*Sabha Air Base, Libyan Air Force in Sabha

*Sabha Airport, an airport in Sabha

*Sabha University, a university in Sabha

*Battle of Sabha, a battle in Sabha during the 2011 Libyan civil war

Sabha Governorate, former governorate of Libya

Sabha District, one of the districts of Libya

in India:

Sabhā, Parliament of India

fr:Sabha sco:Sabha

name	Sushma Swaraj
office	Leader of Opposition (Lok Sabha)
term start	18 December 2009
predecessor	Lal Krishna Advani
constituency	Vidisha (Madhya Pradesh)
office1	Minister of Information and Broadcasting
term start1	30 September 2000
term end1	29 January 2003
primeminister1	Atal Bihari Vajpayee
office2	Chief Minister of Delhi
term start2	13 October 1998
term end2	3 December 1998
office3	Minister of Information and Broadcasting and Telecommunications
term start3	19 March 1998
term end3	12 October 1998
primeminister3	Atal Bihari Vajpayee
office4	Minister of Information and Broadcasting
term start4	16 May 1996
term end4	1 June 1996
primeminister4	Atal Bihari Vajpayee
office5	Haryana State Minister of Education, Food and Civil Supplies
term start5	1987
term end5	1990
office6	Haryana State Minister of Labour and Employment
term start6	1977
term end6	1979
birth date	February 14, 1952
birth place	Palwal, Haryana
party	Bharatiya Janata Party
alma mater	Punjab University, Chandigarh
spouse	Swaraj Kaushal
residence	New Delhi
party	Bharatiya Janata Party
profession	Lawyer
awards	Outstanding Parliamentarian Award in 2004 and 2010 }}

Sushma Swaraj () (born 14 February 1952) is an Indian politician of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)and Member of Parliament. She is currently the Leader of the Opposition in the 15th Lok Sabha. She is a former union cabinet minister of India and a former Chief Minister of Delhi. Also she served as the Chairperson of the BJP's 19 member campaign committee for the 2009 General Elections. She was the first female Chief Minister of Delhi.

Early life[link]

She was born in Palwal, Haryana. She was educated at S.D. College, Ambala Cantonment and earned a B.A. degree. She studied LL.B. from the Law Department of Punjab University, Chandigarh. She is an advocate by profession.

She has been associated with many social and cultural bodies in various capacities. She was President of the Sahitya Sammelan, Haryana for four years.

Political career[link]

Sushma Swaraj began her political career as a student leader in the 1970s, organizing protests against Indira Gandhi's government. She was a member of the Haryana Legislative Assembly from 1977–82 and then from 1987–90. As a Janata Party MLA in Devi Lal's government, she was the Cabinet Minister of Labour and Employment (1977–1979). She joined the BJP in 1980. Under a combined Lok Dal-BJP government led by Devi Lal, she was the Cabinet Minister of Education, Food and Civil Supplies (1987–1990). She was judged Best Speaker of Haryana State Assembly for three consecutive years.

In 1980, 1984, and 1989, she unsuccessfully contested the Lok Sabha elections from Karnal in Haryana. All three times, she was defeated by the Congress Party's Chiranji Lal Sharma.

She was elected as a member of the Rajya Sabha in 1990. In 1996, she was elected to the 11th Lok Sabha from South Delhi. She was Union Cabinet Minister of Information and Broadcasting in 1996, during the 13-day Atal Bihari Vajpayee Government.

She was re-elected to 12th Lok Sabha for a 2nd term in 1998. Under the second Vajpayee government, she retained the Information and Broadcasting ministry and had additional charge of the Ministry of Telecommunications from 19 March to 12 October 1998.

She left the Union Cabinet from October – December 1998 to serve as the first woman Chief Minister of Delhi. The BJP lost the assembly elections, and she returned to national politics.

In 1999, she took on a high profile as she contested against the Congress party's President, Sonia Gandhi, from the Bellary constituency in Karnatka, which had returned Congress winners since India's independence. The fervent, high-pitched campaign came to an end with the expected loss of Sushma, Gandhi polled 51.7 percent of the vote, Swaraj coming not too far behind with 44.7 percent.

She returned to Parliament in April 2000 as a Rajya Sabha member from Uttarakhand. She was re-inducted into the cabinet as the Minister of Information and Broadcasting, which she held from September 2000 until January 2003. At that time, she was made the Minister of Health and Family Welfare, and also held the post of Minister of Parliamentary Affairs. She held these posts from January 2003 until May 2004, when the National Democratic Alliance government lost elections.

