Kapil Sibal

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Kapil Sibal
Portrait of Kapil Sibal
Kapil Sibal at 2007 World Economic Forum
Minister of Human Resource Development
Incumbent
Assumed office
22 May 2009
Preceded by Arjun Singh
Minister of Communications and Information Technology
Incumbent
Assumed office
15 November 2010
Preceded by A. Raja
Minister of Science and Technology
In office
22 May 2004 – 2010
Succeeded by Pawan Kumar Bansal
Minister of Earth Sciences
In office
22 May 2004 – 2010
Succeeded by Pawan Kumar Bansal
Member of Lok Sabha
Incumbent
Assumed office
2004
Constituency Chandni Chowk
Personal details
Born 8 August 1948 (1948-08-08) (age 63)
Jalandhar, Punjab
Nationality INDIAN
Political party Indian National Congress
Spouse(s) Nina Sibal (deceased)(1973-2000)
Promila Sibal
Children 2 sons
Residence New Delhi
Alma mater University of Delhi (M.A./LL.B.)
Harvard Law School (LL.M.)
Profession Politician & Senior Advocate, Supreme Court of India
Religion Hindu
Signature
Website Kapil Sibal
As of 5 June, 2011

Kapil Sibal (Punjabi: ਕਪਿਲ ਸਿਬਲ, Hindi: कपिल सिब्बल; born 8 August 1948) is a lawyer and an Indian politician. He is currently the Minister of Communications and Information Technology.[1] He also held the two positions of Ministry of Science and Technology and Ministry of Earth Sciences in the First Manmohan Singh Cabinet. He is also the Minister of Human Resources and Development in the current cabinet.

Sibal was first nominated in July 1988, as a Member of the upper house of the Indian Parliament, the Rajya Sabha, from the State of Bihar and served as Additional Solicitor General of India (December 1989 – December 1990) and President of the Supreme Court Bar Association on three occasions (1995–96, 1997–98 and 2001–2002).[2]

Contents

[edit] Career

Kapil Sibal joined the Bar association in 1970. A year later in 1973, he qualified for the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), and was offered an appointment, but declined the offer. Instead he decided to set up his own law practice.[2][3] He was designated as a Senior Lawyer in 1983. He was also the Additional Solicitor General of India between 1989 and 1990.[2][4]

In August 2008, an anthology of Kapil Sibal's poems titled I Witness: Partial Observation was published by Roli Books, New Delhi.[5] He has also contributed several articles on various prominent issues such as security, nuclear proliferation, and terrorism in national dailies and periodicals. He won a landslide victory in the constituency of Chandni Chowk for the Indian National Congress against TV actor Smriti Irani of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Over the years, he has held several important positions in the Government of India and the Society, such as: Additional Solicitor General of India (December 1989–1990); Member, Board of Management, Indira Gandhi National Open University (1993); President, Supreme Court Bar Association (1995–96, 1997–98 and 2001–2002); Member, Rajya Sabha (July 1998); Member, Executive Council, Institute of Constitutional and Parliamentary Studies (July, 2001); Member, Business Advisory Committee (August, 2001); Member, Committee on Home Affairs (January, 2002); Co-chairman, Indo-US Parliamentary Forum (2002); Member, Board of International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (2002); Member, Programme Board of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's Indian AIDS initiative (2003); Member, Working Group on Arbitrary Detention set up by the Human Rights Commission, Geneva.

He represented India in the Annual Meetings of the World Economic Forum in 2005 and 2009 held at Davos, Switzerland. He led the Indian delegation to the Annapolis Conference, USA, held to gather International support for establishment of a Palestinian state and the realization of Israeli–Palestinian peace during November 2007. He led the Indian delegation to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) at Bali in December 2007.

In the 2004 general elections, Sibal won the elections by a large margin from Chandni Chowk constituency in the National Capital Territory representing the Congress Party and was inducted into the Cabinet under Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as Union Minister for Science, Technology and Earth Sciences. In the 2009 elections, he again won by a large margin from Chandni Chowk constituency and in the second Manmohan Singh government took charge of the key Human Resource Development ministry.

Minister Sibal has recently approved the creation of an Indian Institute of Technology Muddenahalli as part of the 11th 5 year plan.[6] He is also the person who introduced the Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) system in India for Class IX and Class X and he has also started the changes in the IIT JEE pattern. He has laid the foundation stone for IIT Patna

[edit] One Laptop per Child (OLPC) and $35 Laptop

He has also announced an Indian touchscreen tablet computer, Akash which will be co-developed with private partnership. It may be available to students more than a year later for INR1,500 (US$30). "This is our answer to MIT's US$100 computer," said Sibal. Satish Jha, chairman of OLPC India, the leading competitor to this venture, questioned his claim that a $35 laptop could be created in a year.[7] Five state Chief Ministers endorsed the OLPC initiative and the Chief Minister of Rajasthan himself inaugurated the project on the day Sibal showcased his future laptop. The event was attended by two members of the Union Cabinet.[8][9] This also lead to an open letter by Nicholas Negroponte offering him complete access to MIT and OLPC technologies to help realise India's dream to create a laptop of its own.[10] Though Sibal demonstrated the laptop in a TV interview and suggested that his tablet was for university students and not for the school children as yet, there were questions about India's contribution to it that may be open to scrutiny once the laptop reaches university students.

