Pranab Kumar Mukherjee (Bengali: প্রণব মুখোপাধ্যায়; born 11 December 1935, Mirati; West Bengal, India) is the Finance Minister of India and leader of the ongoing 15th Lok Sabha. He is the UPA nominee and a front-runner in the 2012 Presidential Elections of India.
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).
Early life
He belongs to a Bengali Hindu Kulin Brahmin family.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. In 2011 he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Letters degree by University of Wolverhampton.
Political Career :.
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 Sabhawhen 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.
In an interview to NDTV in 2009, Pranab Mukherjee, had said, he is just a 'village boy'. Three years later, as the veteran Congress man is on the brink of becoming India's 13th President, we look at Mr Mukherjee's five-decade-long political journey.
Via-Yahoo,Wikepedia
Pranab Da is the best congress-man without any spot on his political image. He is also my favourite choice as the President candidate. He truly deserves it.
ReplyDeleteOfcourse he is the Best leader.
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