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A seven term Member of Parliament, having served with distinction in both Houses of Parliament, Jaswant Singh is amongst the most respected public figures of India. He has headed six core Ministries of the Government of India, and is possibly the only public figure to have led and guided the Ministries of External Affairs, Defence and Finance; of which the first two he held as a simultaneous responsibility through a period of critical challenges to the nation.
Jaswant Singh, from the Thar desert, soon after school opted for service in the Army. When barely 19, he was commissioned in the Central India Horse of the Indian Army and saw action in the conflicts of 1962 and in 1965. Thereafter, he resigned his Commission to pursue a political career. He quintessentially embodies a soldier’s ethos; truly represents the composite culture of India, carrying his great experience and standing lightly. His political career of over three decades is marked by excellence, by erudition, by rectitude in public conduct and the highest standards of personal integrity.
Possessing an acute sense of history, Jaswant Singh first conceptualized, then initiated, whereafter steered a total transformation of India’s foreign policy during the period 1998-2004. He also effectively managed the national and international consequences. Being amongst the handful that were architects of India’s Nuclear Doctrine, it is Jaswant Singh again who guided the crafting of policy and a positioning of India as a responsible Nuclear Weapons possessing State. The consequential US sanctions, and global reactions – were all addressed by him with a diplomatic skill that is now recognized universally. His handling of the dialogue with the US earned him lasting admiration and friendship in the US, a rarity in international relations.
Jaswant Singh’s initiatives also led to the Lahore-Delhi Bus Journey, 1999; unfreezing relations with China and launching of bilateral security dialogues with it; successfully steering the 50-day Indo-Pak Kargil War to a conclusion; as also successfully resolving the Indian Airlines hijack in Kandhar, (then a Taliban ruled city). These examples only illustrate some of the many achievements, not list them in detail.
National Defence and Security
As the Minister of Defence Jaswant Singh imparted momentum and vigour to the country’s defence modernization programme, reforms and cooperation with US, again breaking new ground.
Commanding the love and respect of his troops, Jaswant Singh pioneered for the Indian Defence forces an ex-Servicemen’s Contributory Health Scheme, enabling veterans and pensioners to benefit for the first time, from hitherto unavailable medical facilities through establishing 284 new polyclinics spread uniformly in the country. Initiated by him, was also a Married Accommodation Project for Defence personnel (for creation of 1,98,000 additional housing units) to be completed in three years. This is unique in the annals of our Ministry of Defence.
Jaswant Singh was asked to accept the responsibility of the Ministry of Finance during a critical situation in the nation’s economy. In a very short time he achieved a total turn around of it, thereby enabling the country to move to an 8.5% growth of its GDP. He then pioneered path breaking legislations on fiscal management, banking, money-laundering, restructuring and numerous other reform measures.
Responsible for setting up pension funds, privatising insurance sector and greatly simplifying taxation procedures and slashing rates, he encouraged financial prudence, established institutions like Competition Commission, Serious Frauds Office, National Company Law Boards and Tribunals. This improved financial climate with benign inflation, attendant strong balance of payment position, steady accumulation of foreign exchange reserves, pre-payment of high cost external debt and extremely healthy FII inflows were all indicative of a new faith in the Indian economy.
By formulating guidelines on privatization of airports, seaports, insurance sector, apart from reviving basic and labour intensive sectors like coffee, tea, textiles, plus agriculture, the heart of India, Jaswant Singh set the country on a path of irreversible economic transformation. Credit also goes to him for saving hundreds of thousands of investors from crippling losses, by restoring to health the Unit Trust of India, the most popular financial institution (mutual fund) of the country. To the fundamentals of Indian economy, his contributions will always remain a lasting legacy.
Jaswant Singh is also the author of India’s software, hardware, telecom and infrastructure policies, having headed the National Task Forces on all these by first formulating policies, then getting them adopted by the government. These are all areas of demonstrated success, testifying to his leadership in the field of national economic/technical development, too.
He has also chaired many important Committees of Parliament – on Estimates, Energy, Environment & Forests, of which Reports of the Estimates Committee, particularly on Defence, and separately on Energy and Nuclear Plant Safety, are now reference works.
Well-known internationally, he is frequently invited to international Conferences, think tanks and Universities like Harvard, Stanford, or institutions like the IISS, Chatham House, Brookings, Aspen Group, Asia Society, Council for Foreign Relations, and several such others.
Widely traveled, author, columnist, bibliophile, historiographer, antiquarian, he has authored six books (in English and Hindi), of which one has been translated in French. He is currently working on several other projects.
A lover of horses, himself a skilled horseman, Jaswant Singh is also the Patron-in-Chief of the Indian Polo Association.
In his home districts in the desert of Rajasthan, through his Foundations, mid-day-meals were earlier provided to primary-school children, now this Foundation focuses on medicare. To promote and disseminate the literature of ‘Dingal’ (an ancient local language) he has established another Foundation. He is also a Trustee on charities engaged in running hospitals, museums and water conservation projects.
As the current Leader of the Opposition the entire country is his workplace. Thus he lives more with his bags, with books and music as constant companions, but still asserts that he is not a “24 hour politician”. In a family of public men his son, Manvendra Singh, too, is now a Member of the Indian Parliament, an extremely rare father-son duo in service of the country.
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