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Pranab Kumar Mukherjee (Template:Lang-bn; born 11 December 1935) is an Indian politician. A member of the INC, he has held various ministerial portfolios in the government of India. He was Minister of Finance from 1982 to 1984, Deputy Chairperson of the Planning Commission from 24 June 1991 to 15 May 1996, Minister of External Affairs from 1995 to 1996, Minister of Defence from 2004 to 2006; he then served again as Minister of External Affairs from 2006 to 2009, and as Minister of Finance from 2009 to 2012. He is the UPA nominee in the 2012 presidential election.

Early life

Mukherjee was born at Mirati in the Indian state of West Bengal. His father Kamada Kumar Mukherjee was a respected freedom fighter spent more than 10 years in British jails. Pranabda’s father was an active member of INC and was also a member of West Bengal Legislative Council (WBLC) from 1952 to 1964. and President, District Congress Committee, Birbhum (WB). He attended the Suri Vidyasagar College, Suri (Birbhum), then affiliated with the University of Calcutta.

He holds a Master of Arts degrees in History and Political Science & has a degree in law from the University of Calcutta. In 2011 he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Letters degree by University of Wolverhampton.

Professional career

Mukherjee began his career as an upper-division clerk in the office of the Deputy Accountant-General(Post and Telegraph)in Calcutta now Kolkata before he became a college-teacher and later a journalist. He worked for noted Bengali publication Desher Dak (Call of Motherland). He also became trustee of Bangiya Sahitya Parishad and later President of Nikhil Bharat Banga Sahitya Sammelan.

Political career

He has a parliamentary career of over four decades, which began as a member of Rajya Sabha (upper house) from the Congress Party in 1969; he was re-elected in 1975, 1981, 1993 and 1999. In 1973, he joined the cabinet as Union Deputy Minister, Industrial Development. He rose through a series of cabinet posts to become the Finance Minister of India from 1982 to 1984. His term was noted for India not withdrawing the last billion installment of an IMF loan. Dr. Manmohan Singh was serving Reserve Bank of India as Governor during Pranab's term as Finance Minister. He was not included in Rajiv Gandhi's cabinet after Lok Sabha election held subsequent to Indira Gandhi's assassination. He was pushed out of the Congress party for a brief period, and during this period he formed his own political party Rashtriya Samajwadi Congress, but later merged it with Congress party in 1989 after settlement with Rajiv Gandhi. His political career revived when P.V. Narasimha Rao chose to appoint him as deputy chairman of the planning commission and subsequently as a union cabinet minister. He served as External Affairs Minister for the first time from 1995 to 1996 in Rao's cabinet. In 1997 he was voted Outstanding Parliamentarian.

He was the President of the West Bengal state unit of Congress since 1985 , but resigned in July 2010 due to work-load and was succeeded by Manas Bhunia. In 2004, when the Congress formed a government at the head of a coalition the new Congress Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was only a Rajya Sabha MP. So Pranab Mukherjee was made Leader of the House in the Lok Sabha when he won the Lok Sabha elections for the first time from Jangipur (Lok Sabha constituency). He also has the distinction of being a Minister for various high profile Ministries including Defence, Finance, External Affairs, Revenue, Shipping, Transport, Communication, Economic Affairs, Commerce and Industry. He also heads the Congress Parliamentary Party and the Congress Legislative Party which consists of all the Congress MPs and MLAs in the country apart from being Leader of the House in Lok Sabha, Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee President and the Union Cabinet Minister of Finance in the Council of Ministers under Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the Congress-led Government. Pranab played crucial role in steering the Cabinet pre Lok Sabha elections when the Prime Minister underwent by-pass surgery by taking additional charges as chairman of the Cabinet Committee Of Political Affairs and Union Minister in Finance Ministry despite already being Union Minister of External Affairs.

International role

Mukherjee and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice signed the Section 123 Agreement on October 10, 2008. He has been a member of the Board of Governors of the International Monetary Fund, of the World Bank, of the Asian Development Bank, and of the African Development Bank.

In 1984, he chaired the Group of 24 attached to the IMF and World Bank. Between May and November 1995, he presided over the SAARC Council of Ministers Conference.

He was the first appointed by the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, to ease issues over the campaign initiated by Anna Hazare on day 8 of his fast, that is 23 August 2011.

Political party role

Mukherjee is very well respected within the party social circles." Other media accounts describe him as having "a reputation as a number-crunching politician with a phenomenal memory and an unerring survival instinct."

After Sonia Gandhi reluctantly agreed to join politics, Mukherjee was one of her key mentors, guiding her through difficult situations with examples of how her mother-in-law, Indira Gandhi would have done things. Mukherjee's unfailing loyalty and competence have led to his closeness to Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh, and helped him gain the position of Minister of Defence when the party came to power in 2004.

He has also held the position of Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission from 1991 to 1996.

