Nitish Kumar Biography: Birth, Family, Political Career and More
Nitish Kumar Biography: Around 30 MLAs, including the Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar Tejashwi Yadav's brother Tej Pratap Yadav, were sworn in as part of Bihar's new cabinet under Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. The largest share of ministerial berths have gone to the RJD, which is the single largest party in Bihar.
Nitish Kumar took oath as the Chief Minister of Bihar for the eighth time on August 10, 2022, while Tejashwi Yadav of Rashtriya Janata Dal was announced as the Deputy Chief Minister.
Nitish Kumar had submitted his resignation to the Governor of the state on August 9, 2022, as his Janata Dal decided to sever ties with the ruling alliance partner, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Nitish Kumar's resignation came hours after, at a meeting, he reportedly said that the tie-up with the BJP was over as the party was not giving respect and was conspiring against them.
Nitish Kumar is the 23rd Chief Minister of Bihar. He is also the second longest-serving CM of Bihar. Nitish Kumar is associated with Janata Dal (United) party and has also served as a minister in the Union Government of India. Let us have a look at his early life, education, political career, and more.
Nitish Kumar in Cabinet
As per the list of portfolios allotted, the Chief Minister of Bihar Nitish Kumar has retained the Home Department while his Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav has been given the Health Department.
Meanwhile, Vijay Kumar Chaudhary is given the Finance Department while Tej Partap Yadav is set to be the Minister of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change.
#BiharCabinetExpansion | Portfolios allocated - CM Nitish Kumar keeps Home Dept, Deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav gets Health Dept, Vijay Kumar Chaudhary gets Finance Dept. RJD leader Tej Pratap Yadav to be the Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change pic.twitter.com/UYpvzwzJgl
— ANI (@ANI) August 16, 2022
Nitish Kumar: Birth, Family, and Education
Nitish Kumar was born on 1 March 1951 in Bakhtiarpur, Bihar to Kaviraj Ram Lakhan Singh (Father) and Parmeshwari Devi (Mother). His father was an ayurvedic practitioner.
Nitish Kumar is a graduate in Mechanical Engineering from Bihar College of Engineering (present-day NIT Patna). Before entering into politics, he was associated with Bihar State Electricity Board.
Nitish Kumar: Political Career
In his early years, Nitish Kumar was associated with Jayaprakash Narayan, Ram Manohar Lohia, S. N. Sinha, Karpuri Thakur and V. P. Singh. From 1974 to 1977, he participated in Jayaprakash Narayan's movement and joined the Janata Party led by Satyendra Narain Sinha.
He briefly served as the Union Minister for Railways, Minister for Surface Transport, and the Minister for Agriculture. After the Gaisal train crash (2 August 1999), he resigned as the Union Minister of Railways. During his tenure as the Union Minister for Railways, he brought in widespread reforms including internal ticket booking facility (2002) and a tatkal scheme for instant booking of tickets.
Nitish Kumar contested from two constituencies (Nalanda and Barh) in the 2004 Lok Sabha elections. He lost from his traditional constituency, Barh but won from Nalanda.
In March 2000, for the first time, he was elected as the Chief Minister of Bihar. In November 2010, he became the Chief Minister of Bihar for the second time. However, on May 17, 2014, he resigned from the Chief Ministerial post after his party performed poorly in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections and took the moral responsibility of the party's performance. He was succeeded by Jitan Ram Manjhi of Janata Dal (United).
In 2015, he was again elected as the Chief Minister of Bihar. When corruption charges levelled against Tejashwi Yadav (Deputy CM of Bihar), Nitish Kumar asked him to resign from the cabinet, to which RJD denied. Following the denial, Nitish Kumar resigned from the Chief Ministerial post on July 26, 2017, ending the Mahagathbandhan and joined principal opposition, the NDA. He again became the Chief Minister of Bihar and serves to date on this post.
