Phunchog Rai (born 1944) is a politician from

Himachal Pradesh Himachal Pradesh (; ; "Snow-laden Mountain Province") is a state in the northern part of India. Situated in the Western Himalayas, it is one of the thirteen mountain states and is characterized by an extreme landscape featuring several peaks ...

, India, and a member of the

Indian National Congress Party 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 E ...

Personal life and education

Rai hails from village Lari in the

Spiti valley Spiti (pronounced as Piti in Bhoti language) is a high-altitude region of the Himalayas, located in the north-eastern part of the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. The name "Spiti" means "The middle land", i.e. the land between Tibe ...

. He matriculated from the Government High School in Manali in 1965, and did graduation from Punjab University at

Chandigarh Chandigarh () is a planned city in India. Chandigarh is bordered by the state of Punjab to the west and the south, and by the state of Haryana to the east. It constitutes the bulk of the Chandigarh Capital Region or Greater Chandigarh, which al ...

. The former IAS officer Deepak Sanan mentions Rai's father, Dorje Chhering, as an authority on the routes, water sources, and lifestyle of Spiti.

Political career

Rai served as an elected representative in the

Himachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly The seat of the Vidhan Sabha is at Shimla, the capital of the state. The Vidhan Sabha comprises 68 Members of Legislative Assembly, which include 68 members directly elected from single-seat constituency. Its term is 5 years, unless sooner dissol ...

from the

Lahaul and Spiti Lahaul and Spiti may refer to: * Lahaul and Spiti district, a district in Himachal Pradesh, India ** Lahaul and Spiti (Vidhan Sabha constituency) Lahaul and Spiti Assembly constituency is one of the 68 assembly constituencies of Himachal Pradesh ...

assembly constituency from 1990 to 1998. In 1990, he was elected as an MLA, during the second tenure of

Shanta Kumar Shanta Kumar (born 12 September 1934) is an Indian politician who was the 3rd Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh and a Union Minister in the Government of India. He is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party. He was elected to the 9th Lok Sabha ...

as the Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh (1990-1992). Rai was re-elected to the Legislative Assembly in 1993, this time under the second tenure of

Virbhadra Singh Virbhadra Singh () (23 June 19348 July 2021) was an Indian politician who served 6 terms and 21 years as the 4th Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh. A leader of the Indian National Congress party, he was elected 9 times as a Member of Legislat ...

as Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh (1993-1998). In this period, he served as a cabinet minister. As minister, Rai held two portfolios, those of Tribal Affairs and Health and Family Planning. In the 11th Legislative Assembly Elections of Himachal Pradesh held in 2007, Rai lost against Dr. Ram Lal Markanda for the Lahaul and Spiti seat.

Electoral performance

Other works

* Rai has been on the Expert Advisory Committee for the development of Buddhist/Tibetan culture and art in the

Ministry of Culture Ministry of Culture may refer to: *Ministry of Tourism, Cultural Affairs, Youth and Sports (Albania) *Ministry of Culture (Algeria) *Ministry of Culture (Argentina) * Minister for the Arts (Australia) *Ministry of Culture (Azerbaijan) * Ministry of ...

, Government of India. * In 1996, Rai was present as a minister at the 1,000th anniversary of the

Tabo monastery Tabo Monastery (or Tabo Chos-Khor Monastery) is located in the Tabo village of Spiti Valley, Himachal Pradesh, northern India. It was founded in 996 CE in the Tibetan year of the Fire Ape by the Tibetan Buddhist ''lotsawa'' (translator) Rinche ...

in Spiti, whereat the

14th Dalai Lama The 14th Dalai Lama (spiritual name Jetsun Jamphel Ngawang Lobsang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso, known as Tenzin Gyatso (Tibetan: བསྟན་འཛིན་རྒྱ་མཚོ་, Wylie: ''bsTan-'dzin rgya-mtsho''); né Lhamo Thondup), known as ...

also delivered

Kalachakra ''Kālacakra'' () is a polysemic term in Vajrayana Buddhism that means "wheel of time" or "time cycles". "''Kālacakra''" is also the name of a series of Buddhist texts and a major practice lineage in Indian Buddhism and Tibetan Buddhism. The ta ...

teachings and initiations. * Rai wrote the foreword to the book ''Tribal Melodies of Himachal Pradesh'' by Manorama Sharma (1998). * The 'Presidential Address' Rai delivered at a seminar on

petroglyph A petroglyph is an image created by removing part of a rock surface by incising, picking, carving, or abrading, as a form of rock art. Outside North America, scholars often use terms such as "carving", "engraving", or other descriptions ...

s in the Spiti valley has been published in the book ''Rediscovering Spiti: a Historical and Archaeological Study'' (2017).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rai, Phunchog Living people People from Lahaul and Spiti district Indian National Congress politicians Himachal Pradesh MLAs 1990–1992 Himachal Pradesh MLAs 1993–1998 1944 births Indian National Congress politicians from Himachal Pradesh Panjab University alumni