Arvind Kejriwal Biography
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| Arvind Kejriwal |
Arvind
Kejriwal is an Indian Politician. He is the leader of the Aam Aadmi Party
(AAP). He served as the 7th Chief Minister of Delhi. He was in the
chair of Chief Minister from28 December, 2013 to 14 February, 2014. In
the upcoming 2014 Loksabha Election he is contesting from Varanasi
Constituency, Uttar Pradesh. He lives in Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh.
Early
Life
Kejriwal
was born on 16August, 1968 in Siwani in the district of Bhiwani, Haryana. He is
the first of the 3 children of his parents. His father is Gobind Ram Kejriwal
and mother is Gita Devi. Gobind Ram was an electrical engineer. His work led to
many changes in their family's residence. Arvind spent most of his childhood in
North Indian towns--Sonepat,Ghaziabad and Hisar.
Education
and Career
Kejriwal
started his education in Hisar. He graduated from the Indian Institute of
Technology, Kharagpur. He specialised in Mechanical Engineering. He
started his career as an employee of Tata Steel in
1989. He was posted in Jamshedpur. He resigned from there in 1992. Then he
started studying for the Civil Services Examination. Passing the
Civil Service, he started working as a Joint Commissioner in the
Income Tax Department in 1995. He took 2 years' paid leave to pursue
higher education in 2000. He rejoined in 2003. After serving for 3 years, he
resigned from the Income Tax Department in February, 2006. Kejriwal resigned
because Government attempted to malign him because of his involvement with Team Anna.
Early
Activities
In
the month of December, 1999, while Kejriwal was with the Income Tax
Department, he helped found a movement ‘Parivartan’.
‘Parivartan’
means ‘Change’. He believes "Change begins with small things".
Main
focus of ‘Parivartan’ was to assist the citizens in navigating income tax,
electricity and food ration matters in parts of Delhi. In 2008, the
organisation ‘Parivartan’ exposed a fake ration card scam. ‘Parivartan’ was
largely moribund by 2012.
Ramon
Magsaysay Award
Kejriwal
was given the Ramon Magsaysay Award in 2006 for his involvement with
‘Parivartan’. He was honoured because he empowered New Delhi's poorest citizens
to fight corruption.
Right
to Information
Kejriwal
established the Public Cause Research Foundation together with Manish
Sisodia and Abhinandan Sekhri in December, 2006, He donated the prize
money he had received from the Ramon Magsaysay Award as a seed fund.
The PCRF (Public Cause Research Foundation) paid the employees of
‘Parivartan’. Kejriwal started using the Right to Information Act in corruption
cases in many government departments. He used it in the Income Tax
Department, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, the Public Distribution System and the
Delhi Electricity Board.
Jan
Lokpal Bill
In
2011, India faced a never seen campaign for Jan Lokpal Bill. Anna Hazare was
the main leader of that movement. Kejriwal was one of the leaders of the
movement. He had been arrested for his support of Anna. Then he got bail and
was selected as the civil society representative member of the
committee constituted by the Government of India to draft a Jan Lokpal
bill. On 1 January, 2014 the President Pranab Mukherjee signed on the bill and
it got status of an act.
Political
Career
Kejriwal
believes that electoral politics is the next logical step in the fight against
corruption. So, he established the Aam Admi Party (AAP) in November, 2012. ‘Aam Aadmi’
means ‘common man’. AAP contested in the 2013 Assembly Election in Delhi. AAP
won 28 out of 70 seats. Kejriwal defeated incumbent Chief Minister Sheila
Dikshit in her constituency of New Delhi.
Chief
Minister of Delhi
Indian
National Congress (INC) supported AAP from outside to form the government.
Kejriwal became the 7th Chief Minister of Delhi. He was sworn in as the
second-youngest Chief Minister of Delhi (Chaudhary Brahm Prakash became Chief
Minister at the age of 34) on 28 December 2013. He also took the charge
of Home, Power, Planning, Finance and Vigilance ministries.
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| Arvind Kejriwal |
Resignation
Kejriwal
resigned from the post of Delhi’s Chief Minister on 14 February, 2014. He
resigned because his government could not succeed to table the Jan Lokpal Bill
in the Delhi Assembly. He recommended the dissolution of the Assembly.
2014
Loksabha (National) Election
In
January, 2014 Kejriwal said that he would not contest a seat in the 2014 Loksabha Election. Later in that
month, leaders and members of AAP persuaded him to change his mind. He
then said that he will accept the party's nomination in Varanasi against Narendra
Modi (BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate). In March, 2014 his name has
been announced as the AAP candidate in Varanasi.
Personal
Life
Kejriwal’s
wife’s name is Sunita Kejriwal. She is Arvind’s batch mate from National Academy
of Administration in Mussoorie and
the National Academy of Direct Taxes in Nagpur. They have 2
children. Kejriwal is a vegetarian. He is known to be adverse to any type of
ceremony. He even does not celebrate his own birthday. He has been suffering
from diabetes.
Awards
2004: Ashoka Fellow, Civic Engagement
2005: Satyendra
K. Dubey Memorial Award, IIT Kanpur for
his campaign for bringing transparency in Governance
2006: Ramon Magsaysay Award for Emergent
Leadership
2006: CNN-IBN Indian of the Year in
Public Service
2009:
Distinguished Alumnus Award, IIT
Kharagpur for Eminent Leadership
2009:
Awarded a grant and fellowship by the Association for India's Development.
2010:
Policy Change Agent of the Year, Economic Times Awards along with Aruna Roy
2011: NDTV Indian of the Year along with
Anna Hazare
2013: CNN-IBN Indian of the Year 2013-Politics
Publication
Kejriwal
has written a book named ‘Swaraj’ along with several others. It was published
in 2012 by Harper Collins, India. The book contains 80 pages. Subject matter of
the book is democratic framework of India. The book is available in the
languages of English, Hindi, Marathi and Malayalam.
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