BLUE OCEAN STRATEGY

        
 Blue Ocean Strategy is a business startegy that suggests that an organization should create new demand in an uncontested market space, or a "Blue Ocean", rather than compete head-to-head with other suppliers in an existing industry


Blue Ocean Strategy is growth strategy framework focused on the idea of creating an uncontested market space--i.e. a "blue ocean." This framework is very innovative, as its principles challenge the conventional business strategy principles of fighting competitors head-on. The Blue Ocean Strategy framework evolved from a framework called Value Innovation developed by Gemini Consulting (now Capgemini Consulting) in the late 90s.

पथ की पहचान-poem by Harivamsh Rai Bachan

                पथ की पहचान

             पूर्व चलने के बटोही बाट की पहचान कर ले।

             पुस्तकों में है नही 

             छापी गई इसकी कहानी

             हाल इसका ज्ञात होता 

             है न औरों की ज़बानी

             अनगिनत राही गए 

             इस राह से उनका पता क्या

             पर गए कुछ लोग इस पर
             छोड पैरौं की निशानी

             यह निशानी मूक होकर 

             भी बहुत कुछ बोलती है

             खोल इसका अर्थ पंथी 

             पंथ का अनुमान कर ले।

             पूर्व चलने के बटोही बाट की पहचान कर ले।

             यह बुरा है या कि अच्छा

             व्यर्थ दिन इस पर बिताना

            अब असंभव छोड़ यह पथ

            दूसरे पर पग बढ़ाना

            तू इसे अच्छा समझ

            यात्रा सरल इससे बनेगी

            सोंच मत केवल तुझे ही

            यह पड़ा मन में बिठाना

            हर सफल पंथी यही

            विश्वास ले इस पर बढ़ा है

            तू इसी पर आज अपने

            चित का अवधान कर ले।

            पूर्व चलने के बटोही बाट की पहचान करले।

            है अनिश्चित किस जगह पर

            सरित गिरि गहवर मिलेंगें

            है अनिश्चित किस जगह पर

            बाग बन सुंदर मिलेंगे।

            किस जगह यात्रा खतम हो

            जाएगी यह भी अनिश्चित

            है अनिश्चित कब सुमन कब

            कंटकों के शर मिलेंगे

            कौन सहसा छूट जाएँगे

            मिलेंगे कौन सहसा

            आ पड़े कुछ भी रुकेगा

            तू न ऐसी आन कर ले।

            पूर्व चलने के बटोही बाट की पहचान कर ले।

Shashi Tharoor

Shashi Tharoor  is a Minister of State in Indian goverment and Member of Parliament (MP) from the Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala who entered politics in 2009. Until 2007, he was a career official at the United Nations, rising to Under-Secretary General for Communications and Public Information, but resigning after losing to Ban Ki-moon in the 2007 election for the Secretary-General. After his entry into politics, he served as Minister of State for the Ministry of External Affairs, but resigned in less than a year after a controversy. He became a human resource minister of India again on 28 October 2012.

Childhood and education
Shashi Tharoor, who is a member of the Tharoor Tharavadu of Malyali heritage, was born in London, United Kingdom, to Lily and Chandran Tharoor. After his parents returned to India, he began his schooling at Montfort School in Yercaud, Tamil Nadu and Campion School in Mumbai,and attended high school at St. Xavier’s Collegiate School, Kolkata. Tharoor subsequently obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in history from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi. and went on to pursue graduate studies at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, from where he obtained an M.A in 1976, an M.A.L.D in 1977 and a Ph.D. in 1979 at the age of 23.


Beginning
Shashi Tharoor's career in the United Nations began in 1978 as a staff member of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Geneva. From 1981 to 1984 he headed the UNHCR office in Singapore during the boat people crisis. In 1989 he was appointed as the Special Assistant to the Under-Secretary-General for Special Political Affairs, the unit that later became the Peacekeeping Operations in New York. Until 1996, he led the team responsible for peacekeeping operations in the former Yugoslavia.
[edit]Under-Secretary-General at the UN
In 1996 Tharoor was appointed Director of Communications and Special Projects and as Executive Assistant to the Secretary-General Kofi Annan. In January 2001, he was appointed as the Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information, and as the head of Department of Public Information (UNDPI). In this capacity, he was responsible for the communication strategy, enhancing the image and effectiveness of the UN. In 2003, the Secretary-General appointed him to the additional responsibility of United Nations Coordinator for Multilingualism. During his tenure at the UNDPI, Tharoor reformed his department and undertook a number of initiatives, ranging from organizing and conducting the first-ever UN seminar on anti-Semitism, the first-ever UN seminar on Islamophobia and launching an annual list of "Ten Under-Reported Stories the World Ought to Know About".
On 9 February 2007, Tharoor resigned from the post of UN Under-Secretary-General and left the UN effective 1 April 2007.
Campaign for Secretary-General: 2007


