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Ananth Kumar

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Ananth Kumar
Ananth Kumar in 2017
Cabinet Minister
Government of India
In office
26 May 2014 – 12 November 2018
Prime MinisterNarendra Modi
Ministry
Term
Minister of Parliamentary Affairs5 July 2016 – 12 November 2018
Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers26 May 2014 – 12 November 2018
In office
13 October 1999 – 12 July 2003
Prime MinisterAtal Bihari Vajpayee
Ministry
Term
Minister of Urban Development1 September 2001 – 12 July 2003
Minister of Tourism2 February 2000 – 1 September 2001
Minister of Culture13 October 1999 – 1 September 2001
Minister of Youth Affairs & Sports13 October 1999 – 2 February 2000
In office
19 March 1998 – 13 October 1999
Prime MinisterAtal Bihari Vajpayee
Ministry
Term
Minister of Tourism30 January 1999 – 13 October 1999
Minister of Civil Aviation19 March 1998 – 13 October 1999
Member of Parliament
Lok Sabha
In office
1996–2018
Preceded byK. Venkatagiri Gowda
Succeeded byTejasvi Surya
ConstituencyBangalore South
President
Bharatiya Janata Party, Karnataka
In office
26 June 2003 – 31 December 2004
Preceded byB.S. Yediyurappa
Succeeded byJagadish Shettar
Personal details
Born
Hegannahalli Narayana Shastry Ananth Kumar

(1959-07-22)22 July 1959
Bangalore,Mysore State,(now inKarnataka) India
Died12 November 2018(2018-11-12)(aged 59)[1]
Bangalore,Karnataka,India
Political partyBharatiya Janata Party
Spouse
​
​
(m.1989⁠–⁠2018)​
ChildrenAishwarya Ananth Kumar, Vijeta
Alma materKarnatak University
Websiteananth.org

Hegannahalli Narayana Shastry Ananth Kumar(22 July 1959 – 12 November 2018)[2]was an Indian politician affiliated withBharatiya Janata Party(BJP). He was theMinister of Chemicals and Fertilizers,Parliamentary Affairs of Indiafrom 2014 until his death in 2018. Ananth Kumar was an MP from South Bangalore 6 times, Minister of Chemicals and fertilizers from 26 May 2014, and Parliamentary affairs from 2016. He was a member of theParliamentfor over two decades, having been elected to theLok Sabha,the lower house, fromBangalore South,from 1996 until his death.[3]He also served as Minister for Civil Aviation, Tourism, Sports, Urban Development, and Poverty Alleviation.[4]

Early life[edit]

Ananth Kumar was born in a middle-classBrahminfamily[5]atBangalore,Sheshadripuram,Karnataka,and moved to Hubli in 1979.[6]His father, H. N. Narayan Shastry, was employed with theIndian Railways.His family settled inHubliin 1979–80. His mother Smt Girija Shastry was a social worker associated with theBharatiya Jana Sangh.She served as the deputymayorof theHubli-Dharwad Municipal Corporationbetween 1985 and 1986. Kumar completed hismatriculationin Lamington School andpre-university coursein sciencePC Jabin Collegein Hubli. He earnedbachelor's degree in artsfrom Kadasiddeshwar Arts College, affiliated to theKarnatak University,and inLawsfrom JSS Law college, both in Hubli.[7]

Kumar joined theRashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh(RSS) in 1973 and took part in themovementstarted byJayaprakash Narayanthe following year. He was jailed in the Hubli sub-jail for a period of over 40 days duringthe emergency.[8][7]

Politics[edit]

Ananth Kumar was a member of RSS' student wing, theAkhil 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 joinedBJPand was nominated as the State President ofBharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha.[8]He was then made National Secretary of the party in 1996.[9]

Ananth Kumar was elected fromBangalore SouthLok Sabha constituency to the11th Lok Sabhain 1996. He was re-elected and was inducted into theSecond Vajpayee ministry.In 1999, he was re-elected to a third consecutive term and became a cabinet minister in theNational Democratic Alliancegovernment. He handled various ministries like Tourism, Sports & Youth Affairs, Culture, Urban Development and Poverty Alleviation.[9]

