Vishvjit Singh

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Vishvjit Prithvijit Singh (born Kapurthala, 29 October 1946) is an Indian politician with the Indian National Congress party.[1]

Contents

[edit] Biography

Vishvjit Singh of Kapurthala was born on 29 October 1946 at Kapurthala House, Jalandhar to father Kanwar Ranjit Singh of Kapurthala, and was later adopted by Kanwarani Surjit Kaur, the widow of Captain Kanwar Prithvijit Singh of Kapurthala. He studied at the Doon School, Dehra Dun (I.S.C.).[citation needed] He was first elected to the Rajya Sabha in April 1982, representing the constituency of Maharashtra; he returned for a second term in April 1988.[1] Upon his election, then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi ordered Arun Nehru to help him lose weight, as he was nearly 160kg; his weight dropped as low as 108kg once while he was hospitalised for a heart attack, but bounced back soon afterwards.[2] In 1989, he married Kanwarani Vijay Thakur Singh, who is a diplomat of the Indian Foreign Service and as of 2007 serves as Joint Secretary to the President of India.[citation needed] In 1994, Singh was investigated, along with many other members of the Upper House of the Indian Parliament including the current Prime Minister of India, for seeking election from state of which he was supposedly not a resident[citation needed] by Chief Election Commissioner T. N. Seshan; however, he expressed grudging admiration for the results Seshan achieved in ensuring free and fair elections in which all parties followed the rules.[3] The matter regarding the anomaly in the law was finally settled by an amendment to the law and all these prosecutions have lapsed.[4][original research?]

As chairman of his party's computer department, Singh has also driven initiatives to make more use of technology in election efforts, including putting publicity material, speeches, and posters online, installing servers, setting up SMS software to facilitate the sending of bulk SMSes, and establishing a support team.[5][6]

Singh is a supporter of dividing the larger Indian states into smaller units.[7]

[edit] Committee memberships

  • Member of the Special Working Group of the Accommodation Committee for the 9th Asian Games in 1982
  • Member of The Advisory Council of The Ministry of Textiles, 1984-89
  • Member of The Working Group for the chapter on Textiles in the 7th Plan Document
  • Member of the National Productivity Council, 1988
  • Member, Public Accounts Committee (Fiscal Body of the Indian Parliament), Ninth Lok Sabha, 1990-91
  • Member, Public Accounts Committee, Tenth Lok Sabha (1999-92), member of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations, 1989-90
  • Member of the Indian Board of Forestry, 1990-91
  • Member of the Parliament Standing Committee on Agriculture, Tenth Lok Sabha, 1992-93
  • Member of the Joint Committee of Parliament for the Copyright Bill, 1992-93
  • Member of the Parliament Standing Committee on Petroleum and Chemicals, Tenth Lok Sabha, 1993-94
  • Ex-Officio Member of the Publicity and Publication Committee, All India Congress Committee, Indian National Congress, ?-present[8]

[edit] Other positions

  • Special Representative of Congress President and Prime Minister of India to The Working Group Set Up for the Elections to the Nambian Parliament, 1998
  • Special Representative of Congress President and Prime Minister of India Rajiv Gandhi to Mozambique, 1989
  • Special Representative of Congress President Rajiv Gandhi to Afghanistan, 1990
  • Member of Indian parliamentary delegations to New Zealand -1986, Spain -1987, Colombia -1990
  • Member of Indian parliamentary delegations to the International Parliamentary Union at Punta Del Este, Uruguay in 1990, New Delhi, 1994.
  • Member of the Indian Delegation to the United Nations General Assembly for the 46th Session in 1991, the 47th Session in 1992, and the 50th Session in 1995
  • Chairman, Computer Department, All India Congress Committee, Indian National Congress, ?-present[9]

[edit] Publications

  • Published various articles upon Politics, Economics and Perspective Planning in: The Telegraph, Calcutta, The Daily, Mumbai, The Free Press Journal, Mumbai, The Hindustan Times, New Delhi, The Pioneer, New Delhi, The Tribune, Chandigarh, The Asian Age, New Delhi.
  • Co-Author of Congress Approach to Electoral Reforms. (Congress Committee on Policy & Programmes) - CCPP, New Delhi, 1988, Power to the People. (CCPP), New Delhi, 1989, Power to the People - The Urban Imperative. (CCPP), New Delhi, 1989.

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Rajya Sabha Members: Biographical sketches, 1953-2003. Rajya Sabha. Retrieved on 2007-12-10.
  2. ^ Chadha, Kumkum. "Party heavyweight", Hindustan Times, 2007-03-29. Retrieved on 2007-12-10. Archived from the original on 2007-12-03. 
  3. ^ Hazarika, Sanjoy. "India's Election Commissioner Gains a Following", The New York Times, 1994-01-30. Retrieved on 2007-12-10. 
  4. ^ "No domicile clause for RS elections", The Times of India, 2006-08-23. Retrieved on 2008-04-07. 
  5. ^ "Political Parties Can't Do Without Internet!", Financial Express, 2004-04-18. Retrieved on 2008-04-07. 
  6. ^ Khanna, Shweta. "It's election Time", Dataquest, 2004-04-08. Retrieved on 2008-04-07. 
  7. ^ Singh, Vishvjit. "The Benefits of reorganization", Seminar Magazine, 2007. Retrieved on 2008-04-07. 
  8. ^ All India Congress Committee: Committees. Indian National Congress. Retrieved on 2007-12-10.
  9. ^ All India Congress Committee: Departments & Cells. Indian National Congress. Retrieved on 2007-12-10.

[edit] Further reading