news details |
|
|
| PADMA - VIBHUSHAN DR. KARAN SINGH A MULTI FACETED PERSONALITY | | |
By Ravi Rohmetra
Dr. Karan Singh member parliament (RS)was barn heir apparent (Yuvraj) to Maharaja Hari Singh and Maharani Tara Devi of Jammu and Kashmir on 9th March 1931 at Cannes in Franch . Dr. Karan Singh was catapulted into Political life at the early age of eighteen when in 1949, he was appointed Regent by his father on the intervention of Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. Thus he was head of the Indian State of Jammu and Kashmir for the next eighteen year as regent as elected Sadar-E-Riyasat and lastly as Governor. He was a unique in stance of the last representative of the old order be coming by the will of the people of the first representative of the new Political setup. During these years he fulfilled his delicate and onerous duties with commendable success.
In 1967, at the age of 36 Dr. Karan Singh joined the Union Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Indira. Gandhi. He was elected soon thereafter to the Lok Sabha (the lower house of parliament) from the Udhampur parliamentary constituency in Jammu and Kashmir on behalf of the Indian National Congress by an over whelming majority, and was reelected from there in 1971, 1977 and 1980. He was the only former ruler of a Princely State to voluntarily Surrender his Privy Purse. He put the entire sum into the Hari - Tam Charitable Trust, named after his Parents, in the Service of the people of India. He converted his Amar Mahal Palace at Jammu into a Museum and Library Containing a Pahari Miniatures and Mordern Indian art as well his personal Library of over twenty thousand volumes. Dr. Karan Singh also looks after several I other trusts in
Jammu and Kashmir including the Dharmath Trust which administers over a hundred Hindu Shrines and temples.
Dr. Karan Singh is now a member of the Rajya Sabha (the upper House of Parliament) and Chairman of its Ethics committee. He. is Deputy Leader of Congress Parliamentary Party and chairman of its Foreign Affairs Cell.
Dr. Karan singh first held the portfolio of Tourism and civil Aviation for six years, where he created a marked impact by his vision and dynamism. In 1973 he moved to the Ministery of health and family planning. In 1979 he moved to the Ministery of health and family planning. In 1979, he assumed the portfolio of education and culture. During the tenures as Minister, Dr. Karan Singh neither drew any Salary nor lived in government accommodation.
Dr. Karan Singh is Chairman of the Virat Hindu Samaj Which Seeks Social reform on the basis of universal, vedantic value.He passed the Senior Cambridge examination from the Doon school, Dehradun in the first division, and later graduated from the Jammu and Kashmir University of which he was himself the Chancellor. In 1957 he took the M.A. Degree of the Delhi University in Political Science with a first class first, creating a university record which still unbroken, he then earned doctorate from Delhi University writing a thesis on the Political thought of Sri Aurobindo , thus reaching the apex of the brilliant educational career.
Dr. Karan Singh was many years Chancellor of Jammu and Kashmir University as well as the Benaras Hindu University Chairman of the central Sanskrit Board, President of the Authors Guild of India, the Common wealth Society of India and the Delhi music society. He Was the president of Indian International centre, Chairman of the Auroville Foundation with personal Rank of Cabinet Minister and member of the U.N.E.S.C.O International Commission on education for the twenty first century. He is the Vice Chairman of the Temple of Understanding, a major global interfaith Association. He is member of the U.N.E.S.C.O. Project on Universal Ethics, recently, he founded the International
Centre of Science, Culture and Consciousness, While is emerging as an important centre of creative thought.
Dr. Karan Singh is associated with many other cultural and academic institutions. He has received honorary degrees and other awards including doctorates from Benaras Hindu University, The Aligarh Muslim University Tokyo. And the Soka University Tokyo. He is the member of the Prestigious club of Rome and the club of Budapest and is a life long. Conservationist having been chairman of the Indian Board of Wildlife for many years and head of the spectacularly successful project Tiger. He is president of the peoples commissioner on Environment and Development, (India) and member International Steering Committee of the Global Forum of Parliam~ntarians and Spiritual Leaders on Human Survival. He is also a Trustee of the Green Cross International. An author of distinction, having written a number of books on Political Science, Philosophical essays, travelogues and poems in English. His fascinating "Autobiology "important collections of his writings entitled, "One Man's world "and "India and the World" and his "Essays on Hinduism "have been widely acclaimed with his deep insight into the Indian culture tradition, as well as his wide exposure to western literature and Civilization , Dr. Karan Singh has come to be recognized as an outstanding thinker and leader in India and abroad. He is a renowned orator, and has lectured in five continents on Philosophy and culture , politics and environment . His tenure as Indian Ambassador to the United States thought brief received extensive and extremely favouable media coverage in both countries. Dr. Karan Singh is married to the gracious Princess Yasho RajyaLakshmi , grand daughter of the last Rana Prime Minister of Nepal Maharaja Mohan Shumsher. She is an eminent social worker. As president of the Delhi Society for the welfare of Mentally Retarded Children, She has built an excellent centre at New Delhi which provides day - care, vocational training and. other facilities to mentally handicapped children. They have three children, a daughter Jyotsna and two sons Vikramaditya and Ajatshatru and Six grand Children
By Ravi Rohmetra
Social Worker & Writer
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