His talents were on display during the negotiations for the Patent's Amendment Bill in early 2005. The Congress was committed to passing an IP bill, but their allies in the United Progressive Alliance from the Left front had a long tradition of opposing some of the monopoly aspects of intellectual property. Pranab Mukherjee, as Defence Minister, was not formally involved but was roped in for his negotiation skills. He drew on many old alliances including the CPI-M leader Jyoti Basu, and formed new intermediary positions, which included product patent and little else. Then he had to convince his own colleagues including commerce minister Kamal Nath, at one point saying: "An imperfect legislation is better than no legislation." Finally the bill was approved on March 23, 2005.

Foreign Minister: October 2006

On 24 October 2006, he was appointed as the External Affairs Minister of India. His replacement in the Defence Ministry is A. K. Antony, a senior Congress Party politician and former Chief Minister of Kerala.

Mukherjee was briefly considered for the post of the largely ceremonial Indian presidency. But his name was subsequently dropped after his contribution in the Union Cabinet was considered practically indispensable. Among Mukherjee's current legacy was the successful signing of the U.S.-India Civil Nuclear Agreement with the US government and then with the Nuclear Suppliers Group, allowing India to participate in civilian nuclear trade in spite of not having signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. He is also awarded the Padma Vibhushan, India's second highest civilian honor in 2007.

Finance Minister

Pranab Mukherjee's first stint as the Finance minister of India was during the Indira Gandhi government in 1982. He presented his first annual budget in 1982–83. In the second government of Manmohan Singh, he again became the Finance Minister of India, a job he had held earlier, in the 1980s. On July 6, 2009, he presented the government's annual budget. In it, he announced many tax reforms, such as the scrapping of the 'irritant' Fringe Benefits Tax and the Commodities Transaction Tax. He announced, that the Finance Ministry, was well on track, to implement the Goods and Services Tax, a tax, that has been praised by major corporate executives, and economists. He also expanded funding for social sector schemes, like the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, girl's literacy, and health care. Also, he expanded infrastructure programmes, like the National Highway Development Programme, expansion of electricity coverage, and the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission. However, many people, expressed concern, about the rising fiscal deficit, the highest since 1991. Mukherjee said, that the expansion in government spending was only temporary, and he said that the government, was committed to the principle of fiscal prudence. He presented the 2009 Union budget of India as well as 2010 Union budget of India and the 2011 budget.

The 2010–11 budget included the country's first explicit target to cut public debt as a proportion of GDP and he is targeting a budget deficit reduction to 4.1% of GDP in fiscal year 2012–13, from 6.5% in 2008–09.

Contender for President

He has been named as the presidential candidate from UPA. Pranab Mukherjee is considered as an eligible candidate for the President of India. The elections are scheduled to be conducted on 19 July 2012 after the five-states scheduled elections. The results are slated to be announced on 22 July 2012. In order to file nomination for the presidential poll on June 28, Pranab Mukherjee resigned from the government on 26 June 2012. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh signed the nomination papers of Pranab Mukherjee on 26 June 2012. Prime minister Manmohan Singh has taken the charge of finance ministry after Pranab Mukherjee's resignation.

Views and opinions

On corruption

In an interview to rediff.com in 1998, he was asked about the sleaze in the Congress government, in which he was the Minister for External Affairs. He replied:

Corruption is an issue. We have dealt with it in the manifesto. But I am sorry to say that these scams are not confined to the Congress or the Congress government alone. There are so many scams. So many leaders of various political parties are involved in them. So it would be too simplistic to say that the Congress government was involved in scams.

Controversies, allegations and accusations

Mukherjee was a Minister in Indira Gandhi's Cabinet during the infamous Emergency and was held by many to be personally responsible for some of the excesses. He was summoned before the Shah Commission but followed Mrs. Gandhi's lead in refusing to resign before it. A police case was registered against him which was withdrawn when Mrs. Gandhi returned to power.

S. Gurumurthy and Arun Shourie alleged that Pranab Mukerjee, the then Finance Minister of India helped Reliance Industries against Bombay Dyeing through differential taxation by influencing the Income Tax Department in textile industry. As a result Bombay Dyeing was almost decimated.

Mukherjee was involved in handling Taslima Nasreen's house arrest in Delhi, as the Foreign Minister. Dealing with a situation involving her expulsion for Kolkata, anger from Islamic radicals, and her protection in a safehouse, Mukherjee received criticism for actions leading to Nasreen's eventual departure from India in March 2008.

A book to be released on July 2012 by journalist Anuj Dhar alleges that Pranab Mukherjee was engaged in an elaborate cover-up on the last days of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose based on records declassified by the US, British and Indian authorities and several documents that continue to be kept secret over 65 years after the incident.

Personal life

Pranab Mukherjee married Suvra Mukherjee on July 13, 1957 and has two sons, Abhijit and Indrajit and a daughter. He is inspired by Deng Xiaoping & has quoted him quite frequently. His hobbies are reading, gardening and music. His son, Abhijit Mukherjee, is an INC MLA in West Bengal.