| Period | Positions held |
| 1985-89 | Member of Bihar Legislative Assembly, from Harnaut |
| 1986-87 | Member of Bihar Legislative Assembly and the Committee on Petitions |
| 1987-88 | President of Yuva Lok Dal (Bihar) |
| 1987-89 | Member of Bihar Legislative Assembly and the Committee on Public Undertakings |
| 1989 | Secretary-General of Janata Dal (Bihar) |
| 1989 | Elected to the 9th Lok Sabha from Barh |
| 1989-1990 | Member of the House Committee |
| April 1990-November 1990 | Union Minister of State, Agriculture and Co-operation |
| 1991 | Re-elected to the 10th Lok Sabha |
| 1991-93 | General-Secretary of Janata Dal and Deputy Leader of Janata Dal in Parliament |
| 17 December 1991 – 10 May 1996 | Member of the Railway Convention Committee |
| 8 April 1993 – 10 May 1996 | Chairman of the Committee on Agriculture |
| 1996 | Re-elected to the 11th Lok Sabha. Member of the Committee on Estimates, Member of the General Purposes Committee and Member of the Joint Committee on the Constitution (Eighty-first Amendment Bill, 1996) |
| 1996-98 | Member of the Committee on Defence |
| 1998 | Re-elected to the 12th Lok Sabha |
| 19 March 1998 – 5 August 1999 | Union Minister of Railways |
| 14 April 1998 – 5 August 1999 | Union Minister of Surface Transport (additional charge) |
| 1999 | Re-elected to the 13th Lok Sabha |
| 13 October 1999 – 22 November 1999 | Union Minister of Surface Transport |
| 22 November 1999 – 3 March 2000 | Union Minister of Agriculture |
| 3 March 2000 – 10 March 2000 | Chief Minister of Bihar |
| 27 May 2000 – 20 March 2001 | Union Minister of Agriculture |
| 20 March 2001 – 21 July 2001 | Union Minister of Agriculture (additional charge of Railways) |
| 22 July 2001 – 21 May 2004 | Union Minister of Railways |
| 2004 | Re-elected to the 14th Lok Sabha, from Nalanda. Member of the Committee on Coal & Steel, Member of the General Purposes Committee, Member of the Committee of Privileges and the Leader of Janata Dal (U) Parliamentary Party, Lok Sabha |
| 24 November 2005 – 24 November 2010 | Chief Minister of Bihar |
| 2006 | Elected to Bihar Vidhan Parishad |
| 26 November 2010 – 17 May 2014 | Chief Minister of Bihar |
| 22 February 2015 – 19 November 2015 | Chief Minister of Bihar |
| 20 November 2015 – 26 July 2017 | Chief Minister of Bihar |
| 27 July 2017 - 16 November 2020 | Chief Minister of Bihar |
| 2018 | Elected to Bihar Vidhan Parishad |
| 16 November 2020 to Present | Chief Minister of Bihar |
Nitish Kumar: Personal Life
On 22 February 1973, Nitish Kumar tied the knot with Manju Kumari Sinha. The couple gave birth to a son, Nishant Kumar. On 14 May 2007, Manju Kumari Sinha died in New Delhi due to pneumonia.
Nitish Kumar: Awards
1- Anuvrat Puraskar in 2017 for liquor ban in Bihar.
2- JP Memorial Award in 2013.
3- Ranked 77th in 'Foreign Policy Magazine' top 100 global thinkers 2012.
4- XLRI, Jamshedpur Sir Jehangir Ghandy Medal in 2011 for Industrial and Social Peace.
5- MSN Indian of the Year 2010.
6- NDTV Indian of the Year- Politics in 2010.
7- Forbes' India's Person of the Year in 2010.
8- CNN-IBN Indian of the Year Award- Politics in 2010.
9- NDTV Indian of the Year- Politics in 2009.
10- Economics Times Business Reformer of the Year in 2009.
11- Rotary International Polio Eradication Championship Award 2009.
12- CNN-IBN Great Indian of the Year- Politics in 2008.
Nitish Kumar: Biographies
1- Single Man: The Life and Times of Nitish Kumar of Bihar by Sankarshan Thakur
2- Nitish Kumar and The Rise of Bihar by Arun Sinha