In 2006, Tharoor was nominated by the Government of India for the post of UN Secretary General.Tharoor came a close second (behind Ban Ki-moon) in each of the four straw polls conducted by the UN Security Counciland won the online poll conducted by the BBC News website. After the fourth poll, Ban emerged as the only candidate with the support of all five permanent members, each of whom has the power to veto candidates. Of the seven contenders for the post, Tharoor remained the only other to enjoy a majority in the Security Council. One Permanent Member (later revealed to be the US under the Bush Administration) opposed and China abstained from voting. After the vote, Tharoor withdrew his candidacy expressing his confidence for Ban to win.
Had he been elected, the then 50 year old Shashi Tharoor would have been the second-youngest Secretary-General to be appointed to the post. The first being Dag Hammarskjöld who was appointed at the age of 46 years.
Post-UN career
In February 2007, amidst rampant speculation about his post-UN future, it was presciently reported in the Indian press that Tharoor might be inducted into council of ministers of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as Minister of State for External AffairsIn the same month, it was reported in an American gossip blog that Tharoor was a finalist for the position of dean of the USC Annenberg School for Communication in Los Angeles, though he withdrew his name from consideration at the final stage Instead, Dr. Tharoor—in addition to a variety of other activities in his private life— became chairman of Dubai-based Afras Ventures, which established the Afras Academy for Business Communication (AABC) in Trivandrum, Kerala, India. He also spoke widely around the globe about India and Kerala, the state where he spent increasing amounts of time before moving for good in October 2008.

Political career in India

In March 2009, Shashi Tharoor contested the Indian General Elections in 2009 as Congress Party candidate from Thiruvananthapuram (Lok Sabha constituency) in Kerala. His opponents included P. Ramachandran Nair of the Communist Party of India (CPI), Neelalohitadasan Nadar of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), M.P. Gangadharan of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and P. K. Krishna Das of Bharathiya Janata Party (BJP).Despite being criticized as an "elite outsider" he went on to win defeating his nearest CPI rival P. Ramachandran Nair by a margin of approximately 100,000 votes. Subsequently Shashi Tharoor was selected as Minister of State in the Council of Ministers of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. On 28 May 2009 he was sworn in as the Indian Minister of State for External Affairs.
Tharoor become the first Indian celebrity to get 100,000 followers on Twitter. However, some of his tweets (or Twitter posts) proved controversial and were quoted by the press and opposition parties to criticize his work. On 18 April 2010 Tharoor resigned from his post as Minister of State for External Affairs on instructions from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, following allegations that he had misused his office to get shares in the IPL cricket franchise of Cochin. Tharoor denied the charges and in his resignation speech called for a full inquiry. On 2 May 2010, he was nominated to be a member of the Parliamentary Standing Committee for External Affairs by Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar.

Literary career

Tharoor has written numerous books in English.
Tharoor has been a columnist in each of India's three best-known English-language newspapers,most recently for The Hindu newspaper (2001–2008) and in a weekly column, “Shashi on Sunday,” in the Times of India (January 2007 – December 2008). Following his resignation as Minister of State for External Affairs, he began a fortnightly column on foreign policy issues in the "Deccan Chronicle". Previously he was a columnist for the Gentleman[citation needed] magazine and the Indian Express newspaper, as well as a frequent contributor to Newsweek International and the International Herald Tribune. His Op-Eds and book reviews have appeared in the Washington Post,[citation needed] the New York Times[citation needed] and the Los Angeles Times,[citation needed] amongst other papers. His monthly column, "India Reawakening", distributed by Project Syndicate, appears in some 80 newspapers around the world.
Tharoor began writing at the age of six[citation needed] and his first published story appeared in the “Bharat Jyoti”, the Sunday edition of "The Free Press Journal", in Mumbai at age 10.[citation needed] His World War II adventure novel Operation Bellows, inspired by the Biggles books, was serialized in the Junior Statesman starting a week before his 11th birthday. Each of his books has been a best-seller in India.[citation needed] The Great Indian Novel is currently in its 28th edition in India and his newest volume. The Elephant, the Tiger and the Cellphone has undergone seven hardback re-printings there
Tharoor has lectured widely on India,and is often quoted for his observations, including, "India is not, as people keep calling it, an underdeveloped country, but rather, in the context of its history and cultural heritage, a highly developed one in an advanced state of decay." He has also coined a memorable comparison of India's "thali" to the American "melting pot": "If America is a melting pot, then to me India is a thali - a selection of sumptuous dishes in different bowls. Each tastes different, and does not necessarily mix with the next, but they belong together on the same plate, and they complement each other in making the meal a satisfying repast.".

