Smit Singh (born 18 January 1991) is an International Sportsperson, State Public Policy Advisor, Strategic Communications Expert and was

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party, or simply the Congress, is a political parties in India, political party in India with deep roots in most regions of India. Founded on 28 December 1885, it was the first mo ...

’s MLA candidate for Punjab Vidhan Sabha General Elections 2022. Singh studied at

Somerville College Somerville College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It was founded in 1879 as Somerville Hall, one of its first two women's colleges. It began admitting men in 1994. The college's liberal tone derives from its f ...

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

. Smit Singh had led multiple policy reforms implemented by the State Government of Punjab between 2018 and 2021, along with developing a Public Policy Model for the Economic Governance of the State that was publicly announced by the

Chief Minister of Punjab (India) The chief minister of Punjab is the head of government, head of the Government of Punjab (India), government of Punjab. As per the Constitution of India, the Governor of Punjab (India), Governor of Punjab is the state's head, but de facto exec ...

Charanjit Singh Channi Charanjit Singh Channi (born 15 March 1963) is an Indian politician who served as the 16th Chief minister (India), Chief Minister of Punjab, India, Punjab. He is a member of the Indian National Congress. He is serving as a Member of Parliament ...

in February 2022, to be the official manifesto that would be implemented after constitution of the next Government of Punjab.

International Sports Career

Smit Singh is an International Skeet Shooter, representing India. Singh started his international sporting career by participation in the

Asian Shooting Championships The Asian Shooting Championships are governed by the Asian Shooting Confederation. Asian Shooting Championships began in 1967. These championships, including almost all ISSF shooting events, are held every four years. Asian Shooting Championships ...

, held in

Kuwait Kuwait, officially the State of Kuwait, is a country in West Asia and the geopolitical region known as the Middle East. It is situated in the northern edge of the Arabian Peninsula at the head of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to Iraq–Kuwait ...

in December 2007. He won his first international medal at Asian Clay Shooting Championships, February 2008. Later in the year, he won silver and bronze medal at the South Asian Shooting Championships, November 2008. He won India its first world-level medal in skeet shooting with a bronze trophy at International Junior Cup,

Orimattila Orimattila () is a town in Päijänne Tavastia regions of Finland, region, Finland. The southern part of Lahti is connected to the village of Pennala, which is located in the northern part of the Orimattila municipality. Its neighboring municipali ...

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

, July 2011. At the

ISSF World Cup The ISSF World Cup was introduced by the International Shooting Sport Federation in 1986 to provide a homogeneous system for qualification to the Olympic shooting competitions. It still is carried out in the Olympic shooting events, with four comp ...

, Al Ain,

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective monarchy made up of Emirates of the United Arab E ...

in April 2013, Smit Singh scored 123 out of 125 in qualifications, equalling the then World and Olympic Record, along with creating a new National Record of India. He is also the present National Games champion, having won two gold medals at the 35th National Games, Kerala, in February 2015. After taking a year long break to study at the

, in 2018 Smit returned to better his qualification score to 124 out of 125, becoming India Rank 1 again. He subsequently represented India at the Commonwealth Games 2018 held in

Gold Coast, Australia The Gold Coast, also known by its initials, GC, is a coastal city and region in the state of Queensland, Australia, located approximately south-southeast of the centre of the state capital, Brisbane. It is Queensland's second-largest city a ...

and was the only Indian who qualified for the finals in Skeet Men's Event. Apart from

Asian Games The Asian Games, also known as Asiad, is a continental multi-sport event held every four years for athletes of Asia. The Games were regulated by Asian Games Federation from the 1951 Asian Games, first Games in New Delhi, India in 1951, until ...

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games is a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations, which consists mostly, but not exclusively, of territories of the former British Empire. The event was first held in 1930 ...

and

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

in over a decade long career in international sports, Singh participated in numerous other international championships for the Indian National Team. On 9 July 2019, Smit Singh was awarded the Maharaja Ranjit Singh Award for his contribution in the field of sports (the Government of Punjab‘s highest civilian honour).

Public Service

Smit Singh started working with

Civil Society Civil society can be understood as the "third sector" of society, distinct from government and business, and including the family and the private sphere.Non-Government Organisation A non-governmental organization (NGO) is an independent, typically nonprofit organization that operates outside government control, though it may get a significant percentage of its funding from government or corporate sources. NGOs often focus ...