[edit] Controversy

During his tenure as Telecom Minister his comment about the loss in the 2G spectrum scam being only notional and causing "zero loss"[11] created a public outcry[12] and he had to clarify it later.[13] Kapil Sibal was indicted by CAG for favoring M/S Phoenix Rose LLC by overlooking rules and regulations and handpicking that company for creating a database for over 5 lakh working professionals of People of Indian Origin settled in the US. CAG's report said that the project’s cost was $1,20,000 but three years after the initiation, the company has dumped the networking site, completing just over 16% of the targeted work.[14]

His move to regulate internet content[15] was strongly criticized across many social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and Google+.[16]

[edit] Personal life

Kapil Sibal was married to Nina Sibal from 1973 until her death from breast cancer in 2000.[17] Amit and Akhil, Sibal's two sons from his first marriage, are both lawyers.[18] In 2005, Sibal married social activist Promila Sibal.[19][20]

[edit] References

  1. ^ "Council of Ministers – Who's Who – Government: National Portal of India". http://india.gov.in. Government of India. http://india.gov.in/govt/cabinet.php. Retrieved 11 August 2010. 
  2. ^ a b c Minister for Earth Sciences, Govt. of India: Shri Kapil Sibal Ministry of Earth Sciences website.
  3. ^ Kapil Sibal Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).
  4. ^ Kapil Sibal, Hon'ble Union Minister of Science & Technology and Earth Sciences Ministry of Science and Technology
  5. ^ Reddy, Sheela (8 September 2008). "A Couple Of Syllables". Outlook India. http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?238350. Retrieved 28 December 2011. 
  6. ^ 'IIT at Muddenahalli in 11th plan'. Deccanherald.com. Retrieved on 2011-01-22.
  7. ^ Article – OLPC picks holes in govt’s laptop agenda. Epaper.timesofindia.com (2010-07-26). Retrieved on 2011-01-22.
  8. ^ OLPC Stall Pics ((nogallary)) – LUG@IITD Community Blog. Lug-iitd.posterous.com (2010-07-23). Retrieved on 2011-01-22.
  9. ^ "Laptop experience for Rajasthan villagers". The Hindu (Chennai, India). 29 July 2010. http://www.hindu.com/2010/07/29/stories/2010072958740500.htm. 
  10. ^ Article – $35 laptop: OLPC founder wants stress on design. Epaper.timesofindia.com (2010-07-29). Retrieved on 2011-01-22.
  11. ^ "No loss to Govt from 2G spectrum allocation: Sibal". Hindu Businessline. 7 January 2011. http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/industry-and-economy/info-tech/article1065479.ece. Retrieved 6 December 2011. 
  12. ^ Ninan, T N. "Sibal's 'zero loss' claim carries zero credibility". Rediff. http://www.rediff.com/business/slide-show/slide-show-1-sibals-zero-loss-claim-carries-zero-credibility/20110118.htm. Retrieved 6 December 2011. 
  13. ^ "I never said zero loss if spectrum was auctioned: Kapil Sibal". The Economic Times. PTI. 1 March 2011. http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2011-03-01/news/28645574_1_zero-loss-spectrum-allocation-criminal-culpability. Retrieved 28 December 2011. 
  14. ^ "CAG indictment adds to Kapil Sibal troubles". Daily News and Analysis. 11 July 2011. http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_cag-indictment-adds-to-kapil-sibal-troubles_1564476. Retrieved 7 December 2011. 
  15. ^ Timmons, Heather. "India Asks Google, Facebook to Screen User Content". Newyork Times. http://india.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/05/india-asks-google-facebook-others-to-screen-user-content/. Retrieved 6 December 2011. 
  16. ^ Iyer, Srividya (7 December 2011). "Kapil Sibal under attack: Twitter, Facebook users target him". Times of India. http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-12-07/social-media/30485176_1_kapil-sibal-democratic-medium-facebook. Retrieved December 28, 2011. 
  17. ^ The Tribune, Chandigarh, India – Nation. Tribuneindia.com. Retrieved on 2011-01-22.
  18. ^ Basu, Arundhati (12 November 2005). "Legally speaking". The Telegraph. http://ww.telegraphindia.com/1051112/asp/weekend/story_5441621.asp. Retrieved 28 December 2011. 
  19. ^ Bishakha De Sarkar (24 August 2008). "‘When I’m in politics, I stick to the party line; when I’m a poet, I don’t’". The Telegraph. http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080824/jsp/7days/story_9734997.jsp. Retrieved 28 December 2011. 
  20. ^ Chadha, Kum Kum (10 February 2006). "Kapil da dhaba". Hindustan Times. http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print/62229.aspx. Retrieved 28 December 2011. 

[edit] External links

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Political offices
Preceded by
Arjun Singh		 Minister of Human Resource Development
2009–present		 Incumbent
Indian National Congress (7)
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