Personal life

He has been an elected Fellow of the New York Institute for the Humanities and a member of the Advisory Board of the Indo-American Arts Council and also served on the Board of Directors of Breakthrough, an international human rights organization, the Board of Overseers of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, the Board of Trustees of the Aspen Institute, and as an International Adviser to the International Committee of the Red Cross. He also supported various educational causes, including as Patron of the Modern High School in Dubai.

At the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy in 1976, he founded and was the first chair of the editorial board of the Fletcher Forum of International Affairs, a journal examining issues in international relations.
Later he was married to Christa, a Canadian working at the United Nations. After their divorce, Tharoor married Sunanda Pushkar in at his ancestral home in Elavanchery village in Kerala's Palakkad district on 22 August 2010.
[edit]Controversies

A controversy erupted when Tharoor, responding to the question as to whether he would travel in "Cattle Class", replied that he would do so. This remark on Twitter (@ShashiTharoor), equated the travelling public to cattle and also taunted his party, the Indian National Congress over their austerity drive. It was also reported that Congress may take action against him. However, this was subsequently resolved when Tharoor met his party leadership and offered them an apology/explanation.
Another controversy erupted on Gandhi Jayanti when he said people should be working rather than staying at home taking a holiday, thereby paying real homage to Mahatma Gandhi.
Tharoor was in the news again for publicly criticizing the new visa guidelines adopted by the Indian Government in the wake of the gaps exposed by the arrest of 26/11 terror suspects, David Headley and Tahawwur Rana. For this he was criticized for breaking ranks with the official position of the Government. He later met External Affairs Minister, SM Krishna and explained his position on the issue. The rules were subsequently partly modified.
In January 2010, Tharoor criticized Gandhi and Nehru for their vision on Indian foreign policy by the Indian media. This angered his party, the Indian National Congress. In the wake of this controversy, he held a press conference describing the report as "inaccurate" and "tendentious"."
In February 2010 when accompanying the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on a three-day visit to Saudi Arabia, he said "We feel that Saudi Arabia has a long and close relationship with Pakistan, that makes Saudi Arabia even more a valuable interlocutor for us. When we tell them about our experience, Saudi Arabia listens as somebody who is not in any way an enemy of Pakistan, but a friend of Pakistan and, therefore, will listen with sympathy and concern to a matter of this nature". He was asked whether India expected Saudi Arabia, given their close ties with Islamabad, to help address the terror threat from Pakistan. The remark about Saudi Arabia being a "valuable interlocutor" raised a strong reaction within the Indian political circle. The Pakistani press even went on to report that he had proposed that Saudi Arabia play a mediator's role in improving India's relationship with Pakistan. In response, Tharoor tweeted saying, "An interlocutor is someone you speak to. If I speak to you, you are my interlocutor. I mentioned the Saudis as our interlocutors, i.e. the people we are here to speak to".
Main article: India – Saudi Arabia relations, section '2010 visit to Saudi Arabia by Manmohan Singh'

In February 2010, a website called "Keralawatch" published an investigative report which alleged that Tharoor used incomplete records to enrol his name in the voter's list in Thiruvananthapuram constituency.
Lalit Modi published the shareholders details of Kochi-IPL team's franchise owners, Rendezvous Sports World (RSW) group in his Twitter account and also mentioned that he was asked by an influential Union Minister not to get into details of Sunanda Pushkar, who was given a sweat equity of approximately 4.5 per cent of total equity (estimated by the media to be worth Rs 70 crore) in Kochi IPL team. In an official statement, Tharoor denied having made any financial gains from the sale or having pressured Modi in any way. He further accused Modi of trying to delay and discredit the new owners so that the franchise can be re-awarded elsewhere. RSW protested Modi's breach of confidentiality agreement. Sunanda Pushkar also issued a statement denying being a proxy for Tharoor. Later amidst demands for his resignation from the Union Cabinet by the opposition parties, Sunanda Pushkar gave up the sweat equity offered to her by RSW.But tht Income Tax department stated that she will have to pay income tax on her sweat equity in Rendezvous Sports World even after having given it up and non payment will lead to her arrest. Allegations that this was pay back for denying a request to not issue a visa to a South African model close to Lalit Modi have surfaced, and so have death threats to Shashi Tharoor by the Mumbai underworld. Under severe push from Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee combine, the Congress core committee decided to ask for Tharoor's resignation..18 April 2010 Shashi Tharoor resigned from the post of Minister of State in MEA after calling for a full inquiry into the matter.
[edit]Honors, awards and international recognition

