Mukherjee (Bengali: মুখার্জি Mukharji), Mookerjee or Mukerji or Mukherji is a Bengali surname, common among residents of the Indian state of West Bengal. The traditional Bengali version is মুখোপাধ্যায়, which is sometimes written Mukhopadhyay, which is alternately spelled as Mookerjee or Mukerji. According to the Indian caste system, Mukherjees have traditionally belonged to the Kulin Brahmin group and along with Chatterjee, Banerjee, and Ganguly, constitute the top rank of the Bengali Brahmin caste.

Origins[link]

All Mukherjees belong to the Bharadwaj Gotra or the clan of Rishi Bharadwaj. The Mukherjees belong to the Kulin Brahmin class and are also classified as Radh Brahmins. The origins of most Brahmins in Southern Bengal was the Gangetic plains of Northern India, chiefly Kanauj. The Mukherjees, along with Banerjees, Chatterjees and Gangulys moved on to settle on the western banks of the Bhagirathi river in Southern Bengal during the reign of the Sena Dynasty of Bengal. This region is known as Radh or Radh Bhoomi, leading to these clans of Brahmins being categorized as Radh Brahmins.

For several decades from the 1970s to the 1990s, the West Bengal Higher Secondary board mandatorily changed all spelling variants (Mukherjee, Mukerjee, Mookerji etc.) to Mukhopadhyay (as was done with Bannerjee, Ganguly, etc.)

Historical and Traditional accounts[link]

The earliest historically verifiable presence of brahmins in Bengal can be ascertained from Dhanaidaha copper-plate inscription of Kumargupta 1 of the Gupta Year 113 (433 C.E.) which records the grant of land to a brahmin named Varahasvamin of the Samavedi school.^[1] A copper-plate grant from the Gupta period found in the vicinity of Somapura mentions a Brahmin donating land to a Jain vihara at Vatagohali. Literary sources like Ramayana, Mahabharata, Jain and Buddhist works, however record the presence of brahmins in various parts of Bengal during earlier periods.^[2] Historical evidence also attests significant presence of Brahmins in Bengal during the Maurya period. The Jain Acharya Bhadrabahu, regarded to be the preceptor of Chandragupta Maurya is said to have been born in Brahmin family of Pundravardhana ( or Puṇḍra, the region north of the Ganges and west of Brahmaputra in Bengal, later known as Vārendra). Such evidences suggest Puṇḍra or Vārendra and regions west of Bhagirathi (called Radha in ancient age) to be seats of brahmins from ancient times; Rādhi and Varendra are still chief branches of Bengali brahmins settled in these regions.^[3] Medium to large scale migrations of Brahmins from various parts of India like Kanyakubja region, Kolancha, southern India and Pushkar in Rajasthan, among other places, occurred from time to time, especially during Pala and Sena periods.^[4]

Traditionally, Bengali brahmins are divided into the following categories:^[2][5][6]

• Rādhi from Radh (region south-west of the Ganges)
• Varendra, from Vārendra region (North-East) or Puṇḍra. Vārendra originally meant rain-maker magicians.^[7]
• Vaidika (migrants, originally experts of Vedic knowledge)
  • Paschatya Vaidika (Vedic brahmins from west of Bengal)
  • Dakshinatya Vaidika (Vedic brahmins from south of Bengal)
• Madhya Sreni (brahmins of the midland country)
• Shakdvipi/ Grahavipra (migrant brahmins of Shakdvipa in Central Asia)
• Saptaśati

The different brahmin communities of Bengal have their own traditional accounts of origin, which are generally found in various genealogical texts known as kulagranthas or kulapanjikas. Other details may also be obtained from court chronicles of various kings of Bengal. Important writers are Harimishra (13th century C.E), Edu Mishra (13th century C.E), Devivara Ghatak (15th century C.E), Dhruvananda Mishra (post 15th century C.E), Vachaspati Mishra, Rajendralal Mitra among others.^[2]

• Radhi and Varendra

The traditional origin of both Radhi and Varendra brahmins has been attributed to a king named Ādiśūra who is said to have invited five Brahmins from Kolancha (as per Edu Mishra and Hari Mishra^[8]) and/or from Kanyakubja,^[9] (as per Dhruvananda Mishra) so that he could conduct a yajña, because he could not find Vedic experts locally. Some traditional texts mention that Ādiśūra was ancestor of Ballāl Sena from maternal side and five brahmins had been invited in 1077 C.E.^[10] Other texts like Varendrakulapanjika, Vachaspati Mishra's account and Edu Mishra's account attribute a date of 732 C.E for the migration. Additionally, other sources like Sambandhanirnaya, Kulanrava and others attribute various dates like 942 C.E, 932 C.E and others.^[2]

