Anbumani Ramadoss is an Indian politician from
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a state in southern India. It is the tenth largest Indian state by area and the sixth largest by population. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu is the home of the Tamil people, whose Tamil languag ...
,
India
India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...
. He rose to prominence as Vanniyar leader after 2010. He is a member of the
Rajya Sabha
The Rajya Sabha, wikisource:Constitution of India/Part V#Article 80, constitutionally the Council of States, is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of India. , it has a maximum membership of 245, of which 233 are elected by the legisl ...
, the upper house of the
Parliament of India
The Parliament of India (International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration, IAST: ) is the supreme legislative body of the Republic of India. It is a bicameralism, bicameral legislature composed of the president of India and two houses: the R ...
from
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a state in southern India. It is the tenth largest Indian state by area and the sixth largest by population. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu is the home of the Tamil people, whose Tamil languag ...
. Anbumani was the
Minister of Health and Family Welfare
The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare is an Indian government ministry charged with health policy in India. It is also responsible for all government programs relating to family planning in India.
The Minister of Health and Family Welfare h ...
in the
First Manmohan Singh ministry from (2004–2009) as a part of the
UPA government
United Progressive Alliance (UPA) is a centre-left political alliance of predominantly left-leaning political parties in India. It was formed after the 2004 general election with support from left-leaning political parties when no single part ...
. He was elected to the
Lok Sabha
The Lok Sabha, constitutionally the House of the People, is the lower house of India's bicameral Parliament, with the upper house being the Rajya Sabha. Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by an adult universal suffrage and a first-pas ...
, the lower house of the
Parliament of India
The Parliament of India (International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration, IAST: ) is the supreme legislative body of the Republic of India. It is a bicameralism, bicameral legislature composed of the president of India and two houses: the R ...
from
Dharmapuri,
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a state in southern India. It is the tenth largest Indian state by area and the sixth largest by population. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu is the home of the Tamil people, whose Tamil languag ...
. He is also the president of the
Pattali Makkal Katchi
Paattali Makkal Katchi (; PMK) is a political party in Tamil Nadu, India, founded by S. Ramadoss in 1989 for the Vanniyars, a caste in northern Tamil Nadu. It is currently part of the BJP led National Democratic Alliance (NDA). It contests th ...
.
Early life and education
Anbumani was born on 9 October 1968 at
Puducherry to
S. Ramadoss
S. Ramadoss is an Indian politician. He is the founder of the Pattali Makkal Katchi, an Indian political party.
Vanniyar reservation protest
In 1987, the Vanniyar Sangham under Ramadoss organized the 1987 Vanniyar reservation agitation deman ...
and R. Saraswathi. S. Ramadoss was a
physician
A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...
by profession, who later founded the
Pattali Makkal Katchi
Paattali Makkal Katchi (; PMK) is a political party in Tamil Nadu, India, founded by S. Ramadoss in 1989 for the Vanniyars, a caste in northern Tamil Nadu. It is currently part of the BJP led National Democratic Alliance (NDA). It contests th ...
in 1989 in a agriculture based vanniyar family. Anbumani completed his SSLC from
Montfort Boys Higher Secondary School, Yercaud in 1984 and finished his higher secondary in 1986 from St. Ann's Higher Secondary School,
Tindivanam. He completed his
MBBS from
Madras Medical College. He spent a year and a half stint serving as a medical practitioner at Nallalam, a small village near
Tindivanam. In 2003, Anbumani did a course on macro-economics from the
London School of Economics
, mottoeng = To understand the causes of things
, established =
, type = Public research university
, endowment = £240.8 million (2021)
, budget = £391.1 mill ...
.
Political career
Anbumani joined Pattali Makkal Katchi, founded by his father and became the youth wing president. In 2004, he became a member of the
Rajya Sabha
The Rajya Sabha, wikisource:Constitution of India/Part V#Article 80, constitutionally the Council of States, is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of India. , it has a maximum membership of 245, of which 233 are elected by the legisl ...
. He is a popular among vanniyar caste , a numerous caste of North Tamilnadu.