1990 – Wins the Federation of Indian Publishers' Hindustan Times Literary Award for the Best Book of the Year for The Great Indian Novel.[citation needed]
1991 – His book The Great Indian Novel wins the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for the Best Book of the Year in the Eurasian Region.
1998 – Awarded the Excelsior Award for excellence in literature by the Association of Indians in America (AIA) and the Network of Indian Professionals (NetIP).
2000 – Conferred the honorary degree of Doctor of Letters in International Affairs by the University of Puget Sound
1998 – Named Global Leader of Tomorrow by the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland[citation needed]
2004 – Awarded the prestigious Pravasi Bharatiya Samman, India’s highest honour for non-resident Indians. But did not accept it at the time owing to UN rules prohibiting acceptance of governmental honours.
2007 – Went on to accept the award after having resigned from the position of Under Secretary General at the UN.
2008 – Conferred a Doctorate Honoris Causa by the University of Bucharest, Romania.
2009 – Awarded the Zakir Hussain Memorial "Pride of India" Award.
2009 – Awarded GQ's Inspiration of the Year Award at its Man of the Year Awards.
2009 – Presented with the Hakim Khan Sur Award for National Integration by the Maharana of Udaipur
2010 – Awarded the Sarva Deshiya Prathibha award by the Pazhassiraja Charitable Trust, Kozhikode.
March 2010 – Awarded "New Age Politician of the Year" Award by NDTV at its Indian of the Year awards.
2010 – Awarded the Fifth IILM Distinguished Global Thinker Award in New Delhi
2010 – Awarded Digital person of the year at the first ever Indian Digital Media Awards (IDMA) for popularising the digital medium in India

Pranab Mukherjee

Pranab Kumar Mukherjee  is the 13th and current President of India, in office since July 2012. In a political career spanning six decades, Mukherjee was a senior leader of the Indian National Congress and occupied several ministerial portfolios in the Government of India. Prior to his election as President in July 2012, Mukherjee was Union Finance Minister, and the Congress party's top troubleshooter.
In 1969, Mukherjee got his break in politics thanks to Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, who helped him get elected to the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of India's Parliament, on a Congress ticket. Following a meteoric rise in the early phase of his career, he became one of Indira's most trusted lieutenants, and a minister in her cabinet in 1973. Mukherjee's service in a number of ministerial capacities culminated in his first stint as Finance Minister in 1982–84. Mukherjee was Leader of the House in the Rajya Sabha from 1980 to 1985.
Mukherjee was sidelined from the Congress during the Prime Ministership of Rajiv Gandhi, Indira's son. Mukherjee had viewed himself, and not the inexperienced Rajiv, as the rightful successor to Indira following her assassination in 1984. Mukherjee lost out in the ensuing power struggle. He formed his own party, the Rashtriya Samajwadi Congress, which merged with the Congress in 1989 after reaching a compromise with Rajiv Gandhi. Mukherjee's political career revived when Prime Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao appointed him Planning Commission head in 1991 and Foreign Minister in 1995. Following this, as elder statesman of the Congress, Mukherjee was the principal architect of Sonia Gandhi's (Rajiv's widow) entry into politics in the late 1990s.
When the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) came into power in 2004, Mukherjee, never a mass leader, won a Lok Sabha (lower house of Parliament) seat for the first time. From then until his resignation in 2012, Mukherjee was number-two in Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's government. He held a number of key cabinet portfolios—Defence (2004–06), External Affairs (2006–09) and Finance (2009–12)—apart from heading several Groups of Ministers (GoMs) and being Leader of House in the Lok Sabha. After securing the UPA's nomination for the country's Presidency, Mukherjee easily bested P. A. Sangma in the race to Rashtrapati Bhavan, winning 70 percent of the vote.

Contents

Early life

His father Kamada Kinkar Mukherjee was a member of AICC, and West Bengal Legislative Council (1952–64), and President, District Congress Committee, Birbhum (WB). He attended the Suri Vidyasagar College, Suri (Birbhum), then affiliated with the University of Calcutta.

He holds a Master of Arts degrees in History and Political Science & has a degree in law from the University of Calcutta. He has been an advocate and a college teacher in his long public career. In 2011 he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Letters degree by University of Wolverhampton.

Professional career

Mukherjee began his career as a college-teacher and later as a journalist. He worked for noted Bengali publication Desher Dak (Call of Motherland). He also became trustee of Bangiya Sahitya Parishad and later President of Nikhil Bharat Banga Sahitya Sammelan.

