Ajit Singh (born 25 November 1960) is an

Indian politician Politics of India works within the framework of the country's Constitution. India is a parliamentary democratic secular republic in which the president of India is the head of state & first citizen of India and the prime minister of India is ...

from the state of

Assam Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...

. He served as Member of

Assam Legislative Assembly The Assam Legislative Assembly is the unicameral legislature of the Indian state of Assam. It is housed in Guwahati, the capital city of Assam, geographically situated in present Western Assam region. The Legislative Assembly comprises 126 Me ...

from

Udharbond Udharbond is a Tehsil or Block in Cachar district in the state of Assam, India. It is located 17 km from District headquarters Silchar. It is one of the few historical places in the entire Barak valley, a place of religious attraction an ...

from 1998 to 2016. He also served as a

minister of state Minister of State is a title borne by politicians in certain countries governed under a parliamentary system. In some countries a Minister of State is a Junior Minister of government, who is assigned to assist a specific Cabinet Minister. In o ...

from 2011 to 2015 and as a cabinet minister from 2015 to 2016. He has contested the

constituency every election since 1998.

Early life and education

Singh was born on 25 November 1960. His father was the late Dwarika Prasad Singh and the late Sanjari Devi. Singh has a

HSLC A secondary school leaving qualification is a document signifying that the holder has fulfilled any secondary education requirements of their locality, often including the passage of a final qualification examination. For each leaving certifica ...

from Govt. Boys H.S. School Silchar in 1977 and a

BSC A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

From GC College Silchar in the Year 1987.

Political career

Early political career

Singh was the

AGP AGP may refer to: Science and technology * Accelerated Graphics Port, a high-speed point-to-point channel for attaching a graphics card to a computer's motherboard * Advance Game Port, a third-party GameCube accessory * Aerosol-generating proce ...

candidate for the Udharbond constituency in a 1998

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

. He received 34879 votes, defeating his nearest opponent by 14156 votes and became MLA of

. Singh later joined

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Em ...

. Singh was the

candidate in the 2001 Assam Legislative Assembly election for

. He received 30657 votes, 43.47% of the total vote. He defeated his nearest opponent by 3989 votes. Singh sought reelection in the

2006 Assam Legislative Assembly election Legislative Assembly elections were held in Assam in two phases between 3 and 10 April 2006 to elect members from all 126 constituencies of the state . Following the election, the incumbent Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi formed his second ministry. ...

. He received 39432 votes, defeating his nearest opponent by 17245 votes. Singh again sought reelection in the

2011 Assam Legislative Assembly election The 13th Assam Legislative Assembly election was held in two phases on 4 and 11 April 2011 to elect members from 126 constituencies in Assam, India. The result was announced on 13 May. BJP was accused of turning the anti-immigrant feeling in Ass ...

. He received 56755 votes, 61.41% of the total vote, defeating his nearest opponent by 44435 votes.

Ministership

Minister of State

On 27 May 2011, Singh was inducted into the Third Tarun Gogoi cabinet, as one of four ministers of state with independent charge. He became Minister of state for Excise, Sports and Youth Welfare. In June 2011, Singh distributed funds for the development of sports in rural areas and in women's sports. Singh stated that emphasis will be accorded in the development of rural areas. In July 2011, during the ongoing session of the state he stated that 116 youths were undergoing training at centres without any coaches. On 3 March 2012, Singh along with an additional chief secretary visited the Bhuvan Valley Tea estate, at the behest of Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi due to 14 tea works dying, possibly of starvation. Singh attended the meeting in honour of 150th birth anniversary of

Rabindranath Tagore Rabindranath Tagore (; bn, রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer and painter. He resh ...