Minister of Health and Family Welfare
On 22 May 2004, Anbumani became as the
Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare
The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare is an Indian government ministry charged with health policy in India. It is also responsible for all government programs relating to family planning in India.
The Minister of Health and Family Welfar ...
of the
Government of India
The Government of India ( ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, ...
. At the time of induction into the
Manmohan Singh
Manmohan Singh (; born 26 September 1932) is an Indian politician, economist and statesman who served as the 13th prime minister of India from 2004 to 2014. He is also the third longest-serving prime minister after Jawaharlal Nehru and Indi ...
's
2004 cabinet, Anbumani was the youngest Cabinet Minister in the Union Cabinet. During his tenure, the ministry set up various institutions like the
Public Health Foundation of India, Department of Health Research,
National Institute of Communicable Diseases,
Food Safety and Standards Authority of India and the
Traditional Knowledge Digital Library
The Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL) is an Indian digital knowledge repository of the traditional knowledge, especially about medicinal plants and formulations used in Indian systems of medicine.
History
Set up in 2001, as a collab ...
. As the Union Health Minister, Anbumani established the
National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) in 2005 to provide primary health care to the women and children living in the rural parts of India. The project was lauded as 'the largest successful health scheme to be implemented anywhere in the world' by economist
Jeffrey Sachs
Jeffrey David Sachs () (born 5 November 1954) is an American economist, academic, public policy analyst, and former director of The Earth Institute at Columbia University, where he holds the title of University Professor. He is known for his work ...
.
Under Anbumani, the ministry of health brought stringent regulations against the sale of tobacco products. Anbumani initiated a National Alcohol Policy for the first time in India and advocated for 2 October, the birthday of
Mahatma Gandhi
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, Anti-colonial nationalism, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure ...
to be observed as World No-Alcohol day. Anbumani along with
T D Dogra, the then Director of
All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi expanded the institution to
Jhajjar
Jhajjar is a town in Jhajjar district in the Indian state of Haryana. The city is situated on the road connecting Rewari to Rohtak (NH-352), Loharu to Meerut (NH334B), Charkhi Dadri to Delhi and Gurgaon to Bhiwani. Jhajjar is located west ...
district,
Haryana
Haryana (; ) is an Indian state located in the northern part of the country. It was carved out of the former state of East Punjab on 1 Nov 1966 on a linguistic basis. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with less than 1.4% () of India's land ...
. New departments were established and redevelopment was carried out.
National Institute of Siddha,
Tambaram Sanatorium, Chennai was inaugurated by Anbumani on 3 September 2005.
Member of Parliament
He became a
Member of Parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house ...
from
Dharmapuri Lok Sabha Constituency in 2014 as a part of the
NDA
NDA may stand for:
Military
* National Defence Academy (India), a military academy in India
* National Defence Act, legislation for organizing and funding Canada's military
* National Defense Academy of Japan, a military academy in Japan
* Nig ...
with
Bharatiya Janata Party
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major List of political parties in India, Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the List of ruling p ...
.
On 6 October 2015, Anbumani offered to quit the NDA if his decision could help find a permanent solution to the problems of the Sri Lankan Tamils.
Anbumani had the worst attendance of 15% among those from Tamil Nadu in both Houses as a Rajya Sabha MP as of December 2019.
State assembly elections
Anbumani was declared as the Chief Ministerial Candidate from PMK for the
2016 Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly election
The Fifteenth Legislative Assembly Election was held on 16 May 2016 for the 232 seats (except Thanjavur and Aravakurichi for which held on 26 October 2016) of the Legislative Assembly in the state of Tamil Nadu in India. AIADMK under J. Jay ...
s. He contested from
Pennagaram
Pennagaram is a town in Dharmapuri district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the headquarters of Pennagaram taluk
Pennagaram taluk is a taluk in the Dharmapuri district of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The headquarters of the taluk ...
and lost by 18,446 vote.
