Yashwant Sinha

Sinha was born in Patna, Bihar.[6] He received his master's degree in Political Science in 1958.[1] Subsequently, he taught the subject at the University of Patna till 1962

Sinha joined the Indian Administrative Service in 1960 and spent over 24 years holding important posts during his service tenure. He served as Sub-Divisional Magistrate and District Magistrate for 4 years. He was Under Secretary and Deputy Secretary in the Finance Department of the Bihar Government for 2 years after which he worked in the Ministry of Commerce as Deputy Secretary to the Government of India. .

From 1971 to 1973, he was First Secretary (Commercial) in the Indian Embassy, Bonn, Germany. Subsequently, he worked as Consul General of India in Frankfurt from 1973 to 1974. After working for over seven years in this field, he acquired experience in matters relating to foreign trade and India's relations with the European Economic Community. Thereafter, he worked in the Department of Industrial Infrastructure, Government of Bihar State and in the Ministry of Industry, Government of India dealing with foreign industrial collaborations, technology imports, intellectual property rights, and industrial approvals.

He later was Joint Secretary to Government of India in the Ministry of Surface Transport from 1980 to 1984, his main responsibilities were road transport, ports, and shipping. He resigned from service in 1984.[7]

Sinha speaking at World Economic Forum on East Asia in 2008

Sinha was the finance minister until 1 July 2002, when he exchanged jobs with foreign minister Jaswant Singh. Sinha, during his tenure, was forced to roll back some of his government's major policy initiatives for which he was much criticised.[11] Still, Sinha is widely credited for pushing through several major reform measures that put the Indian economy on a firm growth trajectory. Among them are lowering of real interest rates, introducing tax deduction for mortgage interest, freeing up the telecommunications sector, helping fund the National Highways Authority, and deregulating the petroleum industry. Sinha is also known for being the first Finance Minister to break the 53-year tradition of presenting the Indian budget at 5 pm local time, a practice held over from British Rule days that sought to present the Indian budget at a time convenient to the British Parliament (1130am GMT) rather than India's Parliament.

Sinha has written a comprehensive account of his years as Finance Minister titled Confessions of a Swadeshi Reformer.[12]

Yashwant Sinha has been accused by opponents, and by other political observers of trying to promote nepotism by nominating his son Jayant Sinha as a successor to contest from Hazaribagh overlooking the interests of many other loyal party workers, though he tried to justify the nomination of his son as a party decision.[13]

On 25 April 2015, The French Government honoured him with the highest French civilian distinction of Officier de la Légion d’Honneur (Officer of the Legion of Honour). It was bestowed upon him in recognition of his work as Union Minister of Finance, Minister of External Foreign Affairs and for his invaluable contribution to international issues. While presenting the Honour to Sinha, French Ambassador to India François Richier said as Minister of External Affairs, and Chair of the Indo-French Parliamentary Friendship Group since its very inception (2009–2014), Sinha contributed to the deepening of the Indo-French strategic partnership, launched during the visit of Atal Bihari Vajpayee in Paris (September 1998) and the development of ties between France and India. Created in 1802 by Napoleon Bonaparte, the Legion of Honour is the highest civilian award given by the French Republic for outstanding service to France, regardless of the nationality of the recipients.[14]

Sinha has a wide range of interests including reading, gardening and meeting people. He has widely travelled and has led a number of political and social delegations. He played a leading role in many negotiations on behalf of India. Sinha's wife is Nilima Sinha, one of India's leading children's writers and President, Association of Writers and Illustrators for Children.[15] He has a daughter, Sharmila who is a writer and married to Ashok Kantha, an Indian Foreign Service officer.[16] He has two sons, Jayant and Sumant. Jayant Sinha is an Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IIT Delhi) and Harvard Business School graduate.[17] He was a partner in McKinsey & Company and later a managing director at Omidyar Network.[18] Jayant also contested elections for Member of Parliament from Yashwant Sinha's home constituency of Hazaribagh, which he won by a margin of 159,128 votes, getting a total of 406,931 in his favour.[19] Sumant Sinha is also an alumnus of IIT Delhi, the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, and was a Dean's Fellow at The School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) at Columbia University. He is the founder and chairman of ReNew Power, a renewable energy power producer.[20]

Sinha blogs under the title Musings of a Swadeshi Reformer.[21] He has co-authored the book India Unmade with Aditya Sinha.[22]

In his autobiography Drohkaal ka Pathik, released in November 2013, former MP Pappu Yadav alleged that three MPs of his Indian Federal Democratic Party got money from the then finance minister Sinha, to join the NDA in 2001.[23] Also there were allegations against Yashwant Sinha, that he was involved in the UTI scam.[24][25][26][27][28][29]

On 4 April 2017, Sinha was detained in Hazaribagh district along with BJP MLA Manish Jaiswal and 150 others after trying to hold a religious procession. On police stopping them, his supporters protested and allegedly threw stones at the police.[30]