Historians have located a ruler named Ādiśūra ruling in north Bihar, but not in Bengal^{[citation needed]}. But Ballāl Sena and his predecessors ruled over both Bengal and Mithila (i.e., North Bihar). It is unlikely that the brahmins from Kānyakubja may have been invited to Mithila for performing a yajña, because Mithila was a strong base of brahmins since Vedic age.^[11] However some scholars have identified Ādiśūra with Jayanta, a vassal chief of the Gauda king around middle of 8th century C.E.^[2] and is also referred to as a contemporary of Jayapida (779 to 812 C.E) of Kashmir (grandson of Lalitaditya) in Kalhana's Rajatarangini.^[12]

Kulin Brahmins are those Brahmins in Bengal who can trace themselves to the five families of Kanauj (Kanyakubja), Uttar Pradesh who migrated to Bengal. The five families were of the five different gotras (Shandilya, Bharadwaj, Kashyap, Vatsya and Swavarna). They are widely believed to be at the apex of Bengal's caste hierarchy.

The kulin families are further divided into two sections:

Barendra : Belonging to those families who settled at the north or north east region of the Ganges or Padma river. Rarhi : Belonging to those families who settled at the south or southwest region of the Ganges or Padma river.

Etymology[link]

Note that "Mukherjee" evolved from the Sanskrit Mukhopadhyay (Bengali: মুখোপাধ্যায় Mukhopaddhae). Mukhopadhyay is from the purer Sanskrit form Mukhyopadhyay (in Sanskrit Mukhya - chief, Upadhyay - teacher, not necessarily a religious teacher). In modern parlance, the two are often used interchangeably, much like other such pairs (Banerjee/Bandhyopadhyay, Chatterjee/Chattyopadhyay), with the latter being used primarily in religious contexts. How these interchangeable pairs arose is unknown. Another theory is that Upadhyay from Kanauj settled at different villages in present day West Bengal and thus earned the prefixes of the villages before their Upadhay surname.^{[citation needed]}

Mukhuti[link]

Families with surnames Mukhati or Mukhuti are believed to be of the same origins as Mukherjees and it is possible that these surnames represent the older forms of the Mukherjee surname.^{[citation needed]} According to another alternative hypothesis in common belief, Mukhati or Mukhuti came to be the surname of some Mukherjees who took to the fields and worked with the langol (plough) akin to the Bhumihar Brahmins in neighbouring Bihar and are therefore sometimes called "langla bamun".^{[citation needed]} Mukhoti village near Bankura, West Bengal may be the original village in this case (refer to Niharranjan Ray's "Bangalir Itihas").^[13]

^[14]

There are several hypotheses on the origin of the jee in Mukherjee (and in the related Chatterjee and Banerjee surnames).^[15]

Deogharia[link]

Families with surname Deogharia are also Mukherjee. The title of Deogharia belongs to Mukherjee families of erstwhile Panchkot kingdom (near Adra, Purulia, West Bengal). The title of Deogharia was given by the kings to the Mukherjee families of that place who were involved in religious activities. However, now as neither there is any kingdom, nor any signification of such title, many are reconverting surname of their children back to Mukherjee.

Notable Mukherjees[link]

Notable people with the last name Mukherjee :

Planet[link]

• 25629 Mukherjee

A[link]

• Aarti Mukherji
• Abaninath Mukherji
• Ajoy Mukherjee
• Alok Mukherjee
• Arindam Mukherjee
• Arun Mukherjee
• Arundhati Mukherjee
• Ashutosh Mukherjee (writer).
• Asim Mukhopadhyay
• Ayan Mukherjee, Director
• Sir Ashutosh Mukherjee (1864–1924) Educationist, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Calcutta (1906–1924),and referred commonly as 'Bengal Tiger'.