Political career

He has a parliamentary career of over four decades, which began as a member of Rajya Sabha (upper house) from the Congress Party in 1969; he was re-elected in 1975, 1981, 1993 and 1999. In 1973, he joined the cabinet as Union Deputy Minister, Industrial Development. He rose through a series of cabinet posts to become the Finance Minister of India from 1982 to 1984.His term was noted for India not withdrawing the last billion instalment of an IMF loan. Dr. Manmohan Singh was serving Reserve Bank of India as Governor during Pranab's term as Finance Minister. He was not included in Rajiv Gandhi's cabinet after Lok Sabha election held subsequent to Indira Gandhi's assassination. He was pushed out of the Congress party for a brief period, and during this period he formed his own political party Rashtriya Samajwadi Congress, but later merged it with Congress party in 1989 after settlement with Rajiv Gandhi. His political career revived when P.V. Narasimha Rao chose to appoint him as deputy chairman of the planning commission and subsequently as a union cabinet minister. He served as External Affairs Minister for the first time from 1995 to 1996 in Rao's cabinet. In 1997 he was voted Outstanding Parliamentarian.

He was the President of the West Bengal state unit of Congress since 1985, but resigned in July 2010 due to work-load and was succeeded by Manas Bhunia. In 2004, when the Congress formed a government at the head of a coalition the new Congress Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was only a Rajya Sabha MP. So Pranab Mukherjee was made Leader of the House in the Lok Sabha when he won the Lok Sabha elections for the first time from Jangipur (Lok Sabha constituency). He also has the distinction of being a Minister for various high profile Ministries including Defence, Finance, External Affairs, Revenue, Shipping, Transport, Communication, Economic Affairs, Commerce and Industry. He also heads the Congress Parliamentary Party and the Congress Legislative Party which consists of all the Congress MPs and MLAs in the country apart from being Leader of the House in Lok Sabha, Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee President and the Union Cabinet Minister of Finance in the Council of Ministers under Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the Congress-led Government. Pranab played crucial role in steering the Cabinet pre Lok Sabha elections when the Prime Minister underwent by-pass surgery by taking additional charges as chairman of the Cabinet Committee Of Political Affairs and Union Minister in Finance Ministry despite already being Union Minister of External Affairs.

International role

Mukherjee and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice signed the Section 123 Agreement on October 10, 2008. He has been a member of the Board of Governors of the International Monetary Fund, of the World Bank, of the Asian Development Bank, and of the African Development Bank.

In 1984, he chaired the Group of 24 attached to the IMF and World Bank. Between May and November 1995, he presided over the SAARC Council of Ministers Conference.

He was the first appointed by the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, to ease issues over the campaign initiated by Anna Hazare on day 8 of his fast, that is 23 August 2011.

Political party role

Mukherjee is very well respected within the party social circles." Other media accounts describe him as having "a reputation as a number-crunching politician with a phenomenal memory and an unerring survival instinct."

After Sonia Gandhi reluctantly agreed to join politics, Mukherjee was one of her key mentors, guiding her through difficult situations with examples of how her mother-in-law, Indira Gandhi would have done things. Mukherjee's unfailing loyalty and competence have led to his closeness to Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh, and helped him gain the position of Minister of Defence when the party came to power in 2004.

He has also held the position of Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission from 1991 to 1996.

His talents were on display during the negotiations for the Patent's Amendment Bill in early 2005. The Congress was committed to passing an IP bill, but their allies in the United Progressive Alliance from the Left front had a long tradition of opposing some of the monopoly aspects of intellectual property. Pranab Mukherjee, as Defence Minister, was not formally involved but was roped in for his negotiation skills. He drew on many old alliances including the CPI-M leader Jyoti Basu, and formed new intermediary positions, which included product patent and little else. Then he had to convince his own colleagues including commerce minister Kamal Nath, at one point saying: "An imperfect legislation is better than no legislation." Finally the bill was approved on March 23, 2005.

Foreign Minister: October 2006

On 24 October 2006, he was appointed as the External Affairs Minister of India. His replacement in the Defence Ministry is A. K. Antony, a senior Congress Party politician and former Chief Minister of the southern state of Kerala.

Mukherjee was briefly considered for the post of the largely ceremonial Indian presidency. But his name was subsequently dropped after his contribution in the Union Cabinet was considered practically indispensable. Among Mukherjee's current legacy was the successful signing of the U.S.-India Civil Nuclear Agreement with the US government and then with the Nuclear Suppliers Group, allowing India to participate in civilian nuclear trade in spite of not having signed theNuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. He is also awarded the Padma Vibhushan, India's second highest civilian honor in 2007.