In a heavily publicized and emotionally charged episode following the elections, Sushma Swaraj threatened to shave her head, don a white saree and eat groundnuts (symbolically mourning) if Sonia Gandhi, the Italian-born Congress leader, became Prime Minister of India.

She was re-elected to the Rajya Sabha in April 2006 from Madhya Pradesh. She served as the deputy leader of BJP in Rajya Sabha. Speculation ran high that Sushma Swaraj was one of the top contenders to be President of the BJP, following Advani's resignation from that role in late 2005. Rajnath Singh ultimately was elected to that post.

She won the 2009 election to the 15th Lok Sabha from the Vidisha constituency in Madhya Pradesh, on a BJP candidacy, by a highest margin of 4.01 lakh votes. This is her 10th election.

She has been awarded by Outstanding Parliamentarian Award twice.

Leader of the opposition[link]

Sushma Swaraj appointed as leader of the opposition party and replaced Lal Krishna Advani in December 2009 in the 15th Lok Sabha,

Personal life[link]

She married Swaraj Kaushal on 13 July 1975 and has a daughter.

Positions held[link]

1977–82 and 1987–90 Member, Haryana Legislative Assembly. 1977–79 Cabinet Minister, Labour and Employment, Government of Haryana. 1987–90 Cabinet Minister, Education, Food and Civil Supplies, Government of Haryana.

April 1990 Elected to Rajya Sabha

1996 Member, Eleventh Lok Sabha

16 May-1 June 1996 Union Cabinet Minister, Information and Broadcasting.

1998 Member, Twelfth Lok Sabha (2nd term)

19 March-12 Oct.1998 Union Cabinet Minister, Information and Broadcasting and Telecommunications (Additional charge)

13 Oct.-3 Dec. 1998 Chief Minister, Delhi

April 2000 Elected to Rajya Sabha (2nd term)

30 Sept. 2000–29 Jan. 2003 Minister of Information and Broadcasting

29 Jan. 2003 – 22 May 2004 Minister of Health and Family Welfare and Minister of Parliamentary Affairs

April 2006 Re-elected to Rajya Sabha (3rd term) 16 May 2009 Elected to the 15th Lok Sabha. 3 June 2009 Elected as Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha.

18 Dec 2009 Sushma Swaraj appointed as leader of the opposition party and replaced Lal Krishna Advani in December 2009.

External links [link]

Official website of BJP

References[link]

Category:People from Ambala Category:1952 births Category:Living people Category:Indian politicians Category:Bharatiya Janata Party politicians Category:Chief Ministers of Delhi Category:Indian women in politics Category:Panjab University alumni Category:People from Delhi Category:Leaders of the Opposition (India) Category:Indian Hindus Category:Indian women lawyers

hi:सुषमा स्वराज mr:सुषमा स्वराज pl:Sushma Swaraj ta:சுஷ்மா சுவராஜ் te:సుష్మాస్వరాజ్

name	Akhilesh Yadav
image size	150px
birth date	July 01, 1973
birth place	Saifai, Etawah, Uttar Pradesh
residence	Saifai, Etawah, Uttar Pradesh
office1	Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh
term start1	15 March 2012
predecessor1	Mayawati
order	|
party	Samajwadi Party
religion	Hindu
nationality	Indian
spouse	Dimple Yadav
alma mater	University of MysoreUniversity of Sydney
website
relations	Mulayam Singh Yadav (Father)Ram Gopal Yadav(Uncle)Shivpal Singh Yadav (Uncle)
children	Aditi & Tina (Daughter) Arjun (Son)
profession	Environmentalist, Politician
source	}}

Akhilesh Yadav (Hindi: अखिलेश यादव, Birth: 1 July 1973) is an Indian politician and the youngest chief minister of Uttar Pradesh. Akhilesh is the son of Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh Yadav and Malti Devi. First time he was elected to the Lok Sabha from Kannauj in a by-election of 2000. He retained his seat in the 2004 and 2009 general elections. Thus he has won the Lok Sabha elections three times since 2000. He spearheaded the campaign to bring the Samajwadi Party back to power in the U.P. Assembly election 2012.

Early life and education[link]

Akhilesh Yadav was born to Mulayam Singh Yadav and his first wife Malti Devi on 1 July 1973 in the Saifai village of Etawah district. He took his primary education from St. Mary's School, Etawah. Thereafter he studied in Dholpur Military School, Dholpur at (Rajasthan. He got Bachelor degree in Civil Engineering from Sri Jayachamarajendra College of Engineering, Mysore and later opted for a Masters in environmental engineering from the University of Sydney. Akhilesh is married to Dimple Yadav, and this couple has three children.

