Vishvjit Singh

Vishvjit Prithvijit Singh (born 29 October 1946 in Jalandhar) is an Indian politician with the Indian National Congress party. He is a great grandson of Col the Honourable Kanwar Sir Pratap Singh Bahadur of Kapurthala.[1]

Sri Vishvjit Singh of Kapurthala

Biography

Singh 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.).[2] He was first elected to the Rajya Sabha (the Upper House of the Indian Parliament)in April 1982, representing the State of Maharashtra. He returned for a second term in April 1988.[1]

In 1989, he married Kanwarani Vijay Thakur Singh, who is a diplomat of the Indian Foreign Service and is currently the Indian High Commissioner at Singapore[3]

Singh has been a delegate to several International Conferences as well as to the United Nations General Assembly a number of times. He has been a member of numerous committees of the Indian Parliament and has also done work in the field of perspective planning. He has written extensively in magazines and newspapers on issues mainly related to planning perspectives.

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 SMSs, and establishing a support team.[4][5]

Singh supports dividing the larger Indian states into smaller units.[6]

n 2010, he wrote a book of Hindi poetry entitled Kuch Shabd Kuch Lakeerein, published by Yatra Books, the Hindi imprint of Penguin India. The book was released at the Doon Literary Festival in April 2010.[7]

Controversies

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 a state of which he was supposedly not a resident 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.[8] The matter regarding the anomaly in the law was finally settled by an amendment to the law and all these prosecutions have lapsed.[9]

Health issues

Singh has been overweight ever since childhood. Upon his election to Parliament, then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi ordered Arun Nehru to help him lose weight, as he was nearly 160 kg; his weight dropped to as low as 108 kg once while he was hospitalised for a heart attack, but increased again soon afterward.[10]

Committee memberships

Other positions

Publications

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "Rajya Sabha Members: Biographical sketches, 1953–2003". Rajya Sabha. Archived from the original on 28 January 2008. Retrieved 10 December 2007.
  2. ↑ Outlook Magazine, Nov 8 2010
  3. ↑ http://www.mea.gov.in/press-releases.htm?dtl/21210/Smt+Vijay+Thakur+Singh+appointed+as+the+next+High+Commissioner+of+India+to+Singapore
  4. ↑ "Political Parties Can't Do Without Internet!". Financial Express. 18 April 2004. Retrieved 7 April 2008.
  5. ↑ Khanna, Shweta (8 April 2004). "It's election Time". Dataquest. Retrieved 7 April 2008.
  6. ↑ Singh, Vishvjit (2007). "The Benefits of reorganization". Seminar Magazine. Retrieved 7 April 2008.
  7. ↑ http://www.tribuneindia.com/2010/20100405/dplus.htm#6
  8. ↑ Hazarika, Sanjoy (30 January 1994). "India's Election Commissioner Gains a Following". The New York Times. Retrieved 10 December 2007.
  9. ↑ "No domicile clause for RS elections". The Times of India. 23 August 2006. Retrieved 7 April 2008.
  10. ↑ Chadha, Kumkum (29 March 2007). "Party heavyweight". Hindustan Times. Archived from the original on 3 December 2007. Retrieved 10 December 2007.
  11. ↑ "All India Congress Committee: Committees". Indian National Congress. Archived from the original on 23 October 2007. Retrieved 10 December 2007.
  12. ↑ "All India Congress Committee: Departments & Cells". Indian National Congress. Archived from the original on 23 October 2007. Retrieved 10 December 2007.

Further reading

External links

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