Yashwant Sinha’s journey - IAS officer to Finance Minister and now a presidential candidate

Jun 22, 2022

By: Rahul Verma

Educational background

Born on November 6, 1937, Yashwant Sinha attended school and university in Patna. He completed his masters in Political Science from Patna University in 1958.

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Personal life

Yashwant Sinha was born in Bihar and he is married to Nilima Sinha. He has a daughter, Sharmila Sinha and two sons - Jayant Sinha and Sumant Sinha.

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Sumant Sinha and Jayant Sinha

Sumant Sinha is a former Wall Street banker and head of ReNew Power which is a clean energy company. Whereas Jayant Sinha is active in politics as BJP MP from Hazaribagh.

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Professional career

In 1960, Mr Sinha joined the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and held different posts during his 24-year tenure. Eventually, he resigned from the IAS in 1984 to join politics.

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Political career

After resigning from IAS post, Mr Sinha became a member of the Janta Party where he was appointed as All-India General Secretary in 1986 and elected to the Rajya Sabha in 1988.

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Turning point

Janata Dal was formed under the leadership of Vishwanath Pratap Singh and Mr Sinha was appointed its General Secretary. Later, he worked as Minister of Finance for the first time (November 1990 to June 1991).

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Yashwant Sinha’s journey in BJP

During the peak of the Ram Janmabhoomi movement, he joined BJP were LK Advani became his patron. He became the national spokesperson of the BJP in June 1996 and again he was made Finance Minister in 1998 by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

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Yashwant Sinha's journey in BJP - 1992-2018

He was a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from 1992 to 2018. He last served as the external affairs minister, from July 2002 to May 2004, in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government.

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Yashwant Sinha - breaking tradition

Yashwant Sinha is the first Finance Minister to break the 53-year tradition of presenting the Indian budget at 5 pm local time. Earlier, during British rule days, the budget was presented at 11 am.

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Honour

In 2015, Mr Sinha was awarded the highest civilian award of France - Officier de la Légion d’Honneur.

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Retirement to active duty

Mr Sinha announced his retirement from active politics in Patna in 2018. But in 2021, he joined Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress.

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President election 2022

UPA has chosen Yashwant Sinha as the common candidate for the Presidential election against National Democratic Alliance’s (NDA) Droupadi Murmu.

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Finance Minister to President

Yashwant Sinha would be the second Finance Minister in recent times to become President after Pranab Mukherjee.

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