Akhilesh gives credit to Janeshwar Mishra who intiated him to join politics.

2012 UP assembly elections[link]

He introduced modern elements in Samajwadi party's campaigning style. In the 2012 general election he was able to provide the party with a new image. He extensively campaigned across the state holding cycle rallies and public meetings at various locations. His Rath Yatra conducted across the state was highly successful in bringing young voters and people from across all the communities into the Samajwadi party's fold. His personality was a key role in helping the Party towards a victory in U. P. Assembly Elections of 2012, with Samajwadi party winning 224 seats out of total 403. Thus Samajvadi Party being the single largest party formed the government.

Looking into his successful efforts, he was given credit for the party's rise from a meager 97 seats in the 2007 Vidhan Sabha to a total of 224 and was subsequently elected the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh by the existing MLAs of his party. He accepted the challange to change the scenario of Uttar Pradesh and became the youngest Chief Minister of this province at the age of 38 years.

References[link]

External links[link]

The Alternative

Official website of Samajwadi Party

Akhilesh Yadav Website

Category:1973 births Category:Living people Category:Indian politicians Category:People from Uttar Pradesh Category:People from Kannauj Category:14th Lok Sabha members Category:Samajwadi Party politicians Category:15th Lok Sabha members

de:Akhilesh Yadav hi:अखिलेश यादव kn:ಅಖಿಲೇಶ್ ಯಾದವ್ ml:അഖിലേഷ് യാദവ് pl:Akhilesh Yadav ta:அகிலேஷ் யாதவ்

name	Lalu Prasad Yadav
birth date	June 11, 1948
birth place	Gopalganj, Bihar)
residence	10, Circular Road, Patna25, Tuglak Road, New Delhi-11
office	Ex Minister of Railways Government of India MP-Lok Sabha
constituency	Saran
term	24 May 2004 to 22 May 2009
predecessor	Nitish Kumar
successor	Mamata Banerjee
party	RJD
religion	Hindu
spouse	Rabri Devi
alma mater	Patna University,Patna.
profession	Lawyer
website
Date	September 25 |
year	2006 |
source	Lok Sabha members' biodata }}

Lalu Prasad Yadav (Devanāgarī: लालू प्रसाद यादव) is an Indian politician from Bihar. He was the Minister of Railways from 2004 to 2009 in the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, and the President of the Rashtriya Janata Dal political party. He is a Member of Parliament in the 15th Lok Sabha from the Saran constituency in Bihar.

He entered politics during his student days at Patna University, and he was elected a member of the Lok Sabha in 1977 as a Janata party candidate. At the age of 29 he was one of its youngest members of Parliament.

He is famous for his charismatic leadership and mass appeal, and has been criticized for caste-based politics. and the corruption cases against him.

Yadav served as the Chief Minister of Bihar from 1990 till 1997, when he resigned following escalating corruption charges in the Fodder Scam. From 1997 to 2005, with brief interruptions, his wife Rabri Devi was the Chief Minister. Her political opponents often accused her as having served as his "surrogate." His tenure as Chief Minister of the state has been criticized for lawlessness and has been termed as the Jungle Raj.

Biography[link]

Shri Lalu Prasad Yadav was born at Gopalganjj in Bihar. His father's name is Late Shri Yadav Kundan Rai and his mother's name Late Shrimati Marchiya Devi He is a lawyer by education. He holds Bachelor's degree in Law (LLB) and a Masters in Political Science from B. N. College, Patna, Patna University. He turned down Patna University's Honorary Doctorate in 2004. Lalu Prasad Yadav had his schooling, from 1st standard to 7th standard, at Bihar Military Police No-5 middle school.Yadav married Rabri Devi on June 1, 1973. They have seven daughters and two sons.

Lalu Prasad Yadav served as the Chief Minister of Bihar two times first for a term for 10 March 1990 to 3 April 1995 and then for a brief term for 4 April 1995 to 25 July 1997. Lalu Prasad Yadav also served as the Railway Minister of India for a term for 2004 to 2009. He is Member of Parliament for Saran(Chhapra) and National President of Rashtriya janata Dal (RJD).

