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, doesn’t smoke, and is a frugal eater.[3] He has a degree in Electrical Engineering from the Bihar College of Engineering, now NIT Patna.[4]
Political 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. 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.
As Minister of Railways, he managed Railways to a loss making, and claiming that Laloo's development was actually his and saying that these fruits were subsequently enjoyed by incoming ministers.
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 (Bihar) in the Lok Sabha between 1989 and 2004.
He briefly served as the Union Cabinet as 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 railway accident at Gaisal in North East India.
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
In 2000, Nitish Kumar was appointed the Chief Minister of Bihar but had to resign 7 days later (March 3, 2000 – March 10, 2000). 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 regime Bihar developed electronic version of RTI Act. In addition to that he also launched e-shakti, through which the ruralpeople can get information through telephone on the jobs available at their location under NREGS.
Personal life
On February 22, 1973, Nitish Kumar married Manju Kumari Sinha, a teacher by profession. They have a son, Nishant, who is a graduate of BIT, Mesra.[5] His wife died in 2007 at the age of 53. He is credited with giving a new face to Bihar after the creating of Jharkhand.
Awards and recognition
- NDTV Indian of the year - Politics, 2009[6]
- CNN-IBN Indian of the year - Politics, 2008[7]
- The Best Chief Minister,[9] according to the CNN-IBN and HT State of the Nation Poll 2007.
- Economics Times "Reformer of the Year 2009". 'Polio Eradication Championship Award' 2009, by Rotary Internationals. 3rd Indian to get this award.