Manohar Parrikar

Manohar Parrikar
मनोहर पर्रीकर

Manohar Parrikar
Minister of Defence
Assumed office
9 November 2014
Prime Minister Narendra Modi
Preceded by Arun Jaitley
Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha)[1]
Assumed office
26 November 2014
Constituency Uttar Pradesh
Chief Minister of Goa
In office
9 March 2012 – 8 November 2014
Governor K Sankaranarayanan
Bharat Vir Wanchoo
Margaret Alva
Om Prakash Kohli
Mridula Sinha
Preceded by Digambar Kamat
Succeeded by Laxmikant Parsekar
In office
24 October 2000 – 2 February 2005
Governor Mohammed Fazal
Kidar Nath Sahani
Mohammed Fazal
S C Jamir
Preceded by Francisco Sardinha
Succeeded by Pratapsingh Rane
Personal details
Born Manohar Gopalakrishna Prabhu Parrikar
(1955-12-13) 13 December 1955
Mapuçá, Goa, Portuguese India (now in India)
Political party Bharatiya Janata Party
Spouse(s) Medha Parrikar
Children 2 (Sons)
Alma mater Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay
Religion Hinduism

Manohar Gopalkrishna Prabhu Parrikar (born 13 December 1955) is an Indian politician from the Bharatiya Janata Party who is the current Defence Minister of India. Before being inducted into the Council of Ministers of the Union Government on 9 November 2014, he served as the Chief Minister of Goa, first from 2000 to 2005 and later from March 2012 to November 2014.[2][3][4] He is a member of the Rajya Sabha from Uttar Pradesh.[5]

Early life and education

Manohar Parrikar was born in Mapusa, Goa.[6] He studied at Loyola High School, Margao. He completed his secondary education in Marathi and went on to graduate in metallurgical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (IIT Bombay)[6] in 1978. He is the first IIT graduate to serve as Chief Minister of an Indian state. He was awarded the Distinguished Alumnus Award in 2001 by IIT Bombay.[4]

Political career

Parrikar joined the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) at a young age and became a mukhya shikshak (chief instructor) in the final years of his schooling. After graduating from IIT, he resumed RSS work in Mapusa while maintaining a private business, and became a sanghchalak (local director) at the age of 26. He was active in the RSS's North Goa unit, becoming a key organiser of the Ram Janmabhoomi movement. He was seconded by RSS to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) with the objective of fighting the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party.[7] Parrikar has often expressed considerable pride of his RSS background, saying that he learnt "discipline, progressiveness, gender equality, equality of all before the law, nationalism and social responsibility from the RSS".[8] He is sometimes described as having been a pracharak of the RSS.[9]

As a member of the BJP, Parrikar was elected to the Legislative Assembly of the State of Goa in 1994. He was leader of the opposition from June to November 1999. He successfully contested the election to become Chief Minister of Goa for the first time on 24 October 2000, but his tenure would last only till 27 February 2002. On 5 June 2002, he was re-elected and would serve another term as Chief Minister.

Manohar Parrikar with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the 2015 Republic Day Parade, New Delhi.

On 29 January 2005, his government was reduced to a minority in the Assembly after four BJP MLAs resigned from the House. Pratapsinh Rane of the Indian National Congress would subsequently replace Parrikar as Chief Minister. In 2007, the Parrikar-led BJP was defeated in the Goa state elections by the Indian National Congress led by Digambar Kamat. His party became victorious once again after the BJP and their party-allies won twenty-four seats against the Indian National Congress' nine in the Goa Assembly Elections held in March 2012. In the 2014 General Elections, BJP won both the Lok Sabha seats in Goa.[10] Parrikar was reluctant to leave Goa and move to Delhi in November 2014, by his own admission but was persuaded by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to join the central government.[10] He was succeeded by Laxmikant Parsekar as Goa's CM. Parrikar had represented the Panaji constituency in the Goa Legislative Assembly when he was a player in the state politics.[11]

In November 2014, Parrikar was chosen as the Minister of Defence replacing Arun Jaitley, who, till then, held the additional charge of the Ministry.[9][12] His entry into the parliament was facilitated by choosing him as the party's candidate for the elected Rajya Sabha seat from Uttar Pradesh.[11]

Family and personal life

His wife Medha Parrikar died of cancer in 2001.[13][14] They have two sons - Utpal Parrikar is an Electrical Engineering graduate from Michigan State University and Abhijat Parrikar who is a local businessman.