Political career[link]

Lalu Prasad Yadav entered politics as General Secretary of the Patna University Students' Union in 1970. He led the student movement inspired by Jai Prakash Narayan, Raj Narain, Karpoori Thakur and Satyendra Narayan Sinha. The former Chief Minister of Bihar and the then President of Bihar State Janata Party, Satyendra Narayan Sinha supported him as a candidate for the Lok Sabha and campaigned for him. He was elected as a member of the 9th Lok Sabha on a Janata Party ticket at the age 29, becoming one of the youngest members of the Indian Parliament at the time.

In a span of 10 years, Yadav became a formidable force in Bihar State Politics. During the Indian general elections in 1989 and state assembly elections, he successfully led the National Front coalition in Bihar. It was, therefore, no surprise that he was elected the Chief Minister leaving behind Ram Sundar Das, a former chief minister from the same party, when it came to power in the 1990 Assembly elections. The World Bank lauded his party for its work in the 1990s on the economic front.

A report was published by the BBC news in 1996 according to which the police unearthed a Rs. 950 crore (US$ 267 Million), Fodder Scam in Bihar, which allegedly involved Yadav and the State's leading bureaucrats and politicians, albeit the probe itself was ordered by him. He claimed it to be an Opposition conspiracy to stop his political growth. The fodder scam forced Yadav to resign from the office of Chief Minister and he made his wife, Rabri Devi, his successor as the state's Chief Minister.

Rashtriya Janata Dal[link]

Yadav formed the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) in 1997, after breaking away from the Janata Dal. According to Limca Book of Records, he is the longest serving president of an Indian Political Party. He remained in power in Bihar for more than one and a half decades. In November 2005 elections, his party, the RJD, could win just 54 seats, which put his party in third place, after the Janata Dal United (JDU) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Nitish Kumar led coalition, consisting of JD(U) and BJP, came to power. In the 2010 elections, RJD tally was reduced to just 22 seats whereas the ruling alliance claimed a record 206 out of the 243 Assembly seats.

Tenure as a Union Minister[link]

Yadav was elected to the 14th Lok Sabha from Chhapra and Madhepura seats of Bihar. He was able to defeat the high profile BJP leader Rajiv Pratap Rudy from Chhapra and the JD(U) president Sharad Yadav from Madhepura. He became the railway minister in the UPA Government. Later, he gave up the Madhepura seat.

Yadav banned plastic cups from being used to serve tea at railway stations and ordered that they be replaced by ''kulhar''s (earthen cups), to generate more employment in rural areas. Later, he also said that he had plans to introduce buttermilk and khādī. In June 2004, he announced that he would get on the railway himself to inspect its problems and went on to board the Patna railway station at midnight.

When he took over, the Indian Railways was a loss-making organization. In the 4 years under his leadership, it made a cumulative total profit of Rs. 25,000 crores (US $5.2 billion).

He left passenger fares untouched and found several other profitable sources of revenue for the Railways. He also improved on his first year's performance by stating a profit of 14,000 crores with decreased freight and unchanged passenger fares in 2006. Then, in the 2007 budget, he increased the profit level to 20,000 crores with the introduction of cushion seats in all unreserved compartments. In 2008, profits were 25,000 crores (equals US $6.25 billion @ $1~Rs.40)

Well known schools of management were interested in Yadav's leadership in managing the turnaround (with more or less the same IAS officers & the same workforce who worked under the previous ministers). He went to and addressed over a hundred students from Harvard, Wharton and others in Hindi. He has received invitations from 8 Ivy League schools for lectures. The turnaround of the Indian Railways is now being studied by the students of the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad. Prof G. Raghuram, a faculty member, IIM-A, has already conducted a detailed study on the Railways turnaround.

In August 2008, CNN-IBN alleged that Yadav had misused his position as the Union Railway Minister to help his relatives acquire land. Earlier Railway ministers and his political opponents Mamata Banerjee & Nitish Kumar have raised doubts over Lalu's achievements.

In popular culture[link]

Recently, a very popular book "Garibon ke Masiha Evam Jan Nayak - Lalu Prasad Yadav" was launched by renowned author and writer Sri Sanjay Suman .Yadav has a sizable fan following in Bollywood, which includes actors Sunil Shetty and Raza Murad and directors Mahesh Manjrekar and Mahesh Bhatt to name a few. Indian actor turned politician Shatrughan Sinha, who is a political opponent of Yadav, once said, "Had Yadav not been a politician he could have been an actor". Mahesh Bhatt has gone to the extent of saying that Yadav deserves to become Prime Minister of India. A Bollywood movie titled ''Padmashree Laloo Prasad Yadav'' was released in 2004. Though his name appeared in the title, the movie was not about him, but had characters named ''Padmashreee'', ''Laloo'', ''Prasad'' and ''Yadav'', however the politician made a guest appearance in it.