B[link]

• Banaphool (Balaichand Mukherjee)
• Barun Mukherjee
• Bela Mukhopadhyay
• Benode Behari Mukherjee, painter
• Bharati Mukherjee
• Bijan Kumar Mukherjea
• Budhaditya Mukherjee, Musician

C[link]

• Chandrani Mukherjee, Singer
• Chayan Mukherjee

D[link]

• Debashis Mukherjee
• Dhan Gopal Mukerji
• Raja Dakshinaranjan Mukherjee

H[link]

• Harish Chandra Mukherjee
• Hemanta Kumar Mukhopadhyay, Music Director
• Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Director

J[link]

• Dr. Joia Mukherjee
• Jadu Gopal Mukherjee
• Jaidip Mukerjea
• Jatindra Nath Mukherjee (Bagha Jatin) (1879–1915), Freedom Fighter and Revolutionary Leader
• Jolly Mukherjee
• Joy Mukherjee

K[link]

• Kajol Mukherjee Kajol, Bollywood Actress
• Kalyan Mukherjea
• Kalyan Mukherjee
• Kamalinee Mukherjee, actress
• Kamu Mukherjee
• Kamu Mukherjee, actor
• Kashinath Mukherjee
• Keshto Mukherjee, Comedian/Actor

M[link]

• M. Mukherjee
• Madhabi Mukherjee, actor
• Manas Mukherjee
• Mani Shankar Mukherjee, writer
• Mithu Mukherjee
• Mohua Mukherjee

N[link]

• Nibaran Chandra Mukherjee
• Nihar Mukherjee
• Nayan Mukherjee

P[link]

• Pranab Mukherjee, politician
• Prasun Mukherjee, Police Commissioner
• Prithwindra Mukherjee
• Priyankar Mukherjee

R[link]

• Raghu Mukherjee
• Raj Mukherji
• Raktima Mukerjee
• Ram Kamal Mukherjee
• Ram Mukherjee, Rani's Father
• Rani Mukherjee, Bollywood Actress
• Rudrangshu Mukherjee

S[link]

• Dr. Sanjay Mukherjee
• Sabyasachi Mukherjee
• Sagarika Mukherjee
• Sandhya Mukhopadhyay
• Sangram Mukherjee
• Sapna Mukherjee
• Sarah Mukherjee
• Sashadhar Mukherjee
• Satish Chandra Mukherjee
• Satyabrata Mookherjee
• Shantanu Mukherjee, Shaan, Singer
• Sharbani Mukherjee
• Sharda Mukherjee, Governor & w/o Subroto Mukerjee
• Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay
• Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay
• Shomu Mukherjee, Kajol's Father, Director
• Shyam Mukherjee
• Shyama Prasad Mukherjee
• Siddhartha Mukherjee
• Sreelekha Mukherjee
• Sreelekha Mukherji
• Subhash Mukhopadhyay, Poet
• Subodh Mukherjee
• Subrata Mukherjee, Politician
• Subroto Mukerjee,First Air Chief Marshall of Independent India
• Sudip Mukherjee
• Suman Mukhopadhyay
• Suroopa Mukherjee
• Sushmita Mukherjee, actress
• Swastika Mukherjee, actress

T[link]

• Pandita Tripti Mukherjee
• Tanisha Mukherjee, Tanisha, actress, Kajol's sister
• Tanuja Mukherjee

U[link]

• Udayan Mukherjee

Notes[link]

See also[link]

• Mukherjee-Samarth family
• Mukherjee Commission

References[link]

• Swami Sahajanand Saraswati Rachnawali (Selected works of Swami Sahajanand Saraswati), Prakashan Sansthan, Delhi, 2003.

This page or section lists people with the surname Mukherjee. If an internal link intending to refer to a specific person led you to this page, you may wish to change that link by adding the person's given name(s) to the link.

This article about an Indian ethnicity or social group is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

Akhilesh Yadav (born 1 July 1973) is an Indian politician and the youngest chief minister of Uttar Pradesh.^[2] 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.^[3] 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.^[4] He took his primary education from St. Mary's School, Etawah^[4]. 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.^[5]

Akhilesh gives credit to Janeshwar Mishra who intiated him to join politics.^[6]

2012 UP assembly elections[link]

He introduced modern elements in Samajwadi party's campaigning style.^{[citation needed]} In the 2012 general election he was able to provide the party with a new image.^{[citation needed]} He extensively campaigned across the state holding cycle rallies and public meetings at various locations.^{[citation needed]} 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.^{[citation needed]} His personality was a key role in helping the Party towards a victory in U. P. Assembly Elections of 2012,^{[citation needed]} with Samajwadi party winning 224 seats out of total 403.^{[citation needed]} Thus Samajvadi Party being the single largest party formed the government.^{[citation needed]}

