Tag Archives: Ghulam Nabi Azad – Congress Leader

Congress veteran Ghulam Nabi Azad named among Padma Bhushan recipients

JAMMU & KASHMIR :

Ghulam Nabi Azad, one of the top politicians of Jammu & Kashmir, has served as the chief minister of the erstwhile state between 2005 and 2008.

He was the Union health minister from 2009 and 2014, and subsequently served as the Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha till February 2021.

Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad (PTI)

Former Jammu & Kashmir chief minister and veteran politician of the Congress party, Ghulam Nabi Azad, was included in the list of Padma Bhushan awardees released by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on January 25.

Azad, 72, will be conferred with Padma Bhushan by President Ram Nath Kovind for his contribution in the field of “public affairs”.

A total of 17 names were approved by the President for the conferment of Padma Bhushan — which is awarded for “distinguished service of high order”.

Apart from Azad, the list also includes another top politician – former West Bengal chief minister and senior CPI(M) leader Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee.

Azad, who served as the Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha between June 2014 and February 2021, was lauded by the prime minister at the conclusion of his tenure in the Parliament’s Upper House.

“Azad has distinguished himself in Parliament. He not only worries about his Party but also had a similar passion towards the smooth running of the House and towards India’s development,” he had said.

Azad, a member of the Congress’ G-23 – an informal reference to 23 Congress veterans who had marked dissent against the party’s style of functioning, had apparently reciprocated the gesture last year by praising Modi for ‘not hiding his true self”.

Notably, Azad, before serving as the Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha for close to seven years, was the Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare in the second UPA government between 2009 and 2014.

He had served as the seventh chief minister of Jammu & Kashmir between November 2005 and July 2008.

The Padma awards, whose recipients are announced on the eve of Republic Day, are conferred by the President of India at ceremonial functions which are held at Rashtrapati Bhawan usually around March-April every year.

This year, the President has approved the conferment of 128 Padma awards. The list comprises 4 Padma Vibhushan, 17 Padma Bhushan and 107 Padma Shri awards.

source: http://www.moneycontrol.com / MoneyControl.com / Home> News> India / January 25th, 2022

Rajya Sabha bids farewell to three Congress MPs

NEW DELHI :

Karan Singh, Janaradhan Diwedi and Parvez Hashmi will retire on January 27

Debates were becoming rare and disruptions more frequent, four time Rajya Sabha MP Karan Singh, rued even as he bade farewell to the upper house along with two other Congress MPs Janaradhan Diwedi and Parvez Hashmi.

In a speech peppered with Sanskrit shlokas and Urdu verses, Mr. Singh said, “Parliament has evolved over these 50 years but not all the changes have been positive I must say. I used to remember when I went to the Lok Sabha for the first time. There were brilliant debates by Hiren Mukherjee, Madhu Limaye, Nath Pai, Atalji and here Bhupesh Gupta. Those were the debates now seem to me becoming rare, and disruptions are becoming more frequent.”

He called upon the members to introspect. He said he had come to Delhi as an idealistic young man of 36 and was retiring as an ‘idealistic old man’’. “I have implicit faith that the county will overcome all its challenges as long as we remain faithful to our Constitution and civilisational values,” Mr Singh said.

Speakers from both sides showered praise on them for their contributions. All the three retiring MPs were elected from Delhi. The farewell was held today, the last day of the Winter Session. Their actual retirement date of January 27 would fall in the inter-session period.

Ghulam Nabi’s praise

Leader of the Opposition and senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said his veteran party colleague Karan Singh had become the head of Jammu and Kashmir at the age of 18 and was probably world’s youngest person to hold such a post.

Mr. Dwivedi, who completed three terms as the Rajya Sabha MP, said generally farewell became like an “obituary reference” but today [Friday] was different.

Mr. Hashmi was not present in the house.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> National / by Special Correspondent / New Delhi – January 05th, 2018