. On 29 June 2012, Singh along with irrigation minister Ardhendu Kumar Dey visited several flooded areas in Barak Valley by boat. Following the

ASEAN ASEAN ( , ), officially the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, is a political and economic union of 10 member states in Southeast Asia, which promotes intergovernmental cooperation and facilitates economic, political, security, militar ...

car rally in December 2012, in an evening Singh hosted a dinner. After the delaying of a 201 km broad gauge project connecting

Lumding Lumding (Pron:/lʌmˈdɪŋ/) is a city with municipal board in Hojai district in the Indian state of Assam. Etymology The word 'Lumding' owes its roots to a couple of Dimasa words 'Lama' and 'Ding' connoting 'straight pathway'. The word ''Lu ...

with Silchar, hundreds of protesters gathered outside Singh's house requesting the immediate completion of the railway project. In June 2013, following the return of Everesters from

, Singh attended the reception for their return. In August 2013, after

Chief Minister A chief minister is an elected or appointed head of government of – in most instances – a sub-national entity, for instance an administrative subdivision or federal constituent entity. Examples include a state (and sometimes a union terri ...

Tarun Gogoi Tarun Gogoi (11 October 1936 – 23 November 2020) was an Indian politician who served as the Chief Minister of Assam from 2001 to 2016. He was a member of the Indian National Congress and led the party to a record three consecutive electoral vi ...

asked for the revival of Assam Flying Club, the sports commissioner submitted minutes of meetings to Singh. Singh resigned along with all members of the cabinet on 19 January 2015.

Cabinet Minister

Singh was inducted into the new ministry, however he was promoted to a cabinet minister. He was made minister for excise, sports and youth welfare. On 26 April 2015, Singh, while speaking at a function in the premises of the flag station here today, said his ministry "has laid stress on development of better infrastructure for augmenting the fleet of bus services and also modernization, keeping in view the increasing number of commuters and their expectations of better services from the ASTC". He also addressed how this was his vision for Barak Valley, and other areas. In the

2016 Assam Legislative assembly election The Assam Legislative Assembly Election of 2016 was held in two phases, on 4 and 11 April 2016, to elect members of the 126 constituencies in Assam, a state in North-eastern India. The overall voter turnout was 84.72%, which set a new record for ...

, Singh sought reelection in

. He received 45598 votes, 40.65% of the total vote. He was defeated by BJP candidate and the incumbent MLA of

Mihir Kanti Shome Mihir Kanti Shome is a Bharatiya Janata Party politician from Assam. He has been elected in Assam Legislative Assembly The Assam Legislative Assembly is the unicameral legislature of the Indian state of Assam. It is housed in Guwahati, th ...

by 8606 votes. He was one of ten cabinet ministers who lost in the election.

Post-ministerial career

In the

2021 Assam Legislative Assembly election The 2021 Assam Legislative Assembly election was the 15th quinquennial State legislative assemblies of India, legislative assembly election held in the Indian state of Assam from March 27 to April 6 in three phases, to elect 126 Member of the L ...

, Singh was again the

for

. He received 59060 votes, 45.28% of the total vote. He again lost to

by 2685 votes.

Personal life

Singh married Smt. Kusum Singh on 11 March 1993 and they had one daughter and one son. Singh enjoys reading, travelling, sports and gardening. He also enjoys watching TV and reading books and journals. He enjoys working for the upliftment of the weaker sections of society and he attended a three-month conference in

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

related to Trade Union activities.

Positions

* Assistant General Secretary, Cachar Sramik Union. * Assistant General Secretary, INTUC * Chairman, INTUC, Young Council, Assam and other socio-economic organisations * General Secretary, Indian National Plantation Workers Federation * Secretary, APCC (I) * Vice Chairman, Assam Livestock & Poultry Farm * MLA Udharbond * Chairman, Petition Committee in 11th ALA * Member, STA * Chairman, ATDC * Parliamentary Secretary, Finance, Government of Assam * Minister of State (IC), Excise and Sports & Youth Welfare, Government of Assam * Cabinet Minister for excise, sports and youth welfare

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Singh, Ajit Assam MLAs 2001–2006 Assam MLAs 2006–2011 Assam MLAs 2011–2016 State cabinet ministers of Assam 1960 births Living people Asom Gana Parishad politicians Indian National Congress politicians from Assam People from Cachar district