, an

Indian Express ''The Indian Express'' is an English-language India, Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932 by P. Varadarajulu Naidu. It is headquartered in Noida, owned by the Indian Express Limited, ''Indian Express Group''. It was later taken over by Ramnat ...

report states that Singh while representing India in sports, used to regularly intern with social movements during his time off from international sports, working with NGOs such as Aman Biradari, environmental awareness campaigns such as Swechha Delhi and working for justice through People's Movements such as

Narmada Bachao Andolan ''Narmada Bachao Andolan'' (NBA, , 'Save the Narmada River Movement') is an Indian social movement spearheaded by native tribals (''adivasis''), farmers, environmentalists and human rights activists against a number of large dam projects across ...

for rehabilitation of people, negatively affected by the large scale dams built in the

Narmada Valley The Narmada River, previously also known as ''Narbada'' or anglicised as ''Nerbudda'', is the 5th longest river in India and overall the longest west-flowing river in the country. It is also the largest flowing river in the state of Madhya Prade ...

. Before working with the

Government of Punjab, India The Government of Punjab or locally as the State Government, is the supreme governing authority of the Indian state of Punjab, India and its 23 districts. It consists of an executive, led by the Governor of Punjab, a judiciary and a legislati ...

and Indian National Congress Party Singh was a career Civil Servant with the Oil & Natural Gas Corporation a

Government of India The Government of India (ISO 15919, ISO: Bhārata Sarakāra, legally the Union Government or Union of India or the Central Government) is the national authority of the Republic of India, located in South Asia, consisting of States and union t ...

owned

Public Sector Undertaking Public Sector Undertakings (PSU) in India are State-owned enterprise, government-owned entities in which at least 51% of stake is under the ownership of the Government of India or State governments of India, state governments. These types of f ...

. In 2018, Smit advised the Government of Punjab on

Municipal Solid Waste Municipal solid waste (MSW), commonly known as trash or garbage in the American English, United States and rubbish in British English, Britain, is a List of waste types, waste type consisting of everyday items that are discarded by the public. ...

and

Water Management Water resources are natural resources of water that are potentially useful for humans, for example as a source of drinking water supply or irrigation water. These resources can be either freshwater from natural sources, or water produced artificia ...

. In 2020, Smit Singh led a

Public Policy Public policy is an institutionalized proposal or a Group decision-making, decided set of elements like laws, regulations, guidelines, and actions to Problem solving, solve or address relevant and problematic social issues, guided by a conceptio ...

Think Tank A think tank, or public policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governme ...

as Chief Administrator of former

Cabinet Minister A minister is a politician who heads a ministry, making and implementing decisions on policies in conjunction with the other ministers. In some jurisdictions the head of government is also a minister and is designated the ' prime minister', ' p ...

Navjot Singh Sidhu Navjot Singh Sidhu (born 20 October 1963) is an Indian former cricketer, television personality and politician from the Indian National Congress. He is the former President of Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee. Formerly, he was the Minister of ...

’s Jittega Punjab initiative to research and effectively communicate diverse range of policy solutions to problems faced by the people of Punjab. Singh was the special invite-cum-advisor with Congress party high powered three member official delegation which met with 32 Indian Farmer Unions delegation, who were protesting against the three Indian Farm Laws of 2020 passed by BJP Government led by Prime Minister Modi to discuss the political solution for farmers demands on 10 September 2021, the controversial Farm Laws were later withdrawn by the

due to ongoing protests by the Farmer Unions. On 26 January 2022, just three weeks before polling date of 2022 Punjab State General Elections, Smit Singh was announced as an

MLA candidate from Amargarh Assembly Constituency for Punjab Vidhan Sabha.

All India Congress Committee The All India Congress Committee (AICC) is the presidium or the central decision-making assembly of the Indian National Congress. It is composed of members elected from States and union territories of India, state-level Pradesh Congress Commit ...

Punjab Punjab (; ; also romanised as Panjāb or Panj-Āb) is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia. It is located in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising areas of modern-day eastern Pakistan and no ...

In-charge Harish Chaudhary and Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee President

announce Smit Singh as an

MLA candidate from Amargarh Assembly Constituency for Punjab Vidhan Sabha to further Singh's Public Policy and social welfare agenda in solving Punjab's financial crisis and writing the party's state manifesto. An election he lost to businessman and AAP’s candidate Jaswant Singh Gajjanmajra in a loop-sided election wherein the AAP stormed to power with over 2/3rds majority in the State Legislative Assembly.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Singh, Smit Skeet shooters 1991 births Indian male sport shooters Living people Alumni of Somerville College, Oxford Shooters at the 2010 Asian Games Asian Games shooters for India