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 became the youngest Chief Minister of this province at the age of 38 years.^[2]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website of Samajwadi Party
• Akhilesh Yadav Website

v t e Current Chief Ministers of Indian states (list)     Andhra Pradesh: Nallari Kiran Kumar Reddy Arunachal Pradesh: Nabam Tuki Assam: Tarun Gogoi Bihar: Nitish Kumar Chhattisgarh: Raman Singh Goa: Manohar Parrikar Gujarat: Narendra Modi Haryana: Bhupinder Singh Hooda Himachal Pradesh: Prem Kumar Dhumal Jammu and Kashmir: Omar Abdullah Jharkhand: Arjun Munda Karnataka: D. V. Sadananda Gowda Kerala: Oommen Chandy Madhya Pradesh: Shivraj Singh Chauhan Maharashtra: Prithviraj Chavan Manipur: Okram Ibobi Singh Meghalaya: Mukul Sangma Mizoram: Pu Lalthanhawla Nagaland: Neiphiu Rio Orissa: Naveen Patnaik Punjab: Parkash Singh Badal Rajasthan: Ashok Gehlot Sikkim: Pawan Kumar Chamling Tamil Nadu: Jayalalithaa Tripura: Manik Sarkar Uttar Pradesh: Akhilesh Yadav Uttarakhand: Vijay Bahuguna West Bengal: Mamata Banerjee Delhi: Sheila Dikshit Pondicherry: N. Rangaswamy

Pranab Mukherjee
Minister of Finance
Incumbent
Assumed office 24 January 2009
Prime Minister	Manmohan Singh
Preceded by	Manmohan Singh
In office 15 January 1982 – 31 December 1984
Prime Minister	Indira Gandhi Rajiv Gandhi
Preceded by	Ramaswamy Venkataraman
Succeeded by	Vishwanath Pratap Singh
Minister of External Affairs
In office 24 October 2006 – 23 May 2009
Prime Minister	Manmohan Singh
Preceded by	Manmohan Singh
Succeeded by	Somanahalli Mallaiah Krishna
In office 10 February 1995 – 16 May 1996
Prime Minister	Narasimha Rao
Preceded by	Dinesh Singh
Succeeded by	Atal Bihari Vajpayee
Minister of Defence
In office 22 May 2004 – 26 October 2006
Prime Minister	Manmohan Singh
Preceded by	George Fernandes
Succeeded by	Arackaparambil Kurien Antony
Deputy Chairperson of the Planning Commission
In office 24 June 1991 – 15 May 1996
Prime Minister	Narasimha Rao
Preceded by	Mohan Dharia
Succeeded by	Madhu Dandavate
Lok Sabha representative from Jangipur, West Bengal
In office 10 May 2004 – incumbant
Personal details
Born	(1935-12-11) 11 December 1935 (age 76) Mirati, British Raj (now India)
Political party	Indian National Congress (Before 1986; 1989–present)
Other political affiliations	Rashtriya Samajwadi Congress (1986–1989)
Spouse(s)	Suvra Mukherjee
Alma mater	University of Calcutta
Profession	Social worker Teacher Writer
Religion	Hinduism
Website	Pranab Mukherjee

Pranab Kumar Mukherjee (born 11 December 1935, Mirati; West Bengal, India) is the current Finance Minister of India^[1][2] and leader of the current 15th Lok Sabha.^[3]

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.^[4] He is a member of the Congress Working Committee (CWC).^[5]

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).^[6] 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.^{[citation needed]} In 2011 he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Letters degree by University of Wolverhampton.^[7]

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.^[8]

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.^[9] 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.^[10] 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.^[11]

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."^[12] Other media accounts describe him as having "a reputation as a number-crunching politician with a phenomenal memory and an unerring survival instinct."^[13]

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.^[14] 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."^[15] Finally the bill was approved on March 23, 2005.

Foreign Minister: October 2006[link]

Pranab Mukherjee with US President George W. Bush in 2008.

