|
Board Member and Presidential Advisors
Dr. Karan Singh
Born heir apparent (Yuvaraj) to Maharaja Hari and Maharani Tara Devi
of Jammu and Kashmir, Dr. Karan Singh was catapulted into political life
at the early age of eighteen when, in 1949, he was appointed Regent by
his father on the intervention of Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. Thereafter
for the next eighteen years - as Regent, as elected Sadar-i-Riyasat and
lastly as Governor. His was a unique instance of the last representative
of the old order becoming, by the will of the people, the first representative
of the new. During these years he fullfilled his delicate and onerous
duties with commendable success.
In 1967, Dr. Karan Singh was inducted as a member of the Union Cabinet
headed by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. At 36, he was the youngest person
ever to become a Central Cabinet Minister in India. He was elected soon
thereafter to the Lok Sabha from Udhampur Parliamentary constituency in
Jammu and Kashmir on behalf of the Indian National Congress by an overwhelming
majority, and was re-elected from there in 1971, 1977 and 1980.
Dr. Karan Singh was first assigned the portfolio of Tourism and Civil
Aviation, which he held for six years and where he created a marked impact
by his vision and dynamism. In 1973 he moved to the portfolio of Health
and Family Planning. Family Planning emerged as a major national commitment
after he announced the National Population Policy in 1976. In 1979 he
assumed the portfolio of Education and Culture. During the tenures as
Minister, Dr. Karan Singh neither drew any salary nor lived in Government
accommodations Dr. Karan Singh was the only former ruler of a princely
state to voluntarily surrender his privy purse. He put the entire sum
into the Hari-Tara Charitable Trust, named after his parents, in the service
of the people on India. He converted his Amar Mahal Palace in Jammu into
a Museum and Library containing a priceless collection of Pagari miniatures
and modern Indian art as well as his personal library of over twenty thousand
volumes.
Dr. Karan Sigh also looks after several other trusts in Jammu and Kashmir
including the Dharmarth Trust which administers over a hundred Hindu shrines
and temples. Recently he founded the International Centre for Science,
Culture and Consciousness which is emerging as an important centre of
creative thought.
Dr. Karan Singh passed the Senior Cambridge examination from the Doon
School, Dehra Dun in the first division, and later graduated from the
Jammu and Kashmir University, of which he was himself the Chancellor.
In 1957 he took the M.A. degree of the Delhi University in Political Science
with a first class first, creating a University record which is still
unbroken. He then earned his doctorate from the Delhi University by writing
a thesis on the Political thought of Sri Aurobindo, thus reaching the
apex of a brilliant educational career. He holds the Honorary Professorship
of the Benarus Hindu University against the Sri Aurobindo Chair, and is
the Chairman of the Governing Body of the Auroville Foundation.
Dr. Karan Singh was for many years Chancellor of the Jammu and Kashmir
University as well as Banaras Hindu University, and Chairman of the Central
Sanskrit Board, President of the Authors Guild of India, the Commonwealth
Society of India, and the Delhi Music Society. He is Vice-Chairman of
the Jawaharlat Nehru Memorial Fund, Chairman of the Temple of Understanding,
a major international Interfaith organisation, Chairman of the People's
Commission on Environment and Development India, President of the India
International Centre, and of the Virat Hindu Samaj which seeks social
reform on the basis of universal, Vedantic values.
He is associated with many other cultural and academic institutions. He
has received several honorary degrees and other awards, including doctorates
from the Banaras Hindu University, the Aligarh Muslim University and the
Soka University, Tokyo. He is a member of the prestigious Club of Rome,
and is a lifelong conservationist, having been Chairman of the Indian
Board of Wildlife for many years and head of the spectacularly successful
"Project Tiger".
Dr. Karan Singh is an author of distinction, having written a number
of books on political science, philosophical essays, travelogues and poems
in English. His fascinating Autobiography, an important collection of
his writings called "One Man's World and his "Essay's on Hinduism
have been widely acclaimed. He has composed devotional songs in his mother-tongue,
Dogri, and is a keen student of Indian classical music. He has travelled
extensively throughout the country and abroad, having represented India
at important international conferences.
With his deep insight into the Indian cultural tradition, as well as his
wide exposures to Western literature and civilization, Dr. Karan Singh
has come to be recognized as an out standing thinker and leader in India
and abroad. He is a renowned orator, and has lectured in five continents
on philosophy and culture, politics and the environment. His tenure as
Indian Ambassador to the United States, though brief, received extensive
and extremely favourable media coverage in both countries.
Dr. Karan Singh is married to the gracious Princess Yasho Rajya Lakshmi,
grand-daughter of the last Rana Prime Minister of Nepal, Maharaja Mohun
Shumsher. She is an eminent social worker in her own right. As President
of the Delhi Society for the Welfare of Mentally Retarded Children, she
has built up an excellent centre at Okhla which provides day-care, evaluation,
vocational training and other facilities to mentally handicapped children.
The Karan Singhs have three children, a daughter Jyotsna and two sons,
Vikramaditya and Ajatshatru.
Bibliography
VARIED RHYTHMS
(Essays and Poems), Asia Publishing House, Bombay,1960
SHADOW AND SUNLIGHT
(Dogra folk songs), Asia Publishing House, Bombay, 1962
PROPHET OF INDIAN NATIONALISM
The Political Thought of Sri Aurobindo Ghosh, Allen and Unwin, London,
1963. (Republished by Bharatiya Vidya Bhawan)
WELCOME THE MOONRISE (Poems)
Asia Publishing House, Bombay, 1965
POST-INDEPENDENCE GENERATION CHALLENGE AND RESPONSE
Bharatiya Vidya Bhawan, Bombay, 1966
CONTEMPORARY ESSAYS
Bharatiya Vidya Bhawan, Bombay, 1971
POPULATION, POVERTY AND THE FUTURE OF INDIA
National Institute of Family Planning, New Delhi, 1975
IN DEFENCE OF RELIGION
Vision Books, New Delhi, 1978
RELIGIONS OF INDIA
Indian Book Company, New Delhi, 1983
ONE MAN'S WORLD
Allied Publishers, New Delhi, 1986
BRIDGE TO IMMORTALITY
The Mundaka Upanishad
Bharatiya Vidya Bhawan, Bombay, 1987
HUMANITY AT THE CROSSROADS
(With Daisaku Ikeda) Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 1988
AUTOBIOGRAPHY
Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 1989
ESSAYS ON HINDUISM
Ratna Sagar, New Dehli, 1990
BRIEF SOJOURN
B.R. Publishing Corporation, New Delhi, 1991
HYMN TO SHIVA AND OTHER POEMS
Vikas Publishers, New Delhi, 1991
THE MOUNTAIN OF SHIVA
(Novel), Writers Workshop, Calcutta, 1992
For contact please write to:
Dr. Karan Singh
PresidentThe People's Commission on Environment and Development India
15, Institutional Area, Lodhi Road
New Delhi 110 003 India
|
 |
