| Nitish Kumar | |
|---|---|
| Chief Ministers of Bihar | |
| In office 3 March 2000 – 10 March 2000 |
|
| Deputy CM | Sushil Kumar Modi |
| Preceded by | President's rule |
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 24 November 2005 |
|
| Preceded by | Rabri Devi |
| Minister of Railways | |
| In office 20 March 2001 – 21 May 2004 |
|
| Preceded by | Ram Vilas Paswan |
| Succeeded by | Lalu Prasad Yadav |
| In office 19 March 1998 – 5 August 1999 |
|
| Minister of Agriculture | |
| In office 27 May 2000 – 21 July 2001 |
|
| In office 22 November 1999 – 3 March 2000 |
|
| Minister of Surface Transport | |
| In office 13 Oct 1999 – 22 November 1999 |
|
| In office 14 April 1998 – 5 August 1999 |
|
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1 March 1951 Bakhtiarpur, Patna |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Political party | Janata Dal (United) |
| Spouse(s) | Late Smt. Manju Kumari Sinha |
| Children | Nishant Kumar (son) |
| Residence | 1 Anne Marg, Patna |
| Alma mater | National Institute of Technology, Patna |
| Profession | Politician Social Worker Agriculturist Engineer |
| Religion | Hinduism |
| Website | http://cm.bih.nic.in |
| As of 18 June, 2006 Source: Government of India |
|
Nitish Kumār (Hindi: नितीश कुमार Nitīśa Kumāra; born 1 March 1951) is an Indian politician currently serving as Chief Minister of Bihar, an eastern state of India. He leads the Janata Dal (United) party. As the Chief Minister, he has gained popularity by initiating a series of developmental and constructive activities including building of long-delayed bridges, re-laying roads that had ceased to exist, appointing over 100,000 school teachers, ensuring that doctors worked in primary health centers, and keeping crime in check.[1]
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Nitish Kumār was born in Bakhtiarpur, Bihar to Kaviraj Ram Lakhan Singh and Parmeshwari Devi. His father was a freedom fighter and was close to the great Gandhian Bihar Vibhuti Anugrah Narayan Sinha, one of the founders of modern Bihar. His nickname is 'Munna'.[2] He is a teetotaler, does not smoke, and is a frugal eater.[3]
He has a degree in electrical engineering from the Bihar College of Engineering, Patna now NIT Patna .[4] He joined the Bihar State Electricity Board, but almost halfheartedly,and later moved into politics.[5]
Nitish Kumar belongs to a socialist class of politicians.He learnt the lessons of politics under the tutelage of stalwarts Jayaprakash Narayan, Ram Manohar Lohia, Karpoori Thakur, S N Sinha, George Fernandes and V. P. Singh[6].
Nitish Kumar participated in Jayaprakash Narayan's movement[7]between 1974 and 1977, and was close to Satyendra Narayan Sinha, a prominent leader of the time. In the 1980 Bihar assembly elections, Kumar stood from Harnaut, which had a strong presence of his fellow Kurmis. He lost, however, to a Kurmi ‘bahubali’ (muscleman/criminal politician) .[8] He was first elected to the Bihar Legislative Assembly in 1985 as an independent candidate. In 1987, he became the President of the Yuva Lok Dal. In 1989, he became the Secretary-General of the Janata Dal in Bihar. He was also elected to the 9th Lok Sabha the same year.
During his term as Minister of Railways, he brought widespread reforms.[9]
In 1989, Nitish Kumar was appointed as the Union Minister of State for Agriculture in the Cabinet of Prime Minister Vishwanath Pratap Singh. In 1991, he was re-elected to the Lok Sabha and became General Secretary of the Janata Dal at the national level and the Deputy Leader of Janata Dal in the Parliament. He represented Barh parliamentary constituency in the Lok Sabha between 1989 and 2004.
He briefly served as the Union Cabinet Minister for Railways and Minister for Surface Transport and then as the Minister for Agriculture in 1998–99. In August 1999, he resigned following the Gaisal train disaster. He introduced internet ticket booking facility as well as opened record number of railway ticket booking counters. He introduced revolutionary tatkal scheme for instant booking.
Later that year, he rejoined the Union Cabinet as Minister for Agriculture. From 2001 to May 2004, he served as the Union Cabinet Minister for Railways in the NDA Government of Atal Bihari Vajpayee. In the 2004 Lok Sabha elections he contested elections from two constituencies, Barh and Nalanda. He was elected from Nalanda but lost from his traditional constituency, Barh. He was the leader of the Janata Dal (United) Parliamentary Party in the Lok Sabha.
On 3 March 2000, Nitish Kumar was appointed the Chief Minister of Bihar, but he resigned seven days later because failed to prove majority.
In November 2005, he led the National Democratic Alliance to victory in the 2005 Bihar assembly elections bringing an end to the 15-year rule of the Lalu Prasad Yadav-led Rashtriya Janata Dal. He was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Bihar on 24 November 2005. Under his government, Bihar developed an electronic version of the Right to Information Act. In addition, he launched the E-shakti NREGS program, by which rural people can get employment information by telephone. He is credited with improving infrastructure, and reducing crime, widely felt to be serious problems in the state.
Under his governance Bihar has had a record number of criminal prosecutions through fast track courts. His government initiated a mandatory weekly meeting with all District Magistrates to monitor progress at the grassroot level. His government has generated employment in police services and teaching. Bihar recorded record construction work during his five year mandate, surpassing the national average.
