Tiruchi Siva is a member of the

Parliament of India 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 ...

representing

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 language ...

in 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 of parliament. He is from the

Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (; DMK) is a political party based in the state of Tamil Nadu where it is currently the ruling party having a comfortable majority without coalition support and the union territory of Puducherry where it is curre ...

party, and was elected in 1996, 2002, 2007, 2014 and 2020. He is a speaker and a writer.

Career

As a student, he was imprisoned for one year under the Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA) during the Emergency of 1976. In 1978 he was an organizer for the DMK District Student’s Wing. Between 1982 and 1992 he served as the Deputy Secretary of the DMK Youth Wing and later serving as the Secretary of the same between 1992 and 2007. He was the Propaganda Secretary of the DMK. Has written articles in the Party’s official organ Murasoli and other magazines.

In Parliament

Historic Private Member Bill to Protect Rights of Transgenders

On 24 April 2015, Mr. Siva created history when he introduced a private member's bill, the

Rights of Transgender Persons Bill, 2014 The Rights of Transgender Persons Bill, 2014 is a proposed Act of the Parliament of India which seeks to end the discrimination faced by transgender people in India. The Bill was passed by the upper house Rajya Sabha on 24 April 2015. It was ...

, and after much discussion the Bill was put on a voice vote and was unanimously passed by the

. This was the first Private member's bill to be passed by any house in 36 years and by the Upper House in 45 Years. The Bill was passed with the intent to help transgender people get benefits akin to those in scheduled castes and tribes, and in taking steps to see that they are not denied enrollment in schools or denied jobs in government as well as working to ensure they are protected from sexual harassment.

Fourth Term in Parliament - 2014-2020

On Women's Day 8 March 2018, Mr.Siva asked the Government to exempt sanitary napkins from GST net. Raising a Special Mention in Rajya Sabha on

NEET NEET, an acronym for "Not in Education, Employment, or Training", refers to a person who is unemployed and not receiving an education or vocational training. The classification originated in the United Kingdom in the late 1990s, and its use ha ...

Exams, he raised the concern that the two bills passed unanimously by the

Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly The Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly is the unicameral legislature of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It has a strength of 234 members of whom are democratically elected using the First-past-the-post system. The presiding officer of the Assembl ...

which was sent for Presidential Assent was still pending with the Ministry of Home and Health which is a bad situation for the Federal Set Up of the Country. Participating in the Debate on Passage of Citizenship Amendment Bill in

on 11 Dec 2019, he strongly opposed the bill, raising several questions including why Minorities from Sri Lanka were excluded and why the Bill targets only Muslims which has created a sense of apprehension amongst the Muslims in India. On 10 December 2019, He was awarded the Best Parliamentarian of the Year (Rajya Sabha) at the Lokmat Parliamentary Awards - 2019.Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu presented the award for his exemplary contribution to Rajya Sabha.

Fifth Term in Parliament

On 2 March 2020, he was re-nominated to

by the DMK President M K Stalin. On 18 March 2020, Mr.Siva became the first DMK MP to serve a fourth term in Rajya Sabha. During this time, he was interviewed by Mohammed Al Sheikh Bin Suleihad, a relatively unknown political journalist from Afghanistan working for Talk Tamil News. He discussed important issues related to controversial topics. Later Talk Tamil and Suleihad published an article faming him and noted: "he is the only one in India who's worthy of PM..."

Membership in Various Committees in his Five Terms

First Term (Lok Sabha) - 1996 - 1997 *Member, Committee on External Affairs. *Member, Consultative Committee for the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas *Member, Select Committee on Womens Reservation Bill *Member, Committee on Public Undertakings Second Term (Rajya Sabha) - 2000 - 2002 *Member, Committee on Communications *Member, Consultative Committee for the Ministry of Information Technology *Member, Select Committee on Broadcasting Bill Third Term (Rajya Sabha) - 2007 - 2013 *Aug 2007-May 2008 Member, Committee on Water Resources *Aug 2007-Aug 2010 Member, Spices Board *Aug 2007-May 2009 Member, Consultative Committee for the Ministry of Shipping, Road Transport and Highways *May 2008-May 2009 Member, Committee on the Welfare of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes *May 2008-Sep 2009 Member, Committee on Subordinate Legislation *May 2008-May 2009 and Aug 2010-Aug 2011 Member, Committee on Home Affairs *May 2008-Sep 2010 Member, Committee of Privileges *Jun 2008 Jul 2013, General Purposes Committee *Aug 2009-Aug 2010 Member, Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice *Sep 2009 onwards Member, Court of the Jawaharlal Nehru University *Dec 2009-Jul 2010 Member, Select Committee to examine the Commercial Division of High Courts Bill, *May 2010-May 2011 Member, Committee on Public Accounts *Jul 2010-Jul 2013 Member, Consultative Committee for the Ministry of Civil Aviation *Aug 2010-Jul 2013 Chairman, Committee on Industry *Sep 2010 Jul 2013 Member, Committee on Ethics *Mar 2011-Jul 2013 Member, JPC to examine matters relating to allocation and pricing of telecom licences and spectrum *Jun 2012-Nov 2012 Member, Select Committee of Rajya Sabha on the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Bill, 2011 *Aug 2012 onwards Chairman, Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice Fourth Term (Rajya Sabha) - 2014 - 2020 *Aug 2014 Onwards Member, General Purposes Committee *May 2016 Onwards Member, Committee on the Welfare of Scheduled Cast and Scheduled Tribes *Sep 2014 Onwards Member, Committee on Human Resource Development *Dec 2014 Onwards Member, Select Committee of Rajya Sabha to the Payment and Settlement Systems (Amendment) Bill, 2014 *Mar 2015 Onwards Member, Select Committee of Rajya Sabha on the Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Bill, 2015 *Dec 2015 Onwards Member, Select Committee of Rajya Sabha on the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Bill https://archive.india.gov.in/govt/rajyasabhampbiodata.php?mpcode=2046

Works published

(in Tamil) * ''Kutravaali Koondil Socrates'' * ''Thalainagiril Tamilan Kural''

References

External links

Profile on Lok Sabha website

FaceBook Page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Siva, Tiruchi Rajya Sabha members from Tamil Nadu 1954 births Living people Politicians from Tiruchirappalli India MPs 1996–1997 Lok Sabha members from Tamil Nadu People from Pudukkottai district Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam politicians