These incidences are viewed by some people as an attempt by the mainstream media to make deliberate fun of Yadav's accent although the movie was not a big hit.

Criticisms and controversies[link]

Corruption allegations[link]

Yadav has been charged in several corruption cases, the most infamous being the "Fodder Scam" in which about Rs. 950 crores (US $211.85 million) were siphoned off from the animal husbandry department. Laloo Yadav has been an accused in many of the 63-odd cases filed. He has been remanded to custody on multiple occasions because of the number of cases. Over 64 people have been convicted in the case.

Yadav was first sent to "Judicial remand" (Bihar Military Police guest house, Patna) on July 30, 1997, for 134 days. On October 28, 1998, he was again sent to the same guest house for 73 days. When the Supreme Court of India took exception to his guest house stay, he had also moved to the Beur jail in Patna. He was later remanded for 11 days on April 5, 2000, in a disproportionate assets case. He surrendered along with his wife, Rabri Devi, and was sent to the Beur Jail. Due to the proceedings in the fodder scam, Yadav was remanded for a day in Beur jail on November 28, 2000.

On November 26, 2001, Yadav was again remanded, in a case related to the fodder scam. He accused the NDA of creating a conspiracy against him. On October 1, 2004, the Supreme Court of India served a notice to Yadav and his wife, Rabri Devi, on the fodder scam. This was in response to a petition, which alleged that they have been interfering with late in the investigation. Since Laloo Yadav is currently a member of the Union Government at Delhi, the CBI has been accused of dragging its feet on the issue.

Accusations against the BJP[link]

On August 5, 2004, Yadav claimed that L. K. Advani, a senior BJP leader and the Leader of the Opposition was an accused in a conspiracy to kill Muhammad Ali Jinnah and described him as an 'international absconder'. On September 14, 2004, Lalu asked L. K. Advani to come clean on 'his involvement' in the alleged conspiracy to assassinate the founder of Pakistan, Mohammed Ali Jinnah.

On September 28, 2004, Lalu alleged Mr. Venkaiah Naidu, the then Union Rural Minister, of having sold 55,000 tonnes of wheat in the name of drought relief distribution in AP. "A CBI probe will be initiated to find the truth" he said.

Lalu's favour for his brothers-in-law[link]

Although he has maintained a good relationship with the media and they were showing his holy parade in the chief minister's house in patna and the pictures of cows he owned and feed on govt. money just to get sheer publicity from the lower section of the society and the onion bread drama to cheer the lower section without any benefit to them from govt. But when media stopped giving him bed publicity he started crying against media and times he has accused the media of being unfair, going so far as to threaten to sue certain media outlets for defamation. Although the Media bias, he and his supporters mainly two brother in laws are notoriously famous in the city for capturing girls and the property of the people in patna and his tenure as the chief minister of bihar is also termed as Jungal Raj ( Uncivilised Kingdom). the most recent being the last Bihar State Assembly Elections he lost all the seats and even his most favourite constituency, one thing is noted that when he won the second and third election in bihar he said that the Jinn (divine Soul) came out of the ballet box and gave him the vote although the mandate of the state was different.

Positions held[link]

1977: Elected to the 6th Lok Sabha at the age of 29.

1980–1989: Member of the Bihar Legislative Assembly (two terms).

1989: Becomes the leader of Opposition, Bihar Legislative Assembly, Chairman, Pustakalaya Committee, Convenor, Committee on Public Undertakings, Re-elected to the 9th Lok Sabha (2nd term).

1990–1995: Member of the Bihar Legislative Council.

1990–1997: Chief Minister of Bihar.

1995–1998: Member of the Bihar Legislative Assembly.

1996: Lalu's name springs up in a major scam.

1997: parts with the Janata Dal and forms the Rashtriya Janata Dal.

1998: Re-elected to 12th Lok Sabha (3rd term).

1998–1999: Member, General Purposes Committee, Committee on Home Affairs and its Sub Committee on Swatantrata Sainik Samman Pension Scheme, Consultative Committee, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.

2004: Re-elected to the 14th Lok Sabha (4th term). Appointed Cabinet Minister in the Ministry of Railways. In 2004, he was elected to the Lok Sabha with his party emerging as a key member of the UPA.

2009: Re-elected to the 15th Lok Sabha (5th term).