Ananth Kumar became the President of theKarnatakastate unit ofBJPin 2003. It became the single largest party in the Legislative Assembly and won the majority 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 appointedMinister of Chemicals and Fertilizersin the cabinet of the currentIndian Prime MinisterNarendra Modi.[10]In the 2016 reshuffle, he was given the additional charge ofParliamentary Affairs.[11]

Lok Sabha electoral performance[edit]

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[edit]

When Ananth Kumar was minister of Chemicals and fertilizers, he worked to reduce the prices of coronary stents that would help heart patients to an average benefit of close to a lakh.[12][13]As the minister for chemicals and fertilizers, Kumar implemented 100% mandatoryneem-coatingofurea,in a move that was expected to save₹6,500 crore annually in government subsidy or about₹10,000 in total,[14]by stopping diversion for industrial usage, apart from additional benefit of slowing the release of nitrogen, thus reducing the overall consumption.[15]

Ananth Kumar mandated price reduction by 69% on Knee Implants- from₹1.5 to 2.5 lakh to the new price of₹54,500.[16]Under his guidance, number of JanAushadhi Kendrasincreased to over 4300 all over India (as on 1 November 2018) from 89 in May 2014.[17]He launched Suvidha –Bio-degradable& environment friendly sanitary pads at just₹2.50 per piece from 5 June 2018, on the occasion of International women's day (8 Mar 2018).[18]

He launched an initiative to revive 6 closed fertilizer plants with over 48,000 cr investment, along with coal and oil & natural gas ministry.[19][20]

Ananth Kumar signed an agreement for an International airport inBangaloreand took steps to improve the facilities in the HAL airport as the civil aviation minister in the Vajpayee government.[21][22]

Ananth Kumar formulated a transport policy in which cities with more than 10 lakh people would have metros.[23]He had worked for the approval of theBengaluruMetro project by the Vajpayee cabinet.[24]

Ananth Kumar,Sushma Swaraj,M Venkaiah Naidu,Arun Jaitleywere called "Delhi-4" or "D4" under the leadership of veteranL.K Advani,as they were based inDelhiand took care of various responsibilities in the party.[25][26]

He played his part in passing theGST (Goods and Services Tax)bill in July 2017.[27]When NDA did not have a sufficient majority, Shri Ananth Kumar had convinced the other legislators regarding the importance ofGST (Goods and Services Tax)to launch the bill.[28]

In 1998 Shri Ananth Kumar launched www.raktadan.org/ and www.ananth.org.[29]He became the first IndianMPto launch his own website to serve his constituency.[30][31]

He was known as theDelhiFace ofKarnataka.[32][33]Whenever representatives fromKarnatakafrom any party came to him inDelhi,he would contact the concerned officials and do everything he could to resolve their issues.[34][35]

Personal life[edit]

Social work[edit]

He along with his wife,Tejaswini,foundedAdamya ChetanaFoundation, 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 theMidday Meal Scheme.[36]About 2,00,000 meals are served daily.[37]

He launched the initiative GreenBangalore1:1 as part of his larger initiative Sasyagraha,[38]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 ofKarnataka.[39][40]

As part ofSansad Adarsh Gram Yojana(SAGY) Ananth Kumar had adopted the Ragihalli village.[41]

He introduced Arogya Chetana Mediclaim group insurance facility for schoolchildren inaugurated byDr APJ Abdul Kalam.[42]

Death[edit]

On 12 November 2018 he died due to pancreatic cancer and complications.[43]He was survived by his wife, Tejaswini, and his two daughters, Aishwarya and Vijeta.[44]

References[edit]