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, Finance Minister of India addressing the delagates at Regional Conference of Institute of Chartered Accountants of India

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.^[16]

Contender for President[link]

After his unsatisfied wish to become the Prime Minister of India,^[17] Pranab Mukherjee is considered as an eligible candidate for the President of India.^[18] The elections are happening in July 2012 after the five-states scheduled elections. The current Vice-President of India Hamid Ansari along with Pranab Mukherjee are the top 2 contenders of Presidential candidate.^[19]

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.^[20]

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.^[21] 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.^[22] As a result Bombay Dyeing was almost decimated.^[22]

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.^[23]

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^[24]

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.^[25] His hobbies are reading, gardening and music.^[26]

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.^[27][28] 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).^[29] 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.^[16]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Pranab Mukherjee

Wikinews has related news: Mukherjee injured in accident

• 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

Siddhartha Mukherjee
Born	1970 (age 41–42) New Delhi, India
Nationality	American
Education	MD, DPhil
Alma mater	St. Columba's School, Delhi, Stanford University Magdalen College, Oxford Harvard Medical School
Notable work(s)	The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer
Awards	Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction (2011)
Website
sidmukherjee.com

Siddhartha Mukherjee (Bengali:সিদ্ধার্থ মুখার্জী ) (born 1970) is an Indian-born American physician, scientist and writer. He authored the 2010 book, The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer, which won the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction, and was described, by TIME magazine, as one of the 100 most influential books of the last 100 years, and by the New York Times magazine as among the 100 best works of non-fiction.

Mukherjee's prose is known for its distinctive blend of memoir, science, medicine and literary associations into complex,looping narrative structures that move forward and backwards in time.

Currently he is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Columbia University and staff physician at Columbia University Medical Center in New York City.

A hematologist and oncologist, Mukherjee is also known for his work on the formation of blood, and the interactions between the micro-environment (or "niche") and cancer cells.

Early life and education[link]

Siddhartha Mukherjee was born in New Delhi, India to Sibeswar Mukherjee, an executive, and Chandana Mukherjee, a former schoolteacher. He attended St. Columba's School, Delhi. As a biology major at Stanford University, he worked in Nobel Laureate Paul Berg's laboratory defining cellular genes that change the behaviours of cancer cells. Mukherjee then won a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford University where he earned a DPhil in immunology from Magdalen College, Oxford. After graduation, he attended Harvard Medical School where he earned an M.D. His postgraduate years consisted of a residency in Internal Medicine followed by an oncology fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital.^[1]

Career[link]

Mukherjee is currently serving as Assistant Professor of Medicine at Medicine (Oncology) Department, Columbia University in New York City.^[2] He is also a staff cancer physician at Columbia University Medical Center.^[3]

In 2010, Simon & Schuster published his book, The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer,^[4] detailing the evolution of diagnosis and treatment of human cancers from ancient Egypt to the latest developments in chemotherapy and targeted therapy.^[5] The Oprah magazine listed it in its "Top 10 Books of 2010".^[6] It was also listed in "The 10 Best Books of 2010" by The New York Times^[7] and the "Top 10 Nonfiction Books" by Time magazine.^[8]

In 2011 The Emperor of All Maladies: A History of Cancer was nominated as a National Book Critics Circle Award finalist. On April 18, it was announced that Mukherjee's book had won the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction.

In 2011, TIME magazine nominated Dr. Mukherjee to its "100 most influential people" list. TIME magazine also selected Mukherjee's book for inclusion in its list of the 100 best non-fiction books since 1923.

A hematologist and oncologist by training, Mukherjee's scientific work addresses the links between normal stem cells and cancer cells. Mukherjee's lab has performed investigations on the microenvironment—or niche—of stem cells, focusing particularly on blood-forming stem cells. Blood-forming stem cells (called hematopoietic stem cells or HSCs) reside in the bone marrow in very specific microenvironments. Osteoblasts, or bone forming cells, comprise an important element of this niche, and they regulate the physiology of HSCs, by providing HSCs with signals to divide, remain quiescent, or maintain their stem cell properties. Mukherjee's scientific work has been recognized through many NIH and private foundation grants, including the prestigious NIH "Challenge Grant" awarded to pioneering researchers in 2009.

In work performed with collaborators in the 1990s and 2000s, Mukherjee's lab identified genes and chemicals that can alter the microenvironment, or niche, and thereby alter the behaviour of normal stem cells, as well as cancer cells. Two such chemicals studied in the lab - proteasome inhibitors and Activin A inhibitors—are currently in clinical trials with novel therapeutic uses as defined by these studies. The Mukherjee lab has also identified novel genetic mutations in myelodysplasia and acute myelogenous leukemia and has played a leading role in finding therapies for these diseases in the clinical setting.