See also[link]

List of Chief Ministers of Bihar

List of politicians in India charged with corruption

References and footnotes[link]

External links[link]

{{s-ttl | title = Minister of Railways| | years = 25 May 2004 – 18 May 2009}} {{s-ttl | title = Chief Minister of Bihar| | years = 1990–1997}}

Category:1947 births Category:Living people Category:Indian politicians Category:Chief Ministers of Bihar Category:People from Bihar Category:14th Lok Sabha members Category:Rashtriya Janata Dal politicians Category:Finance Ministers of Bihar Category:15th Lok Sabha members Category:Railway Ministers of India Category:V. P. Singh administration

bn:লালুপ্রসাদ যাদব bh:लालू प्रसाद यादव de:Lalu Prasad Yadav hi:लालू प्रसाद यादव ml:ലാലു പ്രസാദ് യാദവ് mr:लालू प्रसाद यादव ne:लालू प्रसाद यादव sv:Laloo Prasad Yadav ta:லாலு பிரசாத் யாதவ் te:లాలూ ప్రసాద్ యాదవ్ ur:لالو پرساد یادو

Name	Pranab Mukherjee
Office	Minister of Finance
Primeminister	Manmohan Singh
Term start	24 January 2009
Predecessor	Manmohan Singh
Primeminister2	Indira GandhiRajiv Gandhi
Term start2	15 January 1982
Term end2	31 December 1984
Predecessor2	Ramaswamy Venkataraman
Successor2	Vishwanath Pratap Singh
Office3	Minister of External Affairs
Primeminister3	Manmohan Singh
Term start3	24 October 2006
Term end3	23 May 2009
Predecessor3	Manmohan Singh
Successor3	Somanahalli Mallaiah Krishna
Primeminister4	Narasimha Rao
Term start4	10 February 1995
Term end4	16 May 1996
Predecessor4	Dinesh Singh
Successor4	Atal Bihari Vajpayee
Office5	Minister of Defence
Primeminister5	Manmohan Singh
Term start5	22 May 2004
Term end5	26 October 2006
Predecessor5	George Fernandes
Successor5	Arackaparambil Kurien Antony
Office6	Deputy Chairperson of the Planning Commission
Primeminister6	Narasimha Rao
Term start6	24 June 1991
Term end6	15 May 1996
Predecessor6	Mohan Dharia
Successor6	Madhu Dandavate
Office7	Lok Sabha representative from Jangipur, West Bengal
Term start7	10 May 2004
Term end7	incumbant
Birth date	December 11, 1935
Birth place	Mirati, British Raj (now India)
Party	Indian National Congress (Before 1986; 1989–present)
Otherparty	Rashtriya Samajwadi Congress (1986–1989)
Spouse	Suvra Mukherjee
Alma mater	University of Calcutta
Profession	Social workerTeacherWriter
Religion	Hinduism
Website	Pranab Mukherjee }}

Pranab Kumar Mukherjee (born 11 December 1935, Mirati; West Bengal, India) is the current Finance Minister of India and leader of the current (15th) Lok Sabha.

Mukherjee is a senior member of the Cabinet Committees on Economic Affairs, Infrastructure, Parliamentary Affairs, Political Affairs, Prices, Security, Unique Identification Authority of India, World Trade Organization, and heads the Group of Ministers Committee on the Dabhol dispute. He is a member of the Congress Working Committee (CWC), the highest decision-making body of the Indian National Congress.

Early life[link]

His father Kamada Kinkar Mukherjee was a member of AICC, and West Bengal Legislative Council (1952–64), and President, District Congress Committee, Birbhum (WB). He attended the Suri Vidyasagar College, Suri (Birbhum), then affiliated with the University of Calcutta.

He holds a Master of Arts degrees in History and Political Science & has a degree in law from the University of Calcutta. He has been an advocate and a college teacher in his long public career. In 2011 he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Letters degree by University of Wolverhampton.

Professional career[link]

Mukherjee began his career as a college-teacher and later as a journalist. He worked for noted Bengali publication ''Desher Dak'' (Call of Motherland). He also became trustee of Bangiya Sahitya Parishad and later President of Nikhil Bharat Banga Sahitya Sammelan.

