Yashwant Sinha
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Yashwant Sinha (born November 6, 1937) is an Indian politician belonging to the BJP and a former finance minister and foreign minister in Atal Bihari Vajpayee's cabinet.
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[edit] Early life
He was born and educated in Patna, Bihar. He received his Masters Degree in Political Science in 1958. Subsequently, he taught Political Science in the Patna University from 1958 to 1960.
[edit] Bureaucratic career
Yashwant Sinha joined the Indian Administrative Service in 1960 and spent over 24 years holding important posts during his service tenure. He served as Sub-Divisional Magistrate and District Magistrate for 4 years. He was Under Secretary and Deputy Secretary in the Finance Department of the Bihar Government for 2 years after which he worked in the Ministry of Commerce as Deputy Secretary to the Government of India.
From 1971 to 1973, he was First Secretary (Commercial) in the Indian Embassy, Bonn, Germany. Subsequently, he worked as Consul General of India in Frankfurt from 1973 to 1974. After working for over seven years in this field, he acquired experience in matters relating to foreign trade and India's relations with the European Economic Community. Thereafter, he worked in the Department of Industrial Infrastructure, Government of Bihar and in the Ministry of Industry, government of India dealing with foreign industrial collaborations, technology imports, intellectual property rights and industrial approvals. As Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Surface Transport, Government of India from 1980 to 1984, his main responsibilities were road transport, ports and shipping.
[edit] Political career
[edit] Janata Dal
Yashwant Sinha resigned from the Indian Administrative Service in 1984 and joined active politics as a member of the Janata Party. He was appointed All-India General secretary of the party in 1986 and was elected Member of the Rajya Sabha in 1988.
When the Janata Dal was formed in 1989, he was appointed General Secretary of the party. He worked as Minister of Finance from November, 1990 to June 1991 in Mr. Chandra Shekhar's Cabinet.
[edit] BJP
He became the National Spokesperson of the BJP in June, 1996. He was appointed finance minister in March, 1998. He was foreign minister from that date until May 22, 2004, when a new government took office after parliamentary elections. He represented Hazaribagh Constituency in Bihar (now Jharkhand), in the Lok Sabha. However in an amazing development, Yashwant Singh was defeated from Hazaribagh seat in the elections of May, 2004.
[edit] Finance minister
Yashwant Sinha was the finance minister until July 1, 2002, when he exchanged jobs with foreign minister Jaswant Singh. Sinha during his tenure readily rolled backed his own propositions for which he was ridiculed from all quarters blamed to be lacking firmness and his competence became questionable [1].Because of these attributes he earned nicks like Rollback Sinha, Pushback Sinha etc.
[edit] Personal life
Yashwant Sinha has a wide range of interests including reading, gardening and meeting people. He is widely travelled and has led a number of political and social delegations. He played a leading role in many negotiations on behalf of the country. Sinha has 3 children, two sons and a daughter with his wife Nilima.
[edit] References
| Preceded by Jaswant Singh |
Minister for External Affairs of India 2002–2004 |
Succeeded by Natwar Singh |