Finance Minister

Pranab Mukherjee's first stint as the Finance minister of India was during the Indira Gandhi government in 1982. He presented his first annual budget in 1982-83. In the second government of Manmohan Singh, he again became the Finance Minister of India, a job he had held earlier, in the 1980s. On July 6, 2009, he presented the government's annual budget. In it, he announced many tax reforms, such as the scrapping of the 'irritant' Fringe Benefits Tax and the Commodities Transaction Tax. He announced, that the Finance Ministry, was well on track, to implement the Goods and Services Tax, a tax, that has been praised by major corporate executives, and economists. He also expanded funding for social sector schemes, like the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, girl's literacy, and health care. Also, he expanded infrastructure programmes, like the National Highway Development Programme, expansion of electricity coverage, and the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission. However, many people, expressed concern, about the rising fiscal deficit, the highest since 1991. Mukherjee said, that the expansion in government spending was only temporary, and he said that the government, was committed to the principle of fiscal prudence. He presented the 2009 Union budget of India as well as 2010 Union budget of India and the 2011 budget.

The 2010-11 budget includes the country's first explicit target to cut public debt as a proportion of GDP and he is targeting a budget deficit reduction to 4.1% of GDP in fiscal year 2012-13, from 6.5% in 2008-09.

Contender for President

After his unsatisfied wish to become the Prime Minister of India, Pranab Mukherjee is considered as an eligible candidate for the President of India. The elections are happening in July 2012 after the five-states scheduled elections. The currentVice-President of India Hamid Ansari is expected to contest against Pranab Mukherjee in the elections.

Views and opinions

On corruption

In an interview to rediff.com in 1998, he was asked about the sleaze in the Congress government, in which he was the Minister for External Affairs. He replied:

Corruption is an issue. We have dealt with it in the manifesto. But I am sorry to say that these scams are not confined to the Congress or the Congress government alone. There are so many scams. So many leaders of various political parties are involved in them. So it would be too simplistic to say that the Congress government was involved in scams.

Controversies, allegations and accusations

Mukherjee was a Minister in Indira Gandhi's Cabinet during the infamous Emergency and was held by many to be personally responsible for some of the excesses. He was summoned before the Shah Commission but followed Mrs. Gandhi's lead in refusing to resign before it. A police case was registered against him which was withdrawn when Mrs. Gandhi returned to power.

S. Gurumurthy and Arun Shourie exposed how Pranab Mukerjee, the then Finance Minister of India helped Reliance Industries against Bombay Dyeing through differential taxation by influencing the Income Tax Department in textile industry. As a result Bombay Dyeing was almost decimated.

Mukherjee was involved in handling Taslima Nasreen's house arrest in Delhi, as the Foreign Minister. Dealing with a situation involving her expulsion for Kolkata, anger from Islamic radicals, and her protection in a safehouse, Mukherjee received criticism for actions leading to Nasreen's eventual departure from India in March 2008.

He has also been accused of threatening banks if they invest in Gujarat by sending the Income Tax Department sleuths after them, a state governed by the Bharatiya Janata Party

Personal life

Pranab Mukherjee married Suvra Mukherjee on July 13, 1957 and has two sons, Abhijit and Indrajit and a daughter. He is inspired by Deng Xiaoping & has quoted him quite frequently. His hobbies are reading, gardening and music.

Honours, awards and international recognition

In 1984, he was rated as the best Finance Minister of the World according to a survey of Euromoney magazine. In 2010 he was awarded "Finance Minister of the Year for Asia" by Emerging Markets, the daily newspaper of record for the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). In December 2010 The Banker recognised him as "Finance Minister of the Year" after making significant inroads into budget deficit reduction, throughout a turbulent year.

Nitish Kumar

Nitish Kumār ( born 1 March 1951) is an Indian politician who has been Chief Minister of Bihar, an eastern state of India, since 2005. 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.

Early life and career

Nitish Kumār was born in Bakhtiarpur, Bihar to Kaviraj Ram Lakhan Singh and Parmeshwari Devi in a Kurmi family. 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'. He is a teetotaler, does not smoke, and is a frugal eater.

He has a degree in electrical engineering from the Bihar College of Engineering,Patna now NIT Patna . He joined the Bihar State Electricity Board, but almost halfheartedly,and later moved into politics.

Political career

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.

Early career

Nitish Kumar participated in Jayaprakash Narayan's movement 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) . 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. Nitish was aligned with Laloo Prasad Yadav for years before they parted ways and Janata Dal (United) came into existence in 2003.

During his term as Minister of Railways, he brought widespread reforms.

Union Minister in Centre

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 Sabhabetween 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.

