Nithish Kumar

Nithish Kumar is the Chief Minister of Bihar. He was born on 01-March-1951 to Kaviraj Ram Lakhan Singh and Parmeshwari Devi in Bakhtiarpur, Bihar. He graduated with a B.Tech degree in 1972. His father is an ayurvedic practitioner. Nithish married Manju Kumari Sinha in 1973.

He joined active politics with the Janata Dal political party. Nitish Kumar belongs to a socialist class of politicians. During his early years as a politician, he was associated with the likes of Jayaprakash Narayan, Ram Manohar Lohia, S.N.Sinha, Karpuri Thakur, and V.P.Singh. Kumar participated in Jayaprakash Narayan’s movement between 1974-1977.

From 1985–1989, he was elected as Member of Bihar Legislative Assembly, from Hainaut constituency first term in Legislative Assembly. He was the Member of the Committee on Petitions from 1986–1987. Nithish appointed as President of Yuva Lok Dal, Bihar from 1987–1988. From 1987–1989 he served as Member of Committee on Public Undertakings, Bihar Legislative Assembly. In 1989, he was selected as General Secretary, Janata Dal, Bihar and elected to 9th Lok Sabha from Barh constituency first term in Lok Sabha.

From 1989-1990, he worked as a Member of the House Committee. In 1990, November he was the Union Minister of State, Agriculture, and Co-operation and he  Re-elected to 10th Lok Sabha in 1991 for the second term. From 1991–1993, he served as General-Secretary, Janata Dal. Nithish appointed as Deputy Leader of Janata Dal in Parliament. From 17-December-1991 to 10-May-1996, he was a Member of the Railway Convention Committee. From 08-April-1993 to 10-May-1996, he selected as Chairman, Committee on Agriculture. In 1996, Nithish Re-elected to 11th Lok Sabha and held the positions of Member, Committee on Estimates, Member of General Purposes Committee. Member of Joint Committee on the Constitution.

Kumar was the Union Minister for Railways and Minister for Surface Transport and later, the Minister for Agriculture from 1998–1999, in the NDA government of Atal Bihari Vajpayee. In August 1999, he resigned following the Gaisal train disaster, for which he took responsibility as a minister. However, in his short stint as Railway Minister, he brought in widespread reforms, such as an internet ticket booking facility in 2002, opening a record number of railway ticket booking counters, and introducing the tatkal scheme for instant booking.

In March 2000, Nitish was elected Chief Minister of Bihar for the first time at the behest of the Vajpayee Government in the center and worked only for 7 days. Later that year, he rejoined the Union Cabinet as Minister for Agriculture. From 2001-2004, he was again selected as the Union Minister for Railways. In the 2004 Lok Sabha elections, he contested elections from two places, when he was elected from Nalanda but lost from his traditional constituency, Barh. Kumar’s government also initiated bicycle and meal programs. Giving bicycles to girls who stayed in school resulted in the state getting a huge number of girls into schools and a reduction in school dropout rates.  He was elected as the National President of his party on 10-April-2016.

Some more Positions he held:

• From 1996–1998                                                         – Member, Committee on Defence
• In 1998                                                                          – Re-elected to 12th Lok Sabha 4th term in Lok Sabha
• In 1999                                                                          – Re-elected to 13th Lok Sabha 5th term in Lok Sabha
• In 2004                                                                         – Re-elected to 14th Lok Sabha, from Nalanda constituency.
• In 2004                                                                         – Member of Committee on Coal & Steel.
• In 2004                                                                         – Member of General Purposes Committee.
• In 2004                                                                         – Member of Committee of Privileges.
• In 2004                                                                         – Leader of Janata Dal
• From 2005–2010                                                       – Chief Minister, Bihar
• In 2006                                                                         – Elected to Bihar Vidhan Parishad (Legislative Council)
• From 2010–2014                                                        – Chief Minister, Bihar
• From 22-February-2015 to 19-November-2015   – Chief Minister, Bihar
• From 20-November-2015 to 26-July-2017             – Chief Minister, Bihar
• In 2017                                                                          –  Chief Minister, Bihar
• In 2018                                                                          –  Elected to Bihar Vidhan Parishad, third term
  

  Awards and Recognition which he got:

• Anuvrat Puraskar, by Shwetambar Terapanthi Mahasabha (Jain organization), for enforcing the total prohibition on liquor in Bihar.
• JP Memorial Award, Nagpur’s Manav Mandir in 2013.
• XLRI, Jamshedpur Sir Jehangir Ghandy Medal for Industrial & Social Peace 2011.
• “MSN” Indian of the Year 2010
• NDTV Indian of the Year – Politics in 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 International
• CNN-IBN Great Indian of the Year – Politics, 2008
• The Best Chief Minister, according to the CNN-IBN and Hindustan Times State of the Nation Poll 2007.