Political career[link]

He has a parliamentary career of over four decades, which began as a member of Rajya Sabha (upper house) from the Congress Party in 1969; he was re-elected in 1975, 1981, 1993 and 1999. In 1973, he joined the cabinet as Union Deputy Minister, Industrial Development. He rose through a series of cabinet posts to become the Finance Minister of India from 1982 to 1984. His term was noted for India not withdrawing the last billion instalment of an IMF loan. Dr. Manmohan Singh was serving Reserve Bank of India as Governor during Pranab's term as Finance Minister. He was not included in Rajiv Gandhi's cabinet after Lok Sabha election held subsequent to Indira Gandhi's assassination. He was pushed out of the Congress party for a brief period, and during this period he formed his own political party Rashtriya Samajwadi Congress, but later merged it with Congress party in 1989 after settlement with Rajiv Gandhi. His political career revived when P.V. Narasimha Rao chose to appoint him as deputy chairman of the planning commission and subsequently as a union cabinet minister. He served as External Affairs Minister for the first time from 1995 to 1996 in Rao's cabinet. In 1997 he was voted Outstanding Parliamentarian.

He was the President of the West Bengal state unit of Congress since 1985, but resigned in July 2010 due to work-load and was succeeded by Manas Bhunia. In 2004, when the Congress formed a government at the head of a coalition the new Congress Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was only a Rajya Sabha MP. So Pranab Mukherjee was made Leader of the House in the Lok Sabha when he won the Lok Sabha elections for the first time from Jangipur (Lok Sabha constituency). He also has the distinction of being a Minister for various high profile Ministries including Defence, Finance, External Affairs, Revenue, Shipping, Transport, Communication, Economic Affairs, Commerce and Industry. He also heads the Congress Parliamentary Party and the Congress Legislative Party which consists of all the Congress MPs and MLAs in the country apart from being Leader of the House in Lok Sabha, Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee President and the Union Cabinet Minister of Finance in the Council of Ministers under Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the Congress-led Government. Pranab played crucial role in steering the Cabinet pre Lok Sabha elections when the Prime Minister underwent by-pass surgery by taking additional charges as chairman of the Cabinet Committee Of Political Affairs and Union Minister in Finance Ministry despite already being Union Minister of External Affairs.

International role[link]

Mukherjee and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice signed the Section 123 Agreement on October 10, 2008. He has been a member of the Board of Governors of the International Monetary Fund, of the World Bank, of the Asian Development Bank, and of the African Development Bank.

In 1984, he chaired the Group of 24 attached to the IMF and World Bank. Between May and November 1995, he presided over the SAARC Council of Ministers Conference.

He was the first appointed by the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, to ease issues over the campaign initiated by Anna Hazare on day 8 of his fast, that is 23 August 2011.

Political party role[link]

Mukherjee is very well respected within the party social circles." Other media accounts describe him as having "a reputation as a number-crunching politician with a phenomenal memory and an unerring survival instinct."

After Sonia Gandhi reluctantly agreed to join politics, Mukherjee was one of her key mentors, guiding her through difficult situations with examples of how her mother-in-law, Indira Gandhi would have done things. Mukherjee's unfailing loyalty and competence have led to his closeness to Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh, and helped him gain the position of Minister of Defence when the party came to power in 2004.

He has also held the position of Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission from 1991 to 1996.

His talents were on display during the negotiations for the Patent's Amendment Bill in early 2005. The Congress was committed to passing an IP bill, but their allies in the United Progressive Alliance from the Left front had a long tradition of opposing some of the monopoly aspects of intellectual property. Pranab Mukherjee, as Defence Minister, was not formally involved but was roped in for his negotiation skills. He drew on many old alliances including the CPI-M leader Jyoti Basu, and formed new intermediary positions, which included product patent and little else. Then he had to convince his own colleagues including commerce minister Kamal Nath, at one point saying: "An imperfect legislation is better than no legislation." Finally the bill was approved on March 23, 2005.

Foreign Minister: October 2006[link]

On 24 October 2006, he was appointed as the External Affairs Minister of India. His replacement in the Defence Ministry is A. K. Antony, a senior Congress Party politician and former Chief Minister of the southern state of Kerala.

Mukherjee was briefly considered for the post of the largely ceremonial Indian presidency. But his name was subsequently dropped after his contribution in the Union Cabinet was considered practically indispensable. Among Mukherjee's current legacy was the successful signing of the U.S.-India Civil Nuclear Agreement with the US government and then with the Nuclear Suppliers Group, allowing India to participate in civilian nuclear trade in spite of not having signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. He is also awarded the Padma Vibhushan, India's second highest civilian honor in 2007.