Chief Minister of Bihar

1st Term (3 March 2000 – 10 March 2000)

On 3 March 2000, Nitish Kumar was appointed the Chief Minister of Bihar, but he resigned seven days later because failed to prove majority.

2nd Term (24 November 2005 – 24 November 2010)

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 called Jankari scheme. 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.^[13] 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.

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.

3rd Term (26 November 2010 – Till Now)

In a keenly fought contest, Nitish Kumar led JDU-BJP combine won with four-fifth majorit 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 last time electorates witnessed high turnout of women and young voters, while this declared as the fairest Bihari election, with no bloodshed or poll violence.

Personal life

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. 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 Alliance 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 Statesmanship 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.

Awards and recognition

• XLRI,Jamshedpur "Sir Jehangir Ghandy Medal" for Industrial & Social Peace 2011.
• "MSN Indian of the year 2010"
• NDTV Indian of the Year – Politics, 2010
• Forbes "India's Person of the Year", 2010
• CNN-IBN "Indian of the Year Award" – Politics, 2010
• NDTV Indian of the year – Politics, 2009
• Economics Times "Business reformer of the Year 2009".
• 'Polio Eradication Championship Award' 2009, by Rotary Internationals.
• CNN-IBN Great Indian of the Year – Politics, 2008
• The Best Chief Minister, according to the CNN-IBN and HT State of the Nation Poll 2007.

Prakash Karat

Prakash Karat , born on February 7, 1948 in Letpadan, Burma is a communist politician in India and the current General Secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) since 2005.

Education and early career

Prakash Karat was born in Letpadan, Burma on February 7, 1948. His father worked in the Burma Railways, where he had sought employment during the British Raj. Prakash Karat is a Malayali, as his family hailed from Elappully,Palakkad, Kerala. Prakash Karat lived in Palakkad till the age of five before returning to Burma where he lived with his family till the age of nine, when his family left Burma for good in 1957. Karat studied in the Madras Christian College School in Chennai. On finishing school, he won the first prize in an all India essay competition on the Tokyo Olympics. He was sent on a ten day visit to the Tokyo Olympics in 1964 as a result. He went to the Madras Christian College as an undergraduate student in Economics, where he won the prize for the best all round student on graduation. He got a scholarship to Britain’s University of Edinburgh, for a Masters degree in politics. In 1970 he received an MSc degree from Edinburgh University for the thesis "Language and politics in modern India". It was at Edinburgh that he became active in student politics and met Professor Victor Kiernan, the well-known Marxist historian. His political activism began with anti-apartheid protests at the University, for which he was rusticated. The rustication was suspended on good behaviour. Karat returned to India in 1970 and joined the premier institution, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. He worked as an aide to A.K.Gopalan, the leader of the CPI(M) group in Parliament from 1971 to 1973 while doing his Ph.D. in JNU. Karat was one of the founders of the Students Federation of India (SFI), the CPI(M)’s student wing, in Jawaharlal Nehru University. He was involved with student politics and was elected the third president of the Jawaharlal Nehru University Student's Union. He also became the second President of the Students Federation of India between 1974 to 1979. He worked underground for one and a half years during the Emergency in India in 1975-76. He was arrested twice and spent 8 days in prison.

Personal life

Prakash Karat married Brinda Karat, then a party colleague, in 1975. Brinda worked in the Air India office in London, before she became a CPI(M) fulltime cadre. Brinda has also risen through the party ranks and is a member of the Politburo. Brinda Karat hails from the state of Bengal. The Karats have no children, by choice.

Communist Party

After returning to India in 1970, Karat joined the Jawaharlal Nehru University and thereafter Communist Party of India (Marxist). He began working as an aide to the party leader A K Gopalan, the legendary communist leader from Kerala. He was the Secretary of the Delhi State Committee of the CPI(M) from 1982 to 1985. Prakash Karat was elected to the Central Committee of the CPI (M) in 1985 and became a member of the ‘Politburo’ in 1992. He took over as the General Secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) in 2005 at the 18th Congress of the Party held in Delhi.

Party Leader

Karat was elected to the Central Committee of the CPI (M) in 1985 and became a member of the Politburo in 1992. The Politburo is the key decision making wing of the party. In 2005, he was elected General Secretary, effectively the most influential position in the party structure.

Academic and political writings

Since 1992, Karat has been on the editorial board of CPI(M)'s academic journal, The Marxist. He is also the managing director of Leftword. He is the author of five books.