During his campaign in Kancheepuram in 2019 he told cadres that it is only they who will be in the polling booths. He said to his party members “We will only be there. Then what? Do I need to say it out loud? You understood, right? That’s all, it’s done. Both of them have won.” Continuing in this vein, Anbumani also urges cadres, “There is no one in the opposing team to question us. So keep all this in your mind. My intention is that this region has to develop and that good plans should come here.” The Thiruporur police in April 2019 initiated steps for registering cases against Anbumani Ramadoss for allegedly hinting at booth-capturing by his coalition parties to ensure success of their candidates in the April 18 elections.
Controversies
Arrest for hate speech
Anbumani Ramadoss was arrested by Kancheepuram police in May 2013 in connection with an alleged hate speech case filed against him, the previous year. PMK workers set at least three buses on fire, and damaged over a hundred government buses by stone pelting. The police detained about 4,000 PMK workers around the state.
FIR on promoting caste enmity
In March 2014, the Dharmapuri Police filed
FIR
Firs (''Abies'') are a genus of 48–56 species of evergreen coniferous trees in the family (biology), family Pinaceae. They are found on mountains throughout much of North America, North and Central America, Europe, Asia, and North Africa. The ...
on Anbumani Ramadoss and two others on charges of circulating CDs containing video/audio clips containing speeches by his father S Ramadoss and others on
Marakkanam violence and
Dharmapuri violence that could promote violence and hostility between two groups. A case against Ramdoss together with the PMK Deputy Secretary General and PMK District Secretary was registered under IPC sections relating to offenses including promoting hatred among various groups and issuing statements leading to public misbehavior and breaching Model Code of Conduct.
Awards and honors
The General Secretary of United Nations
Ban Ki-moon
Ban Ki-moon (; ; born 13 June 1944) is a South Korean politician and diplomat who served as the eighth secretary-general of the United Nations between 2007 and 2016. Prior to his appointment as secretary-general, Ban was his country's Minister ...
described him as a 'public health champion'.
President of India
The president of India ( IAST: ) is the head of state of the Republic of India. The president is the nominal head of the executive, the first citizen of the country, as well as the commander-in-chief of the Indian Armed Forces. Droupadi Mur ...
Shri Pranab Mukherjee
Dr. Pranab Mukherjee (11 December 193531 August 2020) was an Indian politician and statesman who served as the 13th president of India from 2012 until 2017. In a political career spanning five decades, Mukherjee was a senior leader in the India ...
presented him with a memento of appreciation on 29 March 2014 at the inauguration of Rotary International's Polio-Free Conclave 2014 in New Delhi. He was awarded with the
Luther L. Terry Award by the American Cancer Society in 2006.
Anbumani received
World Health Organization
The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level o ...
Director General's Special Award for Leadership and Special Award for tobacco control in 2007.
Rotary International
Rotary International is one of the largest service organizations in the world. Its stated mission is to "provide service to others, promote integrity, and advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace through hefellowship of business, prof ...
awarded Polio Eradication Champion Award in 2007. The Rotary club of Madras presented Anbumani with a 'For the sake of Honour' award in recognition of his contribution to tobacco control and rural healthcare in 2008.
Personal life
Anbumani is married to Sowmiya and has three daughters. Anbumani heads a
NGO Pasumai Thaayagam
பசுமை தாயகம் - Pasumai Thaayagam ( meaning "Green Motherland" ) is a mass based, voluntary, Non-partisan, Non-governmental organization (NGO) from India that promotes nature conservation. Its jurisdiction covers the states ...
, which was founded in 1995 by his father S. Ramadoss. The NGO focuses on planting trees, desilting lakes and building check dams to conserve water. It also advocates for the welfare of Sri Lankan Tamils. Anbumani is currently the President of the Tamil Nadu Badminton Association. He advocates for the ban of alcohol and tobacco products.
References
External links
Official biographical sketch in Parliament of India website
, -
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ramadoss, Anbumani
Health ministers of India
Union Ministers from Tamil Nadu
1968 births
Living people
Pattali Makkal Katchi politicians
Rajya Sabha members from Tamil Nadu
Madras Medical College alumni
India MPs 2014–2019
People from Viluppuram district
Lok Sabha members from Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu politicians