Nitish Kumar government also initiated bicycle and meal programs – the government gave bicycles to girls who stayed in school – which saw Bihar getting huge number of girls into schools and fall in school drop out rates.[10] Women and extremely backward castes were given 50% reservation in electorals for the first time ever in India. However bicycle scheme of Nitish Government has been criticised by some people because of corruption involved in the scheme. (Source:http://www.rediff.com/news/slide-show/slide-show-1-nitish-kumar-s-dream-project-is-his-worst-nightmare-today/20111212.htm)
Health schemes were launched to improve village hospitals and the free medicine distribution system. Loan schemes for farmers were improved by involving national banks.
The state witnessed steep hike in GSDP growth, the second highest in the country. Bihar was recorded as the highest tax payer state in eastern India.
Dr. Abdul Kalam, former President of India and Nitish Kumar initiated the Nalanda International University project, headed by the Prime Minister of India.
In 2010, Nitish Kumar's party swept back to power along with its ally Bharatiya Janata Party. On 26 November 2010, Nitish Kumar took oath as a Chief Minister of Bihar. This is his second consecutive term as Chief Minister of Bihar.[6]
In a keenly fought contest, Nitish Kumar led JDU-BJP combine won with four-fifth majority. NDA won 206 seats while RJD won 22 seats. No party there has won enough seats to represent the opposition in the state assembly, which requires at least 25 seats to become eligible to represent the main opposition party.
For the first time electorates witnessed high turnout of women and young voters, while this election has been rated as the fairest Bihari election, with no bloodshed or poll violence.
On 22 February 1973, Nitish Kumar married Manju Kumari Sinha, a teacher by profession.They have a son, Nishant, who is a graduate of BIT, Mesra.[11] His wife died in 2007 at the age of 53. He is credited with giving a new face to Bihar. The kind of win his Government registered during 2010 Bihar Assembly is viewed amongst the biggest ever election win by anyone in Indian elections, where the entire opposition was almost wiped off. Many sections of media and political sections consider him as the best Chief Minister from India, able to bring success of governance in a state of turmoil, finishing caste, religion barrier and paving way for development. For his clean and Statesman like status he owns respect from his bitter opponents and all political parties including Congress whose many prominent leaders including chief Sonia Gandhi, Home Minister P. Chidambaram, NCP leader Agatha Sangma and congress Spokesman Ambika Soni , credited Nitish Kumar's clean, pro-citizen development oriented governance. It is a status which currently only Nitish Kumar enjoys, something a rare feat in Indian politics where someone achieves respect and appreciation from opposition along with landslide public support from all sections of Society.
| Period | Positions | Note |
|---|---|---|
| 1977 | Contested first assembly elections on a Janata Party ticket. | |
| 1985–89 | Member, Bihar Legislative Assembly. | First term in Legislative Assembly |
| 1986–87 | Member, Committee on Petitions, Bihar Legislative Assembly. | |
| 1987–88 | President, Yuva Lok Dal, Bihar. | |
| 1987–89 | Member, Committee on Public Undertakings, Bihar Legislative Assembly. | |
| 1989 | Secretary-General, Janata Dal, Bihar. | |
| 1989 | Elected to 9th Lok Sabha. | First term in Lok Sabha |
| 1989-16 July 1990 | Member, House Committee. | Resigned |
| 4/1990-11/1990 | Union Minister of State, Agriculture and Co-operation. | |
| 1991 | Re-elected to 10th Lok Sabha. | 2nd term in Lok Sabha |
| 1991–93 | General-Secretary, Janata Dal. Deputy Leader of Janata Dal in Parliament. |
|
| 17/12/91-10/5/96 | Member, Railway Convention Committee. | |
| 8/4/93-10/5/96 | Chairman, Committee on Agriculture. | |
| 1996 | Re-elected to 11th Lok Sabha. Member, Committee on Estimates. Member, General Purposes Committee. Member, Joint Committee on the Constitution (Eighty-first Amendment Bill, 1996). |
3rd term in Lok Sabha |
| 1996–98 | Member, Committee on Defence. | |
| 1998 | Re-elected to 12th Lok Sabha. | 4th term in Lok Sabha |
| 19/3/98-5/8/99 | Union Cabinet Minister, Railways. | |
| 14/4/98-5/8/99 | Union Cabinet Minister, Surface Transport (additional charge). | |
| 1999 | Re-elected to 13th Lok Sabha. | 5th term in Lok Sabha |
| 13/10/99-22 November 1999 | Union Cabinet Minister, Surface Transport. | |
| 22/11/99-3 March 2000 | Union Cabinet Minister, Agriculture. | |
| 3/3/00-10/3/00 | Chief Minister, Bihar. | as 29th Chief Minister of Bihar, only for 7 days |
| 27/5/00-20 March 2001 | Union Cabinet Minister, Agriculture. | |
| 20/3/01-21 July 2001 | Union Cabinet Minister, Agriculture with additional charge of Railways. | |
| 22/7/01-21 May 2004 | Union Cabinet Minister, Railways | |
| 2004 | Re-elected to 14th Lok Sabha. Member, Committee on Coal & Steel. Member, General Purposes Committee. Member, Committee of Privileges. Leader Janata Dal (U) Parliamentary Party, Lok Sabha. |
6th term in Lok Sabha |
| From 24 November 2005 – 24 November 2010 | Chief Minister, Bihar. | as 31st Chief Minister of Bihar, |
| From 26 November 2010 – Till Date | Chief Minister, Bihar. | as 32nd Chief Minister of Bihar |