Rakesh Sinha

Sinha was born on 5 September 1964 [9] in village Manserpur in Begusarai district of Bihar [10] to parents Late Shri Bangali Singh and Late Shrimati Draupadi Devi.[11] His father was a freedom fighter.[12] He did his schooling from Netarhat Vidyalaya.[13]

Sinha pursued his BA (Hons), MA and PhD in Political Science from from University of Delhi where he was a gold medalist.[14][15] He has also been an associate professor at the University of Delhi.[16] He studied his M Phil on civil liberties movement (particularly those originating from Andhra Pradesh) and later pursued his PhD research on the organisational and ideological transformation of the Communist Party of India (Marxist).[17]

Sinha believes that India has been hurt by the neoliberal economic reforms. According to him, India took a decisive turn for the worse with the advent of economic liberalisation in 1991, and Modi’s demonetisation policy is the first economic battle for the “truth”. In his own words, “black money took off with the neoliberal turn to the Indian economy in 1991.”[18]

Sinha is a nominated Member of Rajya Sabha , the Upper House of the Parliament of India since July 2018.[19][20] Sinha was also ICSSR Nominee to CSDS, Delhi.[21][22] In March 2020, Rakesh Sinha has also given a notice, seeking the Chairman’s (of Rajya Sabha) permission to move the resolution to drop the word “socialist” during the time allotted for Private Members’ Bill in March 2020 [23] Recently, Dr. Sinha has also criticised Romila Thapar stating that historians like her have “undervalued and consciously rejected many of the achievements of ancient India”. He further stated that she was guided by Marxism and had a Eurocentric view.[24]

Sinha has introduced 3 private member bills: population control, terminated employees welfare bill, public registry credit bill (to protect data).[25] The Terminated Employees (Welfare) Bill, 2020 was introduced on 7.02.2020 and intends to resolve the policy of employees being laid off due to change in management policies or the Government policies or due to the losses incurred as a result of an inefficient management.[26] The Public Credit Registry of India Bill, 2019 was introduced on 6.12.2019 with an objective to create a Public Credit Registry (i.e. a single data repository) where information on borrowings from banks, non-banking financial companies (NBFCs), corporate bonds or debentures from the market, external commercial borrowings (ECBs), foreign currency convertible bonds (FCCBs), Masala bonds, and inter-corporate borrowings can be available.[27][28]

Dr. Sinha has also adopted Kongthong village in East Khasi Hills, and through the Seva Bharati, Meghalaya East Khasi Hills unit distributed sanitary pads and Dettol soap to the women of the village [29] He took this initiative after being inspired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Independence Day mention of his government's efforts to make sanitary pads widely available for women from poor background [30] Dr. Sinha has also raised concern about the women safety in parliament.[31]

Sinha has also been nominated to several social, educational and cultural bodies like Member, Anjuman (Court) of Jamia Millia Islamia University;[32] Member, General Assembly of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations[33] and Member, Court of North-Eastern Hill University.[34]

Author

• Terrorism and the Indian media : a comparative study of the approach of English, Hindi, and Urdu newspapers towards terrorism, New Delhi : India Policy Foundation, 2009, 163 p.
• Deceptive equality : deconstructing the equal opportunity commission, New Delhi : India Policy Foundation, 2009, 70 p.
• Hole in the bucket : examining Prevention of Communal & Targeted Violence Bill-2011, New Delhi : India Policy Foundation, 2011, 29 p.
• Dr. Keshav Baliram Hedgewar, New Delhi : Publication Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India, 2015, 220 p.
• Swaraj in ideas : quest for decolonisation of the Indian mind, New Delhi : India Policy Foundation, 2017, 42 p.
• Understanding RSS, New Delhi : Har-Anand Publications Pvt Ltd, 2019, 228 p.

Editor

• Secular India : politics of minorityism, New Delhi : Vitasta Publishing Pvt. Ltd., 2012, 250 p. Contributed articles by different authors edited by Sinha.
• Is Hindu a dying race : a social and political perspective of Hindu reformers of early 20th century, New Delhi : Kautilya Books, 2016, 291 p. Three essays by Col. U.N. Mukherji, Swami Shraddhananda and R.B. Lalchand.
• Communal fascism : the siege of Bengal's culture and plurality, New Delhi : India Policy Foundation, 2017, 50 p.