Mukherjee's lab is based at the Columbia University Irving Cancer Research Center. Previously, he was affiliated with the Harvard Stem Cell Institute and with Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

Mukherjee has published widely in scientific journals, including papers in Nature, Neuron, the Journal of Clinical Investigation and others.

Personal life[link]

Mukherjee lives in New York and is married to artist Sarah Sze (winner of a MacArthur "Genius" grant). They have two daughters named Leela and Aria.^[9][10]

Awards and honors[link]

• 1993: Rhodes Scholarship, 1993-1996.
• 2010: Gabrielle Angel's Leukemia Foundation Award 2010.
• 2011: Pulitzer Prize
• 2011: PEN/E.O. Wilson Prize
• 2011: Cancer Leadership Award (shared with Kathleen Sebelius and Orrin Hatch)
• 2011: National Book Critics Circle Award, finalist
• 2011: Time magazine, 100 Best Non-Fiction books of all TIME
• 2011: Time 100, most influential people
• 2011: Wellcome Trust Book Prize, shortlist
• 2011:Guardian Prize
• 2012:Boston Public Library Literary Lights 2012

References[link]

External links[link]

• "Introducing the Biographer of Cancer". Columbia University Medical Center. http://ps.columbia.edu/news/introducing-biographer-cancer. 

Joy Mukherjee (24 February 1939 – 9 March 2012) was an Indian film actor and director.

Family background[link]

Joy Mukherjee was the son of Sashadhar Mukherjee and Sati Devi. His father was a successful producer and a co-founder of Filmalaya Studios. His uncles were director Subodh Mukherjee, Ashok Kumar and Kishore Kumar.

Joy Mukherjee and his wife, Neelam, have two sons and a daughter.^[1]

Career[link]

Joy debuted opposite Sadhana in the film Love in Simla (1960) directed by R.K. Nayyar. After Love in Simla, he paired with Asha Parekh for several hits like Phir Wohi Dil Laya Hoon, Love in Tokyo and Ziddi. By the late 1960s acting roles began drying up, so he began directing and producing.^[2]

He produced and directed Humsaaya although neither that film nor his subsequent films as producer or director did well. Despite a late success with home production Ek Baar Muskura Do (1972) with brother Deb Mukherjee and later to be sister-in-law Tanuja, Joy faded from the silver screen. His last success came directing Chailla Babu. In 2009 he acted in the television serial Aye Dil-e-Nadan.^{[citation needed]}

Death[link]

Joy Mukherjee died at the age of 73 on 9 March 2012 in Lilavati Hospital, Mumbai. He was placed on a ventilator near the end of his life. He was survived by his wife Neelam Mukherjee and three children - two sons and a daughter.^[3]

Filmography[link]

• Haiwan (1977)
• Ek Bar Mooskura Do (1972)
• Kahin Aar Kahin Paar (1971)
• Aag Aur Daag (1970)
• Ehsan (1970)
• Inspector (1970) ... Inspector Rajesh/Agent 707
• Moojrim (1970) ... Gopal
• Puraskar (1970) ... Rakesh
• Dupatta (1969)
• Dil Aur Mohabbat (1968) ... Ramesh Choudhry
• Ek Kali Muskai (1968)
• Humsaya (1968)
• Shagird (1967) ... Rajesh
• Love in Tokyo (1966) ... Ashok
• Yeh Zindagi Kitni Haseen Hai (1966) ... Sanjay Malhotra
• Saaz Aur Awaaz (1966)
• Bahu Beti (1965) ... Shekhar
• Aao Pyaar Karen (1964)
• Door Ki Awaaz (1964)
• Ishaara (1964)
• Ji Chahta Hai (1964)
• Ziddi (1964) ... Ashok
• Phir Wohi Dil Laya Hoon (1963) ... Mohan
• Ek Musafir Ek Hasina (1962)
• Ummeed (1962)
• Hum Hindustani (1960) ... Satyendra Nath
• Love in Simla (1960) .. Dev Kumar Mehra

See also[link]

• Pramod Chakravorty

References[link]

External links[link]

• Joy Mukherjee at the Internet Movie Database
• Sixties star Joy Mukherjee passes away, Avijit Ghosh