Shanta Kumar (born 12 September 1934) is an Indian politician who was the

3rd Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * Second#Sexagesimal divisions of calendar time and day, 1⁄60 of a ''second'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute'' Places * 3rd Street (d ...

Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh The Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh is the chief executive of the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. As per the Constitution of India, the governor is a state's ''de jure'' head, but ''de facto'' executive authority rests with the chief minister ...

and a Union Minister in 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, c ...

. He is a member of the

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Modi ...

. He was elected to the

9th Lok Sabha List of Members of the 9th Lok Sabha (2 December 1989 – 13 March 1991) elections in 22–26 November 1989. The Lok Sabha (House of the People) is the lower house in the Parliament of India. Twelve sitting members from Rajya Sabha were electe ...

from Kangra constituency in 1989. He was re-elected to the Lok Sabha in 1998, 1999 and 2014 from the same constituency. He has written a number of books.

Early life

Shanta Kumar was born to Jagannath Sharma and Kaushalya Devi on 12 September 1934 in Garhjamula,

Kangra district Kangra is the most populous district of the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. Dharamshala is the administrative headquarters of the district. History Kangra is known for having the oldest serving Royal Dynasty in the world, the Katoch. In 1758 ...

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 ...

Political career

His political career began in 1963 when he was elected as a

Panch The Panchayat raj is a political system, originating from the Indian subcontinent, found mainly in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Nepal. It is the oldest system of local government in the Indian subcontinent, and historical men ...

in the

Gram Panchayat Gram Panchayat () is a basic village-governing institute in Indian villages. It is a democratic structure at the grass-roots level in India. It is a political institute, acting as cabinet of the village. The Gram Sabha work as the general bod ...

for Garhjamula. He was subsequently elected as a member of the Panchayat Samiti in

Bhawarna Bhawarna is a town in Kangra district, Himachal Pradesh, India. from Palampur. The postal code for Bhawarna is 176083. Until the latter part of 1990s, the town market was one of the favorite destinations for marriage shopping since transportat ...

and then was president of Zilla Parishad in Kangra from 1965 to 1970. He was elected to 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 ...

in 1972. He remained a member till 1985. He was re-elected to the House again in 1990 and continued till 1992. He became 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 ...

of Himachal Pradesh in 1977. He held the post till 1980 and came back to head the Government again in 1990 and stayed till 1992. He had enforced "No Work,No Pay" policy during his second term as Chief Minister for strongly dealing with the striking government employees. He was the Leader of Opposition in the Himachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly from 1980 to 1985. He was elected to the

in 1989 from Kangra. He was re-elected twice in 1998 and 1999. He was a senior minister in the

Atal Bihari Vajpayee Atal Bihari Vajpayee (; 25 December 1924 – 16 August 2018) was an Indian politician who served three terms as the 10th prime minister of India, first for a term of 13 days in 1996, then for a period of 13 months fr ...

government from 1999 to 2004. He was Union Minister of Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution from 1999 to 2002 and Union Minister of Rural Development from 2002 to 2004. He was elected to 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 ...

from Himachal Pradesh in 2008. In 2014, he was elected to the

16th Lok Sabha Members of the 16th Lok Sabha were elected during the 2014 Indian general election. The elections were conducted in 9 phases from 7 April 2014 to 12 May 2014 by the Election Commission of India. The results of the election were declared on 16 M ...

from Kangra. In 2014-15 he chaired a committee on the restructuring of the

Food Corporation of India Food is any substance consumed by an organism for nutritional support. Food is usually of plant, animal, or fungal origin, and contains essential nutrients, such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, or minerals. The substance is ingest ...

(FCI).

Personal background

He was married to Santosh Shailja in year 1964. He has three daughters Indu Sharma,Renu Mujumdar,Shalini Sathyan and a son Vikram Sharma. His wife died in December 2020 due to coronavirus at Dr Rajendra Prasad Government Medical College, Tanda. She worked as teacher in initial years but later quit her job and switched over to writing and social work among women and underprivileged sections and also wrote some books.

Election results

Writing

Kumar's books include: *''Dharti Balidan Ki'', 1962 *''Himalaya Par Lal Chhaya'', 1964 *''Vishwa Vijeta Vivekanand'', 1968 *''Lajo'', 1976 *''Man Ke Meet'', 1976 *''Kaidi'', 1976 *''Jyotirmayi'', 1977 *''O Pravasi Meet Mere'', 1977 *''Mrigtrishna'', 1980 *''Kranti Abhi Adhoori Hai'', 1985 *''Deewar Ke Us Paar'', 1995 *''Rajneeti Ki Shatranj'', 1997 *''Tumhare Pyar Ki Pati'', 1999 *''Vrinda'', 2007 *A Patriot monk Swami Vivekananda, 2012

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kumar, Shanta People from Kangra, Himachal Pradesh Chief ministers from Bharatiya Janata Party Chief Ministers of Himachal Pradesh 1934 births Living people India MPs 1999–2004 India MPs 1989–1991 India MPs 1998–1999 Lok Sabha members from Himachal Pradesh Rajya Sabha members from Himachal Pradesh India MPs 2014–2019 Leaders of the Opposition in Himachal Pradesh Chief ministers from Janata Party Janata Party politicians Bharatiya Janata Party politicians from Himachal Pradesh Bharatiya Jana Sangh politicians