  1. ^abK R Balasubramanyam (12 November 2018)."Ananth Kumar: Union Minister Ananth Kumar passes away".The Economic Times.Archivedfrom the original on 24 December 2018.Retrieved12 November2018.
  2. ^Moudgal, Sandeep (12 November 2018)."Union minister Ananth Kumar passes away at 59 in Bengaluru".The Times of India.Archivedfrom the original on 24 December 2018.Retrieved12 November2018.
  3. ^Dutta, Prabhash K. (12 November 2018)."Ananth Kumar never lost an election in 22 years".India Today.Archivedfrom the original on 24 December 2018.Retrieved12 November2018.
  4. ^"Ananth Kumar, a staunch RSS man, known for political adroitness".@businessline.12 November 2018.Archivedfrom the original on 28 December 2021.Retrieved28 December2021.
  5. ^"Who is Ananth Kumar: Things to know about the veteran leader Ananth Kumar".The Times of India.12 November 2018.Archivedfrom the original on 13 July 2022.Retrieved13 July2022.
  6. ^"Who was Ananth Kumar".The Indian Express.12 November 2018.Archivedfrom the original on 13 November 2018.Retrieved13 November2018.
  7. ^abKattimani, Basavaraj (13 November 2018)."Hubballi shaped political career of Ananth Kumar".The Times of India.Archivedfrom the original on 13 November 2018.Retrieved13 November2018.
  8. ^abPattanashetti, Girish (13 November 2018)."Ananth Kumar had his initiation into politics in Hubballi".The Hindu.Archivedfrom the original on 8 November 2020.Retrieved13 November2018.
  9. ^ab"Lok Sabha".Archived fromthe originalon 13 April 2014.Retrieved16 April2014.
  10. ^"Narendra Modi government: Full list of portfolios and ministers".The Indian Express.27 May 2014.Archivedfrom the original on 12 November 2018.Retrieved27 May2014.
  11. ^"Union minister Ananth Kumar passes away".13 November 2018.Archivedfrom the original on 18 November 2018.Retrieved18 November2018.
  12. ^"BJP govt's Valentine's Day gift was reduced stent prices for your heart".ThePrint.23 February 2018.Archivedfrom the original on 3 January 2022.Retrieved3 January2022.
  13. ^"Price caps will save patients nearly Rs1 lakh on cardiac stents: Ananth Kumar".The Economic Times.Archivedfrom the original on 3 January 2022.Retrieved3 January2022.
  14. ^"Neem coated urea to stop divergence for industrial use: Government".The Economic Times.2 December 2015.Archivedfrom the original on 19 November 2018.Retrieved18 November2018.
  15. ^Datta, Kanika (16 February 2016)."Neem-coated truth: Urea policy isn't a game-changer".Business Standard.Archivedfrom the original on 20 January 2022.Retrieved18 November2018.
  16. ^"Knee implants to cost up to 69% less as government caps prices - Times of India".The Times of India.Archivedfrom the original on 19 November 2018.Retrieved19 November2018.
  17. ^"Jan aushadhi".Archivedfrom the original on 19 November 2018.Retrieved19 November2018.
  18. ^"Union Minister Ananth Kumar launches biodegradable sanitary napkins in Bengaluru".The New Indian Express.Archivedfrom the original on 19 November 2018.Retrieved19 November2018.
  19. ^"India on road to end fertilizer imports by 2020-21 - Times of India".The Times of India.Archivedfrom the original on 19 November 2018.Retrieved19 November2018.
  20. ^"20 bills passed by both houses; most productive for Lok Sabha since 2000".The Financial Express.11 August 2018.Archivedfrom the original on 19 November 2018.Retrieved19 November2018.
  21. ^Shubham (14 April 2014)."Ananth Kumar: The people's leader eyeing for a double hat-trick".www.oneindia.com.Archivedfrom the original on 31 December 2021.Retrieved31 December2021.
  22. ^"The struggle for an airport: How Ananth Kumar helped Bengaluru get an international airport".The News Minute.12 November 2018.Archivedfrom the original on 31 December 2021.Retrieved31 December2021.
  23. ^"Ananth far-sightedness helped Bengaluru's airport dream take off: M N Srihari".Deccan Chronicle.13 November 2018.Archivedfrom the original on 31 December 2021.Retrieved31 December2021.
  24. ^Bharadwaj, K. v Aditya (13 November 2018)."Ananth Kumar, a passionate Bengalurean".The Hindu.ISSN0971-751X.Archivedfrom the original on 31 December 2021.Retrieved31 December2021.
  25. ^"Sushma Swaraj's Death Marks Fading Away Of" Delhi-4 "In BJP".NDTV.com.Archivedfrom the original on 13 January 2022.Retrieved11 January2022.
