Balwant Singh Ramoowalia
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Balwant Singh Ramoowalia is an active politician and president of Lok Bhalai Party (LBP). Ramoowalia is former Member of Parliament from Faridkot and Sangrur and former Union Minister for Social Welfare. He is founder president of Lok Bhalai Party which has seen the participation of a large number of women, especially those deserted or cheated by their Non-resident Indian grooms. Lok Bhalai Party is concentrating on the various socio-economic issues.
Balwant Singh Ramoowalia has become a beacon of hope for every Punjabi who has been duped by unscrupulous travel agents of lakhs of rupees painstakingly saved in the hope of starting a new life abroad. He floated the Lok Bhalai Party in 1999 to take up all such causes, including of holiday brides - girls who are wedded to visiting Punjabi NRIs and then dumped after the husbands go back.
In the last one-and-a-half years, he has managed to get Rs 1.5 crore returned to people who were duped by travel agents. His focus now is on an estimated 30,000 Indians who are languishing in jails in other countries on charges of illegal immigration.
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[edit] Personal
He was born on March 15, 1942 at Village Bopa Rai Kalan, Ludhiana, Punjab, India. Mr. Ramoowalia got his M.A. (Economics), B.Ed., LL.B. from Uttar Pradesh. He got his education from (i) D.M. College, Moga, (ii) Government College, Ludhiana and (iii) Meerut University.
[edit] History
Ramoowalia was
- President,(i) All India Sikh Students' Federation, 1968-72 and (ii) Punjabi Bhalai Manch
- General Secretary, S.F.I., 1963-64
- Propaganda Secretary, Shiromani Akali Dal, 1975-77 and 1980-82
- Secretary General, Shiromani Akali Dal, 1985-87
- Leader, Akali Dal Group, 8th Lok Sabha
- Member, (i) Senate Punjabi University, Patiala, 1978-80, (ii) Syndicate, Punjabi University, Patiala since 1996, (iii) Board of Indian Airlines, 1991-93, (iv) 6th and 8th Lok Sabha, (v) Public Accounts Committee, 1987-88, (vi) Estimates Committee,1986-87, (vii) Committee on Public Undertakings,1988-89, (viii) Business Advisory Committee,1978-79, (ix) Committee on Petitions, 1978-79, (x) Consultative Committee for the Ministry of Industry, 1985-89, (xi) Consultative Committee for the Ministry of External Affairs, 1978-79 and (xii) Committee on Labour and Welfare
- previously associated with Shiromani Akali Dal
- Union Minister of Social Welfare,1996-98
- elected to the Rajya Sabha in November, 1996.
[edit] Other associations
- Chief Patron, International Punjabi Society
- President, Shiromani Punjabi Sabha
- Member, India International Centre.
- Travels abroad: U.K., U.S.A., Russia, Canada, Netherlands, Australia, Italy, Iraq, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Hong Kong, Japan and Philippines.
- Awarded "Secular Punjabi of the Globe" by the Indo-Canadian Association, Vancouver, Canada.
- Publications: Punjab Di Dhaun Utte Talwar.
