Yashwant Sinha
Yashwant Sinha
Yashwant Sinha is an renowned Indian politician and a member of the BJP(Bharatiya Janata Party). Yashwant Sinha was a former Finance minister of India (March 1998 - July 2002) and Foreign minister (July 2002 - May 2004) in Atal Bihari Vajpayee's cabinet. He is a senior leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Early life
Yashwant Sinha was born on 6th November, 1937 at Patna, in Bihar, India. Yashwant completed his formal education from Patna itself, moving on to secure a Masters Degree in Political Science in 1958 and was placed in the 1st Class.
Mr Sinha began his career as a professor teaching Political Science at the Patna University (1958-60), moving on to join the Indian Administrative Service in 1960. During his bureaucratic tenure as an I.A.S officer, which spanned over 24 years, Yashwant Sinha acquired immense experience on matters relating to foreign industrial collaborations, intellectual property rights, foreign trade, technology imports, and India's external relations with the European Economic Community. Some of the important positions held by him during this period were those of:
- Sub-Divisional Magistrate,
- District Magistrate (4 years)
- Under Secretary and Deputy Secretary in the Finance Department of the Bihar Government (2 years)
- Deputy Secretary in the Ministry of Commerce, Government of India
- First Secretary (Commercial) in the Indian Embassy, Bonn, Germany (1971-73)
- Consul General of India in Frankfurt (1973-74)
- Department of Industrial Infrastructure, Government of Bihar
- Ministry of Industry, Government of India
- Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Surface Transport, Government of India (1980-84)
Political career
Janata Dal
Yashwant Sinha resigned from the Indian Administrative Service in 1984 and joined active politics as a member of the Janata Party. He was appointed All-India General Secretary of the party in 1986 and was elected Member of the Rajya Sabha (the Upper House of the Indian Parliament) in 1988.
When the Janata Dal was formed in 1989, he was appointed General Secretary of the party. He worked as Minister of Finance from November, 1990 to June 1991 in Mr. Chandra Shekhar's Cabinet.
BJP
He became the National Spokesperson of the BJP in June, 1996. He was appointed finance minister in March, 1998. He was foreign minister from that date until May 22, 2004, when a new government took office after parliamentary elections. He represented Hazaribagh Constituency in Bihar (now Jharkhand), in the Lok Sabha. However in an amazing development, Yashwant Sinha was defeated from Hazaribagh seat in the elections of May, 2004. He reentered Parliament in 2005 as Rajya Sabha member from Jharkhand and is now a Vice President of the BJP.
Finance minister
Yashwant Sinha was the finance minister until July 1, 2002, when he exchanged jobs with foreign minister Jaswant Singh. Sinha, during his tenure, was forced to roll back some of his government's major policy initiatives for which he was much criticised . Still, Sinha is widely credited for pushing through several major reform measures that put the Indian economy on a firm growth trajectory. Among them are lowering of real interest rates, introducing tax deduction for mortgage interest, freeing up the telecommunications sector, helping fund the National Highways Authority, and deregulating the petroleum industry.
Sinha has written a comprehensive account of his years as Finance Minister titled "'Confessions of a Swadeshi Reformer'".
Personal life
Yashwant Sinha has a wide range of interests including reading, gardening and meeting people. He is widely travelled and has led a number of political and social delegations. He played a leading role in many negotiations on behalf of the country.
He became the National Spokesperson of the BJP in June, 1996. He was appointed Finance Minister of India in March, 1998. He represents Hazaribagh Constituency in Bihar, in the Lok Sabha.
Yashwant Sinha has 3 children, two sons and a daughter with his wife, Nilima, a well-known writer of children's books.
Sinha's daughter, Sharmila, is the eldest and is married to an Indian diplomat. They have one son, Devansh, and are currently in Malaysia. Sinha's eldest son, Jayant, lives in Boston with his wife, Punita, and their two sons: Rishabh and Aashir. Jayant was a Partner in McKinsey & Company and is now a Partner in a global hedge fund, Courage Capital. Punita is a Senior Managing Director at the Blackstone Group. Sinha's second son, Sumant Sinha works with the Aditya Birla Group in Mumbai and is the CEO of Aditya Birla Retail. His wife Vaishali is an Investment Banker and heads Daiwa Securities Investment Banking Business in India. They have a daughter and a son - Tarushi and Siddhant.
