7th Chief Minister of Delhi
NAME – Arvind Kejriwal
PROFESSION–Activist and Politician
BORN – 16 August,1968 (Age 52 )
PLACE OF BIRTH – Haryana, Delhi
FATHER’S NAME – Gobind Ran Kejriwal
MOTHER’S NAME – Gita Devi
SPOUSE – Sunita Kejriwal
SIBLINGS – Manoj Kejriwal and Ranjana Kejriwal
CHILDREN – Harshita Kejriwal and Pulkit Kejriwal
EDUCATION – He did mechanical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur.
POLITICAL AFFILIATIONS/PARTY- Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)
OFFICIAL WEBSITE– https://aamaadmiparty.org/
REMARKABLE ACHIEVEMENT- He played a key role to empower the poorest at the grass-root level and implement the Right of Information Act (RTI).He launched his own party, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the year 2012 and won the Delhi Legislative Assembly election in 2013. After the election, he became the Chief Minister of Delhi on 28 December, 2013. He exposed alleged corruption and irregularities of various political parties and government agencies through press conferences.
Arvind Kejriwal popularly known as the “Aam Aadmi” i.e common man. He is currently the 7th Chief Minister of Delhi. He is an Indian politician, social activist, and former bureaucrat. He is known for drafting the January Lokpal Bill. In 2006, he won “Ramon Magsaysay Award”. In 2012, he published a book named Swaraj. He believes in simplicity and hard work.
AWARDS – He won “Ashoka Fellow Award” in 2004. In 2005, the IIT Kanpur presented him with the” Satyendra K. Dubey Memorial Award”. He was awarded the “Ramon Magsaysay Award for Emergent Leadership” in regards of his contribution in the grass-root level movement “Parivartan” using Right to Information legislation in a campaign against corruption laid down by the government in 2006. In 2011, Kejriwal, along with Anna Hazare, received the Indian of the Year award from NDTV.
UPBRINGING & EDUCATION – He was born in an educated family in Haryana, Delhi to Gobind Ram Kejriwal and Gita Devi. He has a younger brother and sister. Due to his father’s transfers, he has been to many cities such as Ghaziabad, Hisar and Sonepat.He did his schooling from the Campus School in Hisar and later on graduated in mechanical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, in 1989.
WALK OF LIFE- After his education in mechanical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, he joined Tata Steel Company. He used to take leave from the company in order to focus on the Civil Services examination and later joined the Indian Revenue Service. He resigned from his post in the Income Tax Department in 2006, wherein he assisted in forming the NGO “Parivartan” in December, 1999. In 2012, he announced the formation of a political party named “Aam Aadmi Party” (AAP) or the “Common Man’s Party”.
MAJOR INITIATIVES TAKEN- He together with Manish Sisodia and Abhinandan Sekhri, established the “Public Cause Research Foundation”, in December 2006. The prize money of “Ramon Magsaysay Award” was donated by him to the foundation.
He launched the “Green Delhi programme” by planting trees at the Triangular Park at the ITO Chowk. The initiative was launched with a detailed action plan by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government to in order to improve air quality and reduce air pollution in the capital, Delhi.
To fight the increasing cases of novel coronavirus in the city, the he chalked out a “five T plan” – testing, tracing, treatment, team work, and tracking and monitoring. Along with these steps, the government under his guidance is well prepared in dealing with up to 30,000 active cases in the city.
CAREER TIMELINE/POSITION HELD-
- 1999– he was a founder of “Parivartan”.
- 2006- he used to work in Indian Revenue Service.
- November, 2012- he also founded Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).
- 2013 to February, 2014- he became the Chief Minister of Delhi from December.
- Elected on February, 2015– currently, he is the Chief Minister of Delhi.
CONTROVERSIES/CASES –Soon after forming the government in Delhi in February, 2015, there have been many instances where Kejriwal and Lt Governor Najeeb Jung were involved in ugly “war of words”.
The AAP government came out with a controversial advertisement with a tagline “ Who pareshan karte rahein, hum kaam karte rahein” i.e they kept on troubling us, but we continued working. Another advertisement i featured a housewife doing all the household chores while her husband does nothing but read the newspaper, watch tv and sip on a cup of tea, and she is extremely happy to receive the electricity bill which is much lower to the previous one and she is seen praying and thanking God for keep “her Arvind” safe from all the bad elements in the society.
The AAP government was also accused of giving cabinet posts to politicians possessing fake educational degrees such as MLA Bhavna Gaur, former Law minister Jitender Singh Tomar, AAP MLA Surender Singh.