  26. ^"Sushma Swaraj: A fiery leader and a mother figure".Hindustan Times.7 August 2019.Archivedfrom the original on 11 January 2022.Retrieved11 January2022.
  27. ^"Centre considering to 'advance' winter session for early GST roll-out".Hindustan Times.18 September 2016.Archivedfrom the original on 3 January 2022.Retrieved3 January2022.
  28. ^Dutta, Prabhash K. (12 November 2018)."Ananth Kumar never lost an election in 22 years".India Today.Archivedfrom the original on 24 December 2018.Retrieved3 January2022.
  29. ^"Ananth Kumar - A tech-savvy leader who built BJP from scratch in Karnataka".Zee News.12 November 2018.Archivedfrom the original on 7 January 2024.Retrieved12 January2022.
  30. ^"Ananth Kumar passes away! First Indian politician to host an independent website; 10 facts to know".Free Press Journal.Archivedfrom the original on 11 January 2022.Retrieved11 January2022.
  31. ^"Rediff On The NeT Elections '98: Ananth Kumar is the first Indian MP to host an independent website for a candidate".www.rediff.com.Archivedfrom the original on 11 January 2022.Retrieved11 January2022.
  32. ^"Ananth Kumar: From teenage activist to face of Karnataka in Delhi durbar".The New Indian Express.13 November 2018.Archivedfrom the original on 17 January 2022.Retrieved17 January2022.
  33. ^Dev, Arun (12 November 2018)."Ananth Kumar: A Leader Without Enemies & K'taka's Voice in Delhi".TheQuint.Archivedfrom the original on 18 January 2022.Retrieved17 January2022.
  34. ^Khajane, Muralidhara; Bharadwaj, K. v aditya; Srivatsa, Sharat S. (13 November 2018)."Ananth Kumar was friends with all".The Hindu.ISSN0971-751X.Archivedfrom the original on 17 January 2022.Retrieved17 January2022.
  35. ^Balasubramanyam, K. R."Ananth Kumar death: Union Minister Ananth Kumar passes away".The Economic Times.Archivedfrom the original on 18 January 2022.Retrieved17 January2022.
  36. ^"Adamya Chetana – Anna Akshara Arogya".Adamyachetana.org.Archivedfrom the original on 21 November 2018.Retrieved14 October2018.[self-published source]
  37. ^"'Our Annapoorna kitchens are paathshaalas, prayogashaalas too'".The Times of India.2 January 2017.Archivedfrom the original on 24 December 2018.Retrieved14 October2018.
  38. ^"Central Minister Shri. Ananthkumar launches 'SASYAGRAHA' as a Nationwide Movement".Bangalore News Network.Archivedfrom the original on 19 November 2018.Retrieved19 November2018.
  39. ^"Green Bengaluru 1:1 – Adamya Chetana".Adamyachetana.org.Archived fromthe originalon 24 December 2018.Retrieved14 October2018.[self-published source]
  40. ^"Adamya Chetana launches Sasyagraha in Bengaluru".NewsKarnataka.27 November 2017.Archivedfrom the original on 24 December 2018.Retrieved14 October2018.
  41. ^"ರಾಗಿಹಳ್ಳಿ ಗ್ರಾಪಂ ದತ್ತು ಪಡೆದ ಅನಂತಕುಮಾರ್".Kannada.oneindia.com.19 November 2014.Archivedfrom the original on 18 June 2018.Retrieved14 October2018.
  42. ^"Adamya Chetana's impactful journey touching lives of vulnerable, neglected".News Karnataka.10 November 2021.Archivedfrom the original on 30 December 2021.Retrieved3 January2022.
  43. ^"Ananth Kumar passes away Live Updates: PM Modi, Rahul Gandhi express grief".12 November 2018.Archivedfrom the original on 24 December 2018.Retrieved12 November2018.
  44. ^"Union Minister Ananth Kumar passes away; holiday in schools, colleges in Karnataka today".Times Now News. 12 November 2018.Archivedfrom the original on 24 December 2018.Retrieved12 November2018.

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related toAnanth Kumar.
Lok Sabha
Preceded by Succeeded by
Political offices
Preceded by Minister of Civil Aviation
19 March 1998 – 13 October 1999 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Minister of Tourism
30 January 1999 – 13 October 1999 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Minister of Tourism
2 February 2000 – 1 September 2001 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
Srikant Kumar Jena
Minister of State
(Independent Charge)
 Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers
26 May 2014 – 12 November 2018 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Minister of Parliamentary Affairs
5 July 2016 – 12 November 2018 		Succeeded by
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