Ananth Kumar

Hegannahalli Narayana Shastry Ananth Kumar (22 July 1959 – 12 November 2018)[2] was an Indian politician affiliated with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He was the Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers, Parliamentary Affairs of India from 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 the Parliament for over two decades, having been elected to the Lok Sabha, the lower house, from Bangalore South, from 1996 until his death.[3] He also served as Minister for Civil Aviation, Tourism, Sports, Urban Development, and Poverty Alleviation.[4]

For other similarly named people, see Ananth Kumar (disambiguation).

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 in Karnataka) 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

Early life

Ananth Kumar was born in a middle-class Brahmin family[5] at Bangalore, Sheshadripuram, Karnataka, and moved to Hubli in 1979.[6] 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.[7]

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.[8][7]

Politics

Ananth Kumar was a 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.[8] He was then made National Secretary of the party in 1996.[9]

Ananth Kumar was elected from Bangalore 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.[9]

Ananth Kumar became the President of the Karnataka state unit of BJP in 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 appointed Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers in the cabinet of the current Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.[10] In the 2016 reshuffle, he was given the additional charge of Parliamentary Affairs.[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

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% 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,[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 Jan Aushadhi Kendras increased 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 in Bangalore and 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 the Bengaluru Metro project by the Vajpayee cabinet.[24]

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

He played his part in passing the GST (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 of GST (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 Indian MP to launch his own website to serve his constituency.[30][31]

He was known as the Delhi Face of Karnataka.[32][33] Whenever representatives from Karnataka from any party came to him in Delhi, he would contact the concerned officials and do everything he could to resolve their issues.[34][35]

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 Midday Meal Scheme.[36] About 2,00,000 meals are served daily.[37]

He launched the initiative Green Bangalore 1:1 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 of Karnataka.[39][40]

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

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

Death

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
  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. Dutta, Prabhash K. (12 November 2018). "Ananth Kumar never lost an election in 22 years". India Today. Retrieved 12 November 2018.
  4. "Ananth Kumar, a staunch RSS man, known for political adroitness". @businessline. 12 November 2018. Retrieved 28 December 2021.
  5. "Who is Ananth Kumar: Things to know about the veteran leader Ananth Kumar". The Times of India. 12 November 2018. Retrieved 13 July 2022.
  6. "Who was Ananth Kumar". The Indian Express. 12 November 2018. Retrieved 13 November 2018.
  7. Kattimani, Basavaraj (13 November 2018). "Hubballi shaped political career of Ananth Kumar". The Times of India. Retrieved 13 November 2018.
  8. Pattanashetti, Girish (13 November 2018). "Ananth Kumar had his initiation into politics in Hubballi". The Hindu. Retrieved 13 November 2018.
  9. "Lok Sabha". Archived from the original on 13 April 2014. Retrieved 16 April 2014.
  10. "Narendra Modi government: Full list of portfolios and ministers". The Indian Express. 27 May 2014.
  11. "Union minister Ananth Kumar passes away". 13 November 2018.
  12. "BJP govt's Valentine's Day gift was reduced stent prices for your heart". ThePrint. 23 February 2018. Retrieved 3 January 2022.
  13. "Price caps will save patients nearly Rs1 lakh on cardiac stents: Ananth Kumar". The Economic Times. Retrieved 3 January 2022.
  14. "Neem coated urea to stop divergence for industrial use: Government". The Economic Times. 2 December 2015. Retrieved 18 November 2018.
  15. Datta, Kanika (16 February 2016). "Neem-coated truth: Urea policy isn't a game-changer". Business Standard. Retrieved 18 November 2018.
  16. "Knee implants to cost up to 69% less as government caps prices - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 19 November 2018.
  17. "Jan aushadhi".
  18. "Union Minister Ananth Kumar launches biodegradable sanitary napkins in Bengaluru". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 19 November 2018.
  19. "India on road to end fertilizer imports by 2020-21 - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 19 November 2018.
  20. "20 bills passed by both houses; most productive for Lok Sabha since 2000". The Financial Express. 11 August 2018. Retrieved 19 November 2018.
  21. Shubham (14 April 2014). "Ananth Kumar: The people's leader eyeing for a double hat-trick". www.oneindia.com. Retrieved 31 December 2021.
  22. "The struggle for an airport: How Ananth Kumar helped Bengaluru get an international airport". The News Minute. 12 November 2018. Retrieved 31 December 2021.
  23. "Ananth far-sightedness helped Bengaluru's airport dream take off: M N Srihari". Deccan Chronicle. 13 November 2018. Retrieved 31 December 2021.
  24. Bharadwaj, K. v Aditya (13 November 2018). "Ananth Kumar, a passionate Bengalurean". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 31 December 2021.
  25. "Sushma Swaraj's Death Marks Fading Away Of "Delhi-4" In BJP". NDTV.com. Retrieved 11 January 2022.
  26. "Sushma Swaraj: A fiery leader and a mother figure". Hindustan Times. 7 August 2019. Retrieved 11 January 2022.
  27. "Centre considering to 'advance' winter session for early GST roll-out". Hindustan Times. 18 September 2016. Retrieved 3 January 2022.
  28. Dutta, Prabhash K. (12 November 2018). "Ananth Kumar never lost an election in 22 years". India Today. Retrieved 3 January 2022.
  29. "Ananth Kumar - A tech-savvy leader who built BJP from scratch in Karnataka". Zee News. 12 November 2018. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  30. "Ananth Kumar passes away! First Indian politician to host an independent website; 10 facts to know". Free Press Journal. Retrieved 11 January 2022.
  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. Retrieved 11 January 2022.
  32. "Ananth Kumar: From teenage activist to face of Karnataka in Delhi durbar". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
  33. Dev, Arun (12 November 2018). "Ananth Kumar: A Leader Without Enemies & K'taka's Voice in Delhi". TheQuint. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
  34. Khajane, Muralidhara; Bharadwaj, K. v aditya; Srivatsa, Sharat S. (13 November 2018). "Ananth Kumar was friends with all". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
  35. Balasubramanyam, K. R. "Ananth Kumar death: Union Minister Ananth Kumar passes away". The Economic Times. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
  36. "Adamya Chetana – Anna Akshara Arogya". Adamyachetana.org. Retrieved 14 October 2018.
  37. "'Our Annapoorna kitchens are paathshaalas, prayogashaalas too'". The Times of India. 2 January 2017. Retrieved 14 October 2018.
  38. "Central Minister Shri. Ananthkumar launches 'SASYAGRAHA' as a Nationwide Movement". Bangalore News Network. Retrieved 19 November 2018.
  39. "Green Bengaluru 1:1 – Adamya Chetana". Adamyachetana.org. Archived from the original on 24 December 2018. Retrieved 14 October 2018.
  40. "Adamya Chetana launches Sasyagraha in Bengaluru". NewsKarnataka. 27 November 2017. Retrieved 14 October 2018.
  41. "ರಾಗಿಹಳ್ಳಿ ಗ್ರಾಪಂ ದತ್ತು ಪಡೆದ ಅನಂತಕುಮಾರ್". Kannada.oneindia.com. 19 November 2014. Retrieved 14 October 2018.
  42. "Adamya Chetana's impactful journey touching lives of vulnerable, neglected". News Karnataka. 10 November 2021. Retrieved 3 January 2022.
  43. "Ananth Kumar passes away Live Updates: PM Modi, Rahul Gandhi express grief". 12 November 2018.
  44. "Union Minister Ananth Kumar passes away; holiday in schools, colleges in Karnataka today". Times Now News. 12 November 2018. Retrieved 12 November 2018.
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