Dr. Harsh Vardhan
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Harsh Vardhan (born Harshvardhan Goel, 13 December 1954) is an Indian
otorhinolaryngologist Otorhinolaryngology ( , abbreviated ORL and also known as otolaryngology, otolaryngology–head and neck surgery (ORL–H&N or OHNS), or ear, nose, and throat (ENT)) is a surgical subspeciality within medicine that deals with the surgical a ...
. He had served as 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 ...
,
Minister of Science and Technology A Science Ministry or Department of Science is a ministry or other government agency charged with science. The ministry is often headed by a Minister for Science. List of Ministries of Science Many countries have a Ministry of Science or Ministry ...
and Minister of Earth Sciences in the BJP-led
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 ...
government of Prime Minister
Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (; born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician serving as the 14th and current Prime Minister of India since 2014. Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Parliament from ...
from 30 May 2019 to 7 July 2021. He represents Chandni Chowk in Delhi as 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 bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...
in the
17th Lok Sabha The 17th Lok Sabha was formed by the members elected in the 2019 Indian general election. Elections, all across India, were conducted in seven phases from 11 April 2019 to 19 May 2019 by the Election Commission of India. Counting started offi ...
. He was elected to the office of Chairperson of Executive Board of the
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 of h ...
from May 22, 2020. Vardhan has been prominent in the Indian government's response to the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
. He later resigned from his cabinet post ahead of the cabinet reshuffle in July 2021.


As MP Chandni Chowk

He was elected as MP of Chandni Chowk in
2014 Lok Sabha elections General elections were held in India in nine phases from 7 April to 12 May 2014 to elect the members of the 16th Lok Sabha. With 834 million registered voters, they were the largest-ever elections in the world until being surpassed by the 2019 ...
. He was again elected as MP in 2019 Lok Sabha elections.br>


Early life

Harsh Vardhan was born in Delhi to Om Prakash Goel and Sneh Lata Goel. Vardhan finished his schooling from Happy School,
Daryaganj Daryaganj (literally "A market near a river") is a neighbourhood of Delhi inside the walled city of Shahjahanabad (Old Delhi). The "darya" (lit. "River") refers to the river Yamuna which was just outside the walled city. Daryaganj is one of the ...
, in 1971. He attended
Zakir Husain Delhi College Zakir Husain Delhi College (formerly known as Zakir Husain College, Anglo Arabic College, and Delhi College), founded in 1696, is the oldest existing educational institution in India, and is a constituent college of the University of Delhi, ac ...
of the
University of Delhi Delhi University (DU), formally the University of Delhi, is a collegiate central university located in New Delhi, India. It was founded in 1922 by an Act of the Central Legislative Assembly and is recognized as an Institute of Eminence (IoE) ...
and
Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi Memorial Medical College Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi Memorial Medical College (GSVMMC or GSVM Medical College) is a public medical college in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh. The college is named after Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi, a freedom fighter and journalist from Kanpur. It wa ...
of the Kanpur University, where he graduated in 1979 with a
Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery ( la, Medicinae Baccalaureus, Baccalaureus Chirurgiae; abbreviated most commonly MBBS), is the primary medical degree awarded by medical schools in countries that follow the tradition of the United King ...
. He earned his
Master of Surgery The Master of Surgery (Latin: Magister Chirurgiae) is an advanced qualification in surgery. Depending upon the degree, it may be abbreviated ChM, MCh, MChir or MS. At a typical medical school the program lasts between two and three years. The p ...
in
Otorhinolaryngology Otorhinolaryngology ( , abbreviated ORL and also known as otolaryngology, otolaryngology–head and neck surgery (ORL–H&N or OHNS), or ear, nose, and throat (ENT)) is a surgical subspeciality within medicine that deals with the surgical a ...
from the same college in 1983. He has been a member of the
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh ( ; , , ) is an Indian right-wing, Hindu nationalist, paramilitary volunteer organisation. The RSS is the progenitor and leader of a large body of organisations called the Sangh Parivar (Hindi for "Sangh family" ...
since childhood.


Political career

In 1993, Vardhan was elected as a member of the Delhi Assembly representing Krishna Nagar. He was appointed as the State Minister of Health and Minister of Law for Delhi. He later became the state Minister of Education in 1996. He has been re-elected from the same constituency in the 1998, 2003, 2008 and 2013 elections.


Minister of Health and Family Affairs of Delhi

Vardhan as the State Minister of Health in 1994 oversaw the implementation of the pilot project of the Pulse Polio Programme which involved the mass immunisation of 1 million children up to the age of 3 in Delhi. In 1995, this programme was launched nationwide leading to 88 million children being immunised. On 28 March 2014, India was declared polio-free by the WHO, as there had been no reported cases for three years. In 1997, the Delhi Prohibition of Smoking and Non-Smokers Health Protection Act was passed in the Delhi assembly which was one of the first anti-tobacco laws implemented by any state government. The act applied across the NCT of Delhi. It prohibited smoking in places of public work or use for example hospitals, restaurants, and educational institutions and in public service vehicles. It also prohibited the sale of smoking substances such as tobacco and beedis to anyone below the age of eighteen. Smoking products could not also be sold or stored within 100 metres of any educational institution. Under the provisions of the act, fines would be applied to anyone who contravened the law and they could potentially be ejected from places of public use by the police.


