Pawan Kumar Bansal
Pawan Kumar Bansal | |
---|---|
Former Minister of Indian Railway | |
In office 28 October 2012 - 10 May 2013 | |
Prime Minister | Manmohan Singh |
Succeeded by | C. P. Joshi |
Minister of Parliamentary Affairs | |
In office 28 May 2009 - 28 October 2012 | |
Personal details | |
Born | sunam, sangrur district, Punjab | 16 July 1948
Political party | Indian National Congress |
Spouse | Madhu Bansal |
Children | 2 sons |
Residence | Chandigarh |
As of May 28, 2009 Source: [[1]] |
Pawan Kumar Bansal (born 16 July 1948) is an Indian National Congress politician and a former minister under Manmohan Singh. He represents the Chandigarh constituency in the 15th Lok Sabha of India.
In May 2013, while serving as Railway minister, he gave up his chair from the cabinet[2] after his nephew Vijay Singla was implicated in the Rs. 10 crore Railway bribery scam.[3]
He is an Indian National Congress candidate from Chandigarh in the 2014 elections.[4]
Early life
Bansal was born on 16 July 1948 in Sunam.[5] His family hailed from Tapa, Punjab.[6] He went to school at the Yadavindra Public School, Patiala, and did BSc from the Government College, Sector 11, Chandigarh. He also holds an LLB degree from the Department of Law, Panjab University, Chandigarh.[7][8]
Career
Pawan Kumar Bansal has represented Chandigarh as a member of Parliament in the 10th, 13th, 14th and the current Lok Sabha. He has worked as the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and the Minister of Water Resources in the current Lok Sabha. He also held the charge of the Minister of State for Finance and Parliamentary Affairs in the First Manmohan Singh Cabinet.
Railway Minister
He took over as the Railway Minister, becoming the first from his party since 1996. Soon after becoming Railways minister, he approved an increase in fares, which has been unchanged for the last 15 years, to allow the Indian Railways to be profitable.
Following allegations of corruption, bribery and serious irregularities, he resigned as the Railway Minister on 10 May 2013.[9] He contested the 2014 Lok Sabha Elections from Chandigarh.[10]
Personal life
He is married to Madhu Bansal.[11] They have two sons, Amit and Manish.
Resignation on Corruption charges
On 3 May 2013, the CBI arrested his nephew, Vijay Singla, after they caught an aide counting two bags of cash[12] containing Rs. ₹90 lakh (US$110,000), allegedly part of a bribe from Mahesh Kumar, for being promoted to member, Railway Board. [13] [14] [15]
For several days, Bansal resisted pressure from the media to resign.[16] Eventually, Sonia Gandhi met the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on May 9, 2013[17] and Bansal was asked to resign the following day.[18] In July 2013, CBI indicated in court that Bansal may not have known about the bribe,[19] but when the trial judge indicated that "she may ask for the former minister's role to be examined during the trial."[20] Pawan Kumar Bansal finally broke his silence to the media with the statement "he did not authorise his nephew."[21]
Other revelations have showed that while Bansal was minister of state for finance (2006-2009), the family accountant Sunil Gupta was appointed on the board of the public sector Canara Bank.[22] Subsequently, the bank became the major banker to the family's firms, extending a loan of Rs. 10 crores to Theon Pharma (2008),[23] and a Rs. 40 crore loan to Vijay Singla's firms.[24] Gupta and the bank however, have stated that there was nothing amiss about these loans.[23]
References
- ^ "Fifteenth Lok Sabha - Members Bioprofile". Lok Sabha. Retrieved 2013-05-05.
- ^ "Who is Pawan Kumar Bansal?". NDTV. May 10, 2013.
- ^ PTI (September 15, 2014). "Railway scam: Trial begins, former railway minister Pawan Bansal to appear as witness on Tuesday". DNA India.
- ^ Bhairavi Singh (March 22, 2014). "30% candidates from BJP and Congress face criminal charges: survey". NDTV.
- ^ "Detailed Profile: Shri Pawan Kumar Bansal". india.gove.in. Retrieved 28 January 2015.
- ^ "Residents hopeful from railway minister Pawan Bansal’s maiden visit". The Times of India. 11 Dec 2012. Retrieved 2013-05-05.
- ^ "Biographical Sketch - Member of Parliament". Parliament of India. Retrieved 2013-05-05.
- ^ Detailed Profile - Shri Pawan Kumar Bansal - Members of Parliament (Lok Sabha) - Who's Who - Government: National Portal of India [dead link]
- ^ "India Railway Minister Resigns". The Wall Street Journal. May 10, 2013. Retrieved 2013-05-10.
- ^ http://indianexpress.com/article/india/politics/election-live-2014-march-13/
- ^ "Railway minister's wife Madhu Bansal on Budget 2013". IndiaTV News. February 25, 2013.
- ^ Abhishek Bhalla (5 May 2013). "Bansal refuses to quit despite revelations that CBI tracked nephew Singla and Kumar in three-month investigation". London: dailymail.co.uk.The plot was busted on Friday as the CBI raided the office of Sandeep Goyal in a Chandigarh mall while the duo were counting money packed in two bags and delivered to them by the two courier boys.
- ^ "Bansal's nephew remanded in CBI custody, Congress core group meets". The Times of India. May 4, 2013. Retrieved 2013-05-05.
- ^ "Pawan Kumar Bansal's nephew booked by CBI for accepting Rs 90 lakh bribe". The Times Of India. The Times of India.
- ^ Railway Minister Pawan Bansal's nephew arrested by CBI for allegedly accepting bribe | NDTV.com
- ^ "Bansal refuses to quit despite revelations that CBI tracked nephew Singla and Kumar in three-month investigation". Daily Mail. London. 5 May 2013. Retrieved 2013-05-07.
- ^ "Pawan Bansal resigns after Sonia meets Manmohan". The Times Of India. May 10, 2013.
- ^ After Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal, Law Minister Ashwani Kumar resigns. NDTV.com (2013-05-10). Retrieved on 2013-07-16.
- ^ "CBI gives clean chit to Pawan Kumar Bansal in railway bribery scandal". Deccan Chronicle. 5 Jul 2013. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
- ^ Sunetra Choudhury, Prasad Sanyal (July 20, 2013). "Railway bribery scam: Pawan Bansal may be probed during trial, says judge". NDTV.
- ^ "Did not authorise my nephew, Pawan Bansal on Railway scam". NDTV. August 13, 2013.
- ^ "Bansals' firms received Rs 60 crore loans after confidante became Canara Bank director". The Time of India. May 9, 2013.
- ^ a b Rohini Singh (May 8, 2013). "Pawan Bansal's Finance Ministry days: Auditor of firms founded by his kin nominated to Canara Bank board". Economic Times.
- ^ Asit Jolly and Bhavna Vij-Aurora (May 10, 2013). "The million-dollar nephew: Arrest of Vijay Singla by the CBI uncovers a jobs-for-cash scandal that has blown the lid off rampant corruption in railways". India Today.
- ^ "Bansals' firms received Rs 60 crore loans after confidante became Canara Bank director". Retrieved 9 May 2013.
External links
- 1948 births
- Living people
- Marwari people
- Punjab, India politicians
- Indian National Congress politicians
- People from Chandigarh
- People from Sangrur
- 14th Lok Sabha members
- Union state ministers of India
- Members of the Cabinet of India
- 10th Lok Sabha members
- 13th Lok Sabha members
- 15th Lok Sabha members
- Lok Sabha members from Chandigarh
- United Progressive Alliance candidates in the Indian general election, 2014