• Language, Nationality and Politics in India (1972)
• A World to Win -- Essays on the Communist Manifesto (1999), edited
• Across Time and Continents: A tribute to Victor Kiernan (2003), edited
• Subordinate Ally: The nuclear deal and India-US strategic relations (2008)
• politics and policies(2008)

Nitin Gadkari

Nitin Gadkari (born 27 May 1957)is a senior Indian politician and the current President of the Bharatiya Janata Party. He is best known for the works during his tenure as a Public Works Department Minister in the state of Maharashta when he constructed a series of roads,highways and flyovers across the state including the Yashwantrao Chavan Mumbai–Pune Expressway  At the fag end of his tenure of BJP President he draws a lot of criticicm for inducting Babu singh Kushwaha in BJP fold, . The recen controversy erupted on awarding Anshuman Mishra a rajya sabha seat also created open recentment within party .Acccusation of auctioning party seat have been raised against gadkari .

Background, family and education

Nitin Gadkari was born in Nagpur, India, to a middle class family hailing from Nagpur district. During his teens, he worked for the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha and the student union ABVP.

He started his political career as a grass-root worker who laid down red carpets prior to party programmes. He did his Ph.D., L.L.B and D.B.M. from Maharashtra, India.

Nitin Gadkari is married to Kanchan Gadkari and they have three children; Nikhil, Sarang and Ketki. He currently lives in Nagpur close to the head office ofRashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.

Political career

Nitin Gadkari served as the Minister of Public Works Department(pwd) of the Govt. of Maharashtra from 1995 to 1999 and restructured it from top to bottom. He has served as the president of the Maharashtra BJP.

Support for privatization

He showed strong support for privatization when he campaigned for investment in the infrastructure areas from private firms. He addressed several meetings between private investors, contractors, builders and various trade organizations and diverted large amounts of budgeted projects towards privatization. He managed to convince the state to allocate Rs. 700 Crores for rural connectivity. In the next 4 years, 98% of the total population of Maharashtra achieved an all-weather road connectivity. It also helped to solve the malnutrition problems prevailing in remote Melghat-Dharni area of Amravati district which previously had no access to medical aid, ration or educational facilities. The project aimed to connect 13,736 remote villages which remained unconnected since independence by road.

Chairman of NRRDC

The Union Government appointed him the Chairman of National Rural Road Development Committee. After a series of meetings and studies, Shri Gadkari submitted his report to the central government and gave the presentation to the Hon. Prime Minister of India. His new report was accepted and a new rural road connecting scheme now popularly known as Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana was launched. The ambitious scheme is of Rs. 60,000 crores.

Positions served

• Ex Minister, Govt Of Maharashtra
• Chairman, Purti Group Of Companies
• President, Bharatiya Janata Party, Maharashtra State
• Ex-Leader of Opposition, Maharashtra Legislative Council
• Former Minister for Public Works Department, Maharashtra State
• Member of Legislative Council, Maharashtra State
• Elected to the Maharashtra Govt. Legislative Council in 1989 from graduates constituency, Nagpur Region.
• Re-Elected in the year 1990.
• Re-Elected in the year 1996 and elected unopposed in 2002.
• Inducted in the Maharashtra State Government Cabinet as the Minister for Public Works on May 27 1995.
• Ex-Member of the High Power Committee for Privatisation, Government of Maharashtra.
• Ex-Chairman, Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation, India.
• Ex-Guardian Minister for Nagpur District, Govt. of Maharashtra.
• Ex-Chairman, Mining policy Implementation Committee, Govt. of Maharashtra.
• Ex-Chairman, Metropolis Beautification Committee, Govt. of Maharashtra.
• Ex-Leader of Opposition, Maharashtra Legislative Council, Chairman National Rural Road Development Committee
• Chairman, Review Committee of CPWD, Govt. of India.
• State President of Bhartiya Janata Party, Maharashtra.

After a successful stint as PWD Minister, Gadkari took over as President of the Maharashtra State Unit of the BJP in 2004. In 2009, when the BJP National President Rajnath Singh's term ended in December, Gadkari succeeded him as the youngest ever President of BJP.

Industrial career

Nitin Gadkari does not consider himself a career politician. He is known to control these establishments in the following way;

• Poly sack Industrial Society Ltd - Founder and Chairman.
• Nikhil Furniture and Appliances Pvt. Ltd - Promoter and Director.
• Antyodaya Trust - Founder and Member.
• Empress Employees Co-operative Paper Mills Ltd - Founder and Chairman.

Gadkari is also an agriculturist. He has not only promoted but also has major interests in the fields of Water Management, Solar Energy Projects and the use of modern tools in agriculture. Recently, he started exporting fruits to various countries under the banner Ketaki overseas Trading Company.

Awards

He has been honored with the Bombay Bhushan Award and has also been felicitated by various organizations in Mumbai.