Away from the political chaos in New Delhi, Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee celebrates the Durga Puja at his ancestral home in Mirati village of West Bengal's Birbhum district.For Sri Mukherjee, who makes it a point to be at Mirati village every year to take part in the four-day rituals, the puja has a 'social dimension'. "I want to avail of this opportunity to be with the people of my area," he said during the ceremony on October 4th, 2011.

Honours, awards and international recognition

In 1984, he was rated as the best Finance Minister of the World according to a survey of Euromoney magazine. In 2010 he was awarded "Finance Minister of the Year for Asia" by Emerging Markets, the daily newspaper of record for the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). In December 2010 The Banker recognised him as "Finance Minister of the Year" after making significant inroads into budget deficit reduction, throughout a turbulent year.

References

1. http://www.pranabmukherjee.in/
2. Profile at Ministry of External Affairs
3. "Honorary doctorate for Pranab from UK university". Our Bureau. The Hindu, June, 2011. Retrieved 2011-06-13.
4. "FM Pranab's first priority: Presenting budget 09-10 (page3)". Indian Express. May 23, 2009. Retrieved 2009-05-23.
5. "The tallest short man". Sumit Mitra. The Hindustan Times, February 26, 2010. Retrieved 2010-02-27.
6. "FM Pranab's first priority: Presenting budget 09-10". Indian Express. May 23, 2009. Retrieved 2009-05-23.
7. Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA) Executive Committee Profile
8. "India's new foreign minister Mukherjee: a respected party veteran". Agence France-Presse. 24 October 2006. Retrieved 2007-04-09.
9. "India gets new foreign minister". BBC News. 4 October 2006. Retrieved 2007-04-09.
10. GK Gokhale (19 April 2004). "Why is Dr. Singh Sonia's choice?". rediff.com. Retrieved 2007-04-09.
11. Aditi Phadnis (29 March 2005). "Pranab: The master manager". rediff.com. Retrieved 2007-04-09.
12. ^ Finance Minister of the Year The Banker, December 23, 2010
13. http://in.news.yahoo.com/hunt-begins-for-head-of-state.html
14. "Pranab Mukherjee resigns as Finance Minister;PM to take additional charge, say sources". 26 June 2012.
15. "PM signs nomination papers for Shri Pranab Mukherjee for his candidature as the President of India". Twitter/PMOIndia, Official Twitter account of Prime Minister of India.
16. "Manmohan Singh takes charge of finance ministry". 26 June 2012.
17. Rajesh Ramachandran (10 January 1998). "The BJP's new-found secularism is a reckless exercise to hoodwink the people". rediff.com. Retrieved 2007-04-09.
18. How they buried Shah Commission report, even without an epitaph Indian Express – July 4, 2000
19. ^ Aggarwal, S. K. (1990), The Investigative journalism in India, Mittal Publications, ISBN 978-81-7099-224-0, retrieved 10 October 2011
20. Taslima puts Pranab in a bind Times of India – February 18, 2008
21. "Pranab Mukherjee behind 'cover-up' on Netaji's air-crash, alleges book". The Times of India. Retrieved June 27, 2012.
22. 2 June 06 – Pranab Mukherjee, India's Defence Minister – January 15, 2011
23. http://www.finmin.nic.in/fm_pranab_mukherjee.html
24. http://www.ndtv.com/article/people/who-is-pranab-mukherjee-231318
25. http://www.rediff.com/news/slide-show/slide-show-1-photos-pranab-mukherjee-s-durga-puja-at-ancestral-home/20111004.htm
26. "The Pranab Mukherjee Budget". Sanjaya Baru. Business Standard, February 22, 2010. Retrieved 2010-08-05.
27. Profile from calcuttayellowpages.com
28. "Finance Minister of Asia award: 2010, Pranab". Special Correspondent. The Hindu, October 11, 2010. Retrieved 2011-06-13.
29. "Prime Minister Manmohan Singh presents The Best Administrator in India Award 2011 of the K. Karunakaran Foundation to Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee". The Hindu. Retrieved June 12, 2011 (2011-30-12). {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
30. "Padma Vibhushan Awardees for year 2008". india.gov.in. Retrieved April 3, 2012 (2012-04-03). {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)

External links

• Pranab Mukherjee – Official website
• Parliamentary profile at India.gov.in
• Pranab Mukherjee collected news and commentary at The Times of India
• Pranab denies UPA penalising non-Congress Governments

Template:Fifteenth Lok Sabha, West Bengal

Template:Persondata

• 1935 births
• 14th Lok Sabha members
• Bengali politicians
• Defence Ministers of India
• Finance Ministers of India
• Indian Hindus
• Indian politicians
• Living people
• Members of the Cabinet of India
• Ministers for External Affairs of India
• People from Birbhum district
• People from Kolkata
• Recipients of the Outstanding Parliamentarian Award
• Recipients of the Padma Vibhushan
• University of Calcutta alumni