Harivansh Narayan Singh (born 30 June 1956) is an Indian journalist and politician, who is the Deputy Chairperson of the

Rajya Sabha The Rajya Sabha, 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 legislatures of the states and union territories using si ...

, the

upper house An upper house is one of two Debate chamber, chambers of a bicameralism, bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the lower house.''Bicameralism'' (1997) by George Tsebelis The house formally designated as the upper house is usually smalle ...

of the

Indian Parliament The Parliament of India ( IAST: ) is the supreme legislative body of the Republic of India. It is a bicameral legislature composed of the president of India and two houses: the Rajya Sabha (Council of States) and the Lok Sabha (House of the ...

. He is 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 Rajya Sabha representing

Bihar Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West Be ...

Early life

He did his graduate and post graduate in

Economics Economics () is the social science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and intera ...

from

Banaras Hindu University Banaras Hindu University (BHU) IAST: kāśī hindū viśvavidyālaya IPA: /kaːʃiː hɪnd̪uː ʋɪʃwəʋid̪jaːləj/), is a collegiate, central, and research university located in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India, and founded in 1916 ...

and also holds

Diploma A diploma is a document awarded by an educational institution (such as a college or university) testifying the recipient has graduated by successfully completing their courses of studies. Historically, it has also referred to a charter or offici ...

Journalism Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the "news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree. The word, a noun, applies to the occupation (profes ...

. He resides at

Ranchi Ranchi (, ) is the capital of the Indian state of Jharkhand. Ranchi was the centre of the Jharkhand movement, which called for a separate state for the tribal regions of South Bihar, northern Odisha, western West Bengal and the eastern area ...

Journalistic career

He has worked in several different media publications through his career, starting with

The Times of India ''The Times of India'', also known by its abbreviation ''TOI'', is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by The Times Group. It is the third-largest newspaper in India by circulation and largest ...

. He served as an additional media advisor to former Prime Minister

Chandra Shekhar Chandra Shekhar ( 17 April 1927 – 9 August 2015) was an Indian politician who served as the 8th Prime Minister of India, between 10 November 1990 and 21 June 1991. He headed a minority government of a breakaway faction of the Janata Dal with ...

. He joined the then obscure and nearly dead Hindi publication

Prabhat Khabar Prabhat Khabar is a Hindi language newspaper published daily in Jharkhand, Bihar and West Bengal. The newspaper is circulated in several states in India, including Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal and some parts of Orissa. It was founded in August 1 ...

in 1989, and scaled it to become one of the top newspapers in India, in terms of circulation. The newspaper was known for investigating many high-profile stories, including the

Fodder scam The Fodder Scam was a corruption scandal that involved the embezzlement of about from the government treasury of the north Indian state of Bihar.

Political career

In 2014, the

Janata Dal (United) Janata Dal (United) ("People’s Party (United)”) abbreviated as JD(U) is an Indian political party with political presence mainly in eastern and north-eastern India. JD(U) is recognised as a state party in the states of Bihar , Arunachal Pra ...

nominated Singh to the

from the state of Bihar for a six-year term. On 8 August 2018, he was elected as

Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha The Deputy Chairperson of the Rajya Sabha (IAST: ) presides over the proceedings of the Rajya Sabha in the absence of the Chairperson of the Rajya Sabha (Vice President of India). The Deputy Chairperson is elected internally by the Rajya Sabha ...

for a six-year term as the candidate of the

National Democratic Alliance National Democratic Alliance (NDA) () is a Centre-right politics, centre-right to Right-wing politics, right-wing and Conservatism, conservative Indian big tent political alliance led by the right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). It was foun ...

, winning the election by a vote of 125 to 105 against the opposition candidate. He is the third person ever and first in forty years to hold this post who is not from the

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 ...

. He was re-elected as the deputy chairman of the Rajya Sabha on 14 September 2020 after he returned to the Rajya Sabha for his second term from

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Singh, Harivansh Narayan Janata Dal (United) politicians 1956 births Living people Rajya Sabha members from Bihar People from Ranchi People from Bhagalpur district Jharkhand politicians Hindi journalists Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha