Ananth Kumar

Hegannahalli Narayana Shastry Ananth Kumar (22 July 1959 – 12 November 2018)[2] was an Indian politician and senior leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party. Kumar served as the Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers of India.[3] He was the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs from 2014 till his death in 2018. He was a member of the Parliament for over two decades, having been elected to the Lok Sabha, the lower house, from Bengaluru South, from 1996 till his death.[4]

Ananth Kumar
Kumar in 2017
Minister of Parliamentary Affairs
In office
5 July 2016  12 November 2018
Prime MinisterNarendra Modi
Preceded byVenkaiah Naidu
Succeeded byNarendra Singh Tomar
Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers
In office
26 May 2014  12 November 2018
Prime MinisterNarendra Modi
Preceded bySrikant Kumar Jena
Succeeded byD. V. Sadananda Gowda
Minister of Civil Aviation
In office
19 March 1998  13 October 1999
Prime MinisterAtal Bihari Vajpayee
Preceded byC. M. Ibrahim
Succeeded bySharad Yadav
Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha
In office
1996  12 November 2018
Preceded byK. Venkatagiri Gowda
Succeeded byTejasvi Surya
ConstituencyBangalore South
President of the Bharatiya Janata Party, Karnataka
In office
26 June 2003  31 December 2004
Preceded byB.S. Yediyurappa
Succeeded byJagadish Shettar
Minister of Tourism
In office
30 January 1999  13 October 1999
Preceded byMadan Lal Khurana
Succeeded byUma Bharati
Minister of Youth Affairs & Sports
In office
13 October 1999  2 February 2000
Preceded byOffice established
Succeeded bySukhdev Singh Dhindsa
Personal details
Born
Hegnnahalli Narayana Shastry Ananth Kumar

(1959-07-22)22 July 1959
Bangalore, Mysore State, India
(now in Karnataka, India)
Died12 November 2018(2018-11-12) (aged 59)[1]
Bengaluru, Karnataka, India
Political partyBharatiya Janata Party
Spouse(s)
(m. 19892018)
Children2
Alma materKarnatak University
Websiteananth.org

Early life

Ananth Kumar was born on 22 July 1959 in Bangalore, Karnataka, into a middle-class Brahmin family.[5] His father, H. N. Narayan Shastry, was employed with the Indian Railways. His family settled in Hubli in 1979–80. His mother Smt Girija Shastry was a social worker associated with the Bharatiya Jana Sangh. She served as the deputy mayor of the Hubli-Dharwad Municipal Corporation between 1985 and 1986. Kumar completed his matriculation in Lamington School and pre-university course in science PC Jabin College in Hubli. He earned bachelor's degree in arts from Kadasiddeshwar Arts College, affiliated to the Karnatak University, and in Laws from JSS Law college, both in Hubli.[6]

Kumar joined the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in 1973 and took part in the movement started by Jayaprakash Narayan the following year. He was jailed in the Hubli sub-jail for a period of over 40 days during the emergency.[7][6]

Politics

Ananth Kumar was an active member of RSS' student wing, the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP). He was elected as the State Secretary of the ABVP. He later became its National Secretary in 1985. In 1987, he joined BJP and was nominated as the State President of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha.[7] He was then made National Secretary of the party in 1996.[8]

Ananth Kumar was elected from Bengaluru South Lok Sabha constituency to the 11th Lok Sabha in 1996. He was re-elected and was inducted into the Second Vajpayee ministry. In 1999, he was re-elected to a third consecutive term and became a cabinet minister in the National Democratic Alliance government. He handled various ministries like Tourism, Sports & Youth Affairs, Culture, Urban Development and Poverty Alleviation.[8]

Ananth Kumar became the President of the Karnataka state unit of BJP in 2003. Under his leadership of the state unit, it became the single largest party in the Legislative Assembly and won the highest number of Lok Sabha seats in 2004 in Karnataka. In 2004, he was appointed National General Secretary of the BJP.

On 26 May 2014, Kumar was appointed Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers in the cabinet of the current Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.[9] In the 2016 reshuffle, he was given the additional charge of Parliamentary Affairs.[10]

Ananth Kumar did not see electoral defeat in any of the Lok Sabha elections he contested.[11]

Lok Sabha Electoral Performance

Year Winner Party Losing candidate Party
2014 Ananth Kumar BJP Nandan Nilekani INC
2009 Ananth Kumar BJP K Byre Gowda INC
2004 Ananth Kumar BJP Krishnappa M INC
1999 Ananth Kumar BJP B K Hariprasad INC
1998 Ananth Kumar BJP D P Sharma INC
1996 Ananth Kumar BJP Varalakshmi Gundu Rao INC

Governance

As the minister for chemicals and fertilizers, Kumar implemented 100% mandatory neem-coating of urea, in a move that was expected to save 6,500 crore annually in government subsidy or about 10,000 in total,[12] by stopping diversion for industrial usage, apart from additional benefit of slowing the release of nitrogen, thus reducing the overall consumption.[13]

Ananth Kumar mandated price reduction by 69% on Knee Implants- from 1.5 to 2.5 lakh to the new price of 54,500.[14] Under his guidance, number of Jan Aushadhi Kendras increased to over 4300 all over India (as on 1 Nov 2018) from 89 in May 2014.[15] He launched Suvidha – Bio-degradable & environment friendly sanitary pads at just 2.50 per piece from 5 June 2018, while the scheme announcement was made on 8th Mar 2018 – international women's day[16]