2013 Delhi Assembly elections

On 23 October 2013, Vardhan was named the
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 ...
candidate for Delhi Assembly elections by the BJP. After the 2013 elections, BJP emerged as the single largest party winning 31 out of the 70 seats in the
Fifth Legislative Assembly of Delhi The Fifth Legislative Assembly of Delhi was constituted on 28 December 2013 after the Delhi Legislative Assembly elections on 4 December 2013. Election and Government formation Total six national parties, eleven state parties, sixty register ...
. However, they fell short of an absolute majority so were unable to form the government.


2014 Lok Sabha election

Vardhan contested the Chandni Chowk seat in Delhi where he defeated the incumbent Union Minister of Law and Justice, Kapil Sibal of the Indian National Congress. He was also appointed in the first Narendra Modi government as Minister of Health and Family Welfare on 26 May 2014. In May 2017, he was given the additional charge of Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change following the death of Minister Anil Madhav Dave.


2019 Lok Sabha election

Vardhan again contested the Chandni Chowk seat in Delhi where he defeated Congress candidate Jai Parkash Aggarwal by a margin of 2,28,145 votes. While he received 52.94% votes, runner-up Aggarwal polled 29.67% votes.


As Union Minister

On 30 May 2019, Vardhan was sworn in as a cabinet minister in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's second term government. He is put in charge of the Minister of Health and Family Welfare, Minister of Science and Technology and Minister of Earth Sciences. Vardhan has been prominent in this role during the COVID-19 pandemic in India. In February 2021, he endorsed an unproven "herbal cure" for COVID-19 devised by a company run by yoga guru Ramdev, prompting criticism from health experts. In early March 2021, he declared the country was in the "endgame" of the pandemic, shortly before infections across the country rose dramatically in its second wave in April. Vardhan as a cabinet minister in
Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (; born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician serving as the 14th and current Prime Minister of India since 2014. Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Parliament from ...
government, declared reservation for academic calendar 2020-2021 in MBBS and BDS colleges for the children of
COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...
workers who died during COVID-19 pandemic in India. As a part of Cabinet Reshuffle on 7 July 2021, Dr Harshvardhan resigned from his post of Union Health Minister after holding its two years of office.


Controversies

At the 105th Indian Science Congress in March 2018, after the death of legendary British scientist Stephen Hawking, Vardhan claimed that Hawking had said that the
Vedas upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the '' Atharvaveda''. The Vedas (, , ) are a large body of religious texts originating in ancient India. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute the ...
postulated a theory superior to
Albert Einstein Albert Einstein ( ; ; 14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist, widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest and most influential physicists of all time. Einstein is best known for developing the theory ...
's
theory of relativity The theory of relativity usually encompasses two interrelated theories by Albert Einstein: special relativity and general relativity, proposed and published in 1905 and 1915, respectively. Special relativity applies to all physical phenomena in ...
, despite the fact that there is no record of Hawking having made the statement. In 2019, after the
Health Effects Institute The Health Effects Institute (HEI) is an independent, non-profit corporation specializing in research on the health effects of air pollution. It is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. HEI was founded in 1980 with Archibald Cox ...
released a scientific report estimating 1.2 million annual deaths in India due to air pollution, Vardhan denied the results, arguing that this report was intended to create panic In 2021, Indian Medical Association (IMA), the largest association of doctors in India, issued a statement which it objected to Vardhan who was endorsing Coronil, a product of Patanjali Ayurved. IMA questioned the ethics of a health minister of the country to release such falsely fabricated unscientific product to the people of the country.


Awards and honours

Vardhan has received the following awards and recognitions: * IMA President's Special Award of Appreciation by the Indian Medical Association in 1994. *
Director-General A director general or director-general (plural: ''directors general'', ''directors-general'', ''director generals'' or ''director-generals'' ) or general director is a senior executive officer, often the chief executive officer, within a government ...
's Polio Eradication Champion Award Commendation Medal by the
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 of h ...
in 1998. * Polio Eradication Champion Award by the
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 ...
in 2001. * "Doctor of the last Decade" (Swasthya Ratna) by Indian Medical Association's New Delhi branch in 2002. *
Director-General A director general or director-general (plural: ''directors general'', ''directors-general'', ''director generals'' or ''director-generals'' ) or general director is a senior executive officer, often the chief executive officer, within a government ...
's Special World No Tobacco Day Award, by WHO in 2021, for bringing legislation to ban
e-cigarettes An electronic cigarette is an electronic device that simulates tobacco smoking. It consists of an atomizer, a power source such as a battery, and a container such as a cartridge or tank. Instead of smoke, the user inhales vapor. As such ...
and Heated tobacco products, on the occasion of World No Tobacco Day.


Personal life

Vardhan is married to Nutan, and they have two sons and one daughter.


Bibliography

*


See also

* Pulse Polio programme in India *
Fifth Legislative Assembly of Delhi The Fifth Legislative Assembly of Delhi was constituted on 28 December 2013 after the Delhi Legislative Assembly elections on 4 December 2013. Election and Government formation Total six national parties, eleven state parties, sixty register ...


References

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External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Vardhan, Harsh 1954 births Living people Indian surgeons Bharatiya Janata Party politicians from Delhi State cabinet ministers of Delhi Health ministers of India Members of the Delhi Legislative Assembly India MPs 2014–2019 Lok Sabha members from Delhi Members of the Cabinet of India Leaders of the Opposition in the Delhi Legislative Assembly Delhi MLAs 2013–2015 Delhi MLAs 2008–2013 Narendra Modi ministry Medical doctors from Delhi India MPs 2019–present National Democratic Alliance candidates in the 2019 Indian general election