Controversies

Education policy

In 2001, the Parrikar government turned over fifty-one government primary schools in rural areas to Vidya Bharati, the educational wing of the Sangh Parivar, inviting criticism from certain educationists.[15][16]

European garbage tour junket

In November 2013, a 37-person delegation travelled to Italy, Germany and Austria to observe European waste management plants and practices. The delegation included deputy chief minister Francis D’Souza, government MLAs, members of panchayats and municipal councils, and ordinary residents. The taxpayer-funded trip cost about Rs 1 crore (Rs 10 million).[17][18][19]

FIFA World Cup junket

He also drew criticism for approving a junket costing at least Rs 89 lakh (Rs 8.9 million) for six government MLAs from the ruling party, including three ministers, to attend the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil. The Indian National Congress termed the trip "wasteful expenditure" and criticized the lack of other government officials or soccer experts in the delegation.[20][21]

Awards

References

  1. ↑ "List of Sitting Members of Rajya Sabha (Term Wise)".
  2. ↑ "Manohar Parrikar takes oath as Goa chief minister". 9 March 2012. Archived from the original on 9 March 2012. Retrieved 10 March 2012.
  3. ↑ Government Printing Press & Stationery, Govt of Goa, India - Shri Manohar Parrikar - Honourable Chief Minister Archived 1 January 1970 at the Wayback Machine.
  4. 1 2 Shri. Manohar Parrikar Profile|Government of Goa: Official Portal
  5. ↑ "Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar is now a Rajya Sabha MP from UP : North, News". India Today. 13 November 2014. Retrieved 3 February 2016.
  6. 1 2 "Shri. Manohar Parrikar - M.L.A - Goa Legislative Assembly".
  7. ↑ "All you need to know about Manohar Parrikar". Economic Times. 8 November 2014.
  8. ↑ "Manohar Parrikar: The real aam admi". Niti Central. 22 January 2014.
  9. 1 2 "Manohar Parrikar agrees to shift to Delhi, Modi meets President". India Today. 6 November 2014.
  10. 1 2 "Herald: Church feels alienated and sidelined by Parsekar". oHeraldo.
  11. 1 2 "Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar to resign as Goa MLA". timesofindia-economictimes. 13 November 2014. Retrieved 29 May 2016.
  12. ↑ "Manohar Parrikar, an IIT-Bombay Graduate, Likely to be New Defence Minister". NDTV. 6 November 2014. Retrieved 6 November 2014.
  13. ↑ "Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar remembers wife on his 60th birthday". dna. 13 December 2015. Retrieved 3 February 2016.
  14. ↑ "Manohar Parrikar: The Gentleman Politician". Sify. 31 December 2013. Retrieved 3 February 2016.
  15. ↑ Visweswaran, Kamala; et al. (2009), "The Hindutva view of history: Rewriting textbooks in India and the United States" (PDF), Georgetown Journal of International Affairs: 101–112
  16. ↑ Frederick Noronha (30 June 2001), "Questionable Initiatives in Education", Economic and Political Weekly, 36 (26): 2322–2325, JSTOR 4410796
  17. ↑ "Garbage plants' junket raises stink". The Times of India. Goa. 31 October 2013. Retrieved 29 May 2016.
  18. ↑ "Junket tour has no member of Calangute Comunidade". O Heraldo. Calangute. 2 November 2013. Retrieved 29 May 2016.
  19. ↑ "Before storm over Brazil plans, Goa MLAs had gone to Venice to study garbage management". scroll.in. 15 June 2014. Retrieved 29 May 2016.
  20. ↑ Mergulhao, Marcus (12 June 2014). "Goa ministers, MLAs edge out babus in Rs 89 lakh junket to Brazil". The Times of India. Retrieved 26 May 2016.
  21. ↑ "Goa CM Manohar Parrikar sends MLAs on FIFA World Cup junket, ignores football legends". DNA India. 12 June 2014. Retrieved 29 May 2016.
  22. ↑ "CNN-IBN Indian of the Year 2012". CNN-IBN Indian of the Year 2012. IBN live. December 12, 2012. Retrieved December 13, 2012.
  23. ↑ "Search". India News Analysis Opinions on Niti Central.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Manohar Parrikar.
Political offices
Preceded by
Francisco Sardinha		 Chief Minister of Goa
24 October 2000 – 2 February 2005 		Succeeded by
Pratapsingh Rane
Preceded by
Digambar Kamat		 Chief Minister of Goa
9 March 2012 – 8 November 2014 		Succeeded by
Laxmikant Parsekar
Preceded by
Arun Jaitley		 Minister of Defence
9 November 2014 – Present 		Incumbent
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