He launched an initiative to revive 6 closed fertilizer plants with over 48,000 cr investment, along with coal and oil & natural gas ministry.[17][18]

Personal life

Social work

He along with his wife, Tejaswini, founded Adamya Chetana Foundation, a nonprofit organisation for social service. It was setup in 1998 in memory of Girija Shastry, mother of Ananth Kumar.[1] It supports underprivileged children with food in schools through the mid-day meals programme.[19] About 2,00,000 meals are served daily.[20]

He launched the initiative Green Bengaluru 1:1 as part of his larger initiative Sasyagraha,[21] to achieve 1 tree per human ratio, from the current 7 humans per tree as against the ideal 7 trees per human per research by IISc. EcoChetana initiative was to promote GreenLifeStyle in the state of Karnataka.[22][23]

As part of Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana (SAGY) Ananth Kumar had adopted the Ragihalli village.[24]

Death

On 12 November 2018 he died due to pancreatic cancer and other related complications.[25] He is survived by his wife, Tejaswini, and his two daughters, Aishwarya and Vijeta.[26][27]

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  1. K R Balasubramanyam (12 November 2018). "Ananth Kumar: Union Minister Ananth Kumar passes away". The Economic Times. Retrieved 12 November 2018.
  2. Moudgal, Sandeep (12 November 2018). "Union minister Ananth Kumar passes away at 59 in Bengaluru". The Times of India. Retrieved 12 November 2018.
  3. govt of India}}
  4. Dutta, Prabhash K. (12 November 2018). "Ananth Kumar never lost an election in 22 years". India Today. Retrieved 12 November 2018.
  5. "Who was Ananth Kumar". The Indian Express. 12 November 2018. Retrieved 13 November 2018.
  6. Kattimani, Basavaraj (13 November 2018). "Hubballi shaped political career of Ananth Kumar". The Times of India. Retrieved 13 November 2018.
  7. Pattanashetti, Girish (13 November 2018). "Ananth Kumar had his initiation into politics in Hubballi". The Hindu. Retrieved 13 November 2018.
  8. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 13 April 2014. Retrieved 16 April 2014.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  9. "Narendra Modi government: Full list of portfolios and ministers". The Indian Express. 27 May 2014.
  10. "Union minister Ananth Kumar passes away". 13 November 2018.
  11. "Ananth Kumar, a man who never saw electoral defeat". Deccan Herald. 12 November 2018.
  12. "Neem coated urea to stop divergence for industrial use: Government". The Economic Times. 2 December 2015. Retrieved 18 November 2018.
  13. Datta, Kanika (16 February 2016). "Neem-coated truth: Urea policy isn't a game-changer". Business Standard. Retrieved 18 November 2018.
  14. "Knee implants to cost up to 69% less as government caps prices - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 19 November 2018.
  15. "Jan aushadhi".
  16. "Union Minister Ananth Kumar launches biodegradable sanitary napkins in Bengaluru". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 19 November 2018.
  17. "India on road to end fertilizer imports by 2020-21 - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 19 November 2018.
  18. "20 bills passed by both houses; most productive for Lok Sabha since 2000". The Financial Express. 11 August 2018. Retrieved 19 November 2018.
  19. "Adamya Chetana – Anna Akshara Arogya". Adamyachetana.org. Retrieved 14 October 2018.
  20. "'Our Annapoorna kitchens are paathshaalas, prayogashaalas too'". The Times of India. Retrieved 14 October 2018.
  21. BN, Janardhan. "Central Minister Shri. Ananthkumar launches 'SASYAGRAHA' as a Nationwide Movement". Bangalore News Network. Retrieved 19 November 2018.
  22. "Green Bengaluru 1:1 – Adamya Chetana". Adamyachetana.org. Retrieved 14 October 2018.
  23. NewsKarnataka. "Adamya Chetana launches Sasyagraha in Bengaluru". NewsKarnataka. Retrieved 14 October 2018.
  24. "ರಾಗಿಹಳ್ಳಿ ಗ್ರಾಪಂ ದತ್ತು ಪಡೆದ ಅನಂತಕುಮಾರ್". Kannada.oneindia.com. 19 November 2014. Retrieved 14 October 2018.
  25. "Ananth Kumar passes away LIVE UPDATES: PM Modi, Rahul Gandhi express grief". 12 November 2018.
  26. "Union Minister Ananth Kumar passes away; holiday in schools, colleges in Karnataka today". Times Now News. 12 November 2018. Retrieved 12 November 2018.
  27. "The ever smiling Ananth Kumar: From a whisper in Karnataka to becoming it's voice in the Centre". Newsd www.newsd.in. Retrieved 12 November 2018.

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Lok Sabha
Preceded by
K. V. Gowda o
Succeeded by
Tejasvi Surya
Political offices
Preceded by
C. M. Ibrahim
Minister of Civil Aviation
19 March 1998 – 13 October 1999
Succeeded by
Sharad Yadav
Preceded by
Madan Lal Khurana
Minister of Tourism
30 January 1999 – 13 October 1999
Succeeded by
Uma Bharti
Preceded by
Uma Bharti
Minister of Tourism
2 February 2000 – 1 September 2001
Succeeded by
Jagmohan
Preceded by
Srikant Kumar Jena
Minister of State
(Independent Charge)
Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers
26 May 2014 – 12 November 2018
Succeeded by
D. V. Sadananda Gowda
Preceded by
Venkaiah Naidu
Minister of Parliamentary Affairs
5 July 2016 – 12 November 2018
Succeeded by
Narendra Singh Tomar
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