Finance Minister[link]

Pranab Mukherjee's first stint as the Finance minister of India was during the Indira Gandhi government in 1982. He presented his first annual budget in 1982-83. In the second government of Manmohan Singh, he again became the Finance Minister of India, a job he had held earlier, in the 1980s. On July 6, 2009, he presented the government's annual budget. In it, he announced many tax reforms, such as the scrapping of the 'irritant' Fringe Benefits Tax and the Commodities Transaction Tax. He announced, that the Finance Ministry, was well on track, to implement the Goods and Services Tax, a tax, that has been praised by major corporate executives, and economists. He also expanded funding for social sector schemes, like the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, girl's literacy, and health care. Also, he expanded infrastructure programmes, like the National Highway Development Programme, expansion of electricity coverage, and the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission. However, many people, expressed concern, about the rising fiscal deficit, the highest since 1991. Mukherjee said, that the expansion in government spending was only temporary, and he said that the government, was committed to the principle of fiscal prudence. He presented the 2009 Union budget of India as well as 2010 Union budget of India and the 2011 budget.

The 2010-11 budget includes the country's first explicit target to cut public debt as a proportion of GDP and he is targeting a budget deficit reduction to 4.1% of GDP in fiscal year 2012-13, from 6.5% in 2008-09.

Contender for President[link]

After his unsatisfied wish to become the Prime Minister of India, Pranab Mukherjee is considered as an eligible candidate for the President of India. The elections are happening in July 2012 after the five-states scheduled elections. The current Vice-President of India Hamid Ansari is expected to contest against Pranab Mukherjee in the elections.

Views and opinions[link]

On corruption[link]

In an interview to rediff.com in 1998, he was asked about the sleaze in the Congress government, in which he was the Minister for External Affairs. He replied: :Corruption is an issue. We have dealt with it in the manifesto. But I am sorry to say that these scams are not confined to the Congress or the Congress government alone. There are so many scams. So many leaders of various political parties are involved in them. So it would be too simplistic to say that the Congress government was involved in scams.

Controversies, allegations and accusations[link]

Mukherjee was a Minister in Indira Gandhi's Cabinet during the infamous Emergency and was held by many to be personally responsible for some of the excesses. He was summoned before the Shah Commission but followed Mrs. Gandhi's lead in refusing to resign before it. A police case was registered against him which was withdrawn when Mrs. Gandhi returned to power.

S. Gurumurthy and Arun Shourie exposed how Pranab Mukerjee, the then Finance Minister of India helped Reliance Industries against Bombay Dyeing through differential taxation by influencing the Income Tax Department in textile industry. As a result Bombay Dyeing was almost decimated.

Mukherjee was involved in handling Taslima Nasreen's house arrest in Delhi, as the Foreign Minister. Dealing with a situation involving her expulsion for Kolkata, anger from Islamic radicals, and her protection in a safehouse, Mukherjee received criticism for actions leading to Nasreen's eventual departure from India in March 2008.

He has also been accused of threatening banks if they invest in Gujarat by sending the Income Tax Department sleuths after them, a state governed by the Bharatiya Janata Party

Personal life[link]

Pranab Mukherjee married Suvra Mukherjee on July 13, 1957 and has two sons, Abhijit and Indrajit and a daughter. He is inspired by Deng Xiaoping & has quoted him quite frequently. His hobbies are reading, gardening and music.

Honours, awards and international recognition[link]

In 1984, he was rated as the best Finance Minister of the World according to a survey of Euromoney magazine. In 2010 he was awarded "Finance Minister of the Year for Asia" by ''Emerging Markets'', the daily newspaper of record for the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). In December 2010 ''The Banker'' recognised him as "Finance Minister of the Year" after making significant inroads into budget deficit reduction, throughout a turbulent year.

! Year !! Name !! Awarding organization !! Ref.
2011	Best Administrator in India Award	K. Karunakaran Foundation.
2008	Padma Vibhushan	President of India.
1997	Outstanding Parliamentarian Award	Indian Parliamentary Group.

References[link]

External links[link]

Pranab Mukherjee – ''Official website''

Parliamentary profile at India.gov.in

Pranab Mukherjee collected news and commentary at ''The Times of India''

Pranab denies UPA penalising non-Congress Governments

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Category:14th Lok Sabha members Category:1935 births Category:Bengali politicians Category:Defence Ministers of India Category:Finance Ministers of India Category:Indian Hindus Category:Indian politicians Category:Living people Category:Members of the Cabinet of India Category:Ministers for External Affairs of India Category:People from Birbhum district Category:People from Kolkata Category:Recipients of the Outstanding Parliamentarian Award Category:Recipients of the Padma Vibhushan Category:University of Calcutta alumni

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