All you need to know about Jawhar Sircar, TMC's RS candidate

Ground Report | New Delhi: All you need to know about Jawhar Sircar; Trinamool Congress has nominated former IAS officer and former Prasar Bharati CEO Jawhar Sircar for the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections. Jawhar Sircar is considered a strong critic of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. 

The Rajya Sabha seat fell vacant after the resignation of former TMC leader Dinesh Trivedi. The decision of TMC is shocking as the names of Mukul Roy and Yashwant Sinha were being discussed. Both were being said to be contenders for the Rajya Sabha. Jawahar Sarkar is considered a big critic of the Modi government.

Trinamool Congress tweeted, 'Jawhar Sircar spent about 42 years in public service and he was also the former CEO of Prasar Bharati. His invaluable contribution to public service will help us make our country better. 

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We are delighted to nominate Mr. @jawharsircar in the Upper House of the Parliament.

Mr. Sircar spent nearly 42 years in public service & was also the former CEO of Prasar Bharati. His invaluable contribution to public service shall help us serve our country even better!

— All India Trinamool Congress (@AITCofficial) July 24, 2021

All you need to know about Jawhar Sircar

Born in Kolkata in 1952, he studied there at St. Xavier's School and then at Presidency College and the University of Calcutta. Jawhar Sircar spent about 42 years in public service and was also the former CEO of Prasar Bharati.

Jawhar Sircar has been an officer in the government for four decades. After becoming an IAS officer in 1975, he worked in many fields. He is also known for his handling of communal riots in Bardhaman and 24 Parganas.

The government had submitted its resignation to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (I&B) in October 2016, four months before his scheduled retirement in February 2017.

From 2017 to 2020, he has chaired the Board of Governors of the prestigious Center for Studies in Social Sciences, Kolkata, one of the top 5 social science research and educational institutions in India. Jawhar Sircar was, in fact, its first non-academic president in its half-century history.

As an officer of India's premier Indian Administrative Service, Jawahar Sarkar served for 17 years in the fields of finance, commerce, and industries, and for more than a dozen years in 'public communication', that is, in the administration of education, culture, and media.

He was awarded the Silver Medal by the British Museum for his conduct of museum reforms in the country. The former President of India has publicly congratulated him as an "outstanding artist and a visionary", while the former Prime Minister has described him as "one of India's most distinguished civil servants".

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Jawhar Sircar was Vice President of the All India Tennis Association and served as the President of India's pioneering Children's Little Theatre. Sircar has also been a Trustee Member of PSBT (Public Service Broadcasting Trust) from 2012 to 2016. He is a Life Member of the 240-year-old Asiatic Society, Indian National Confederation, and Academy of Anthropologists

Spent 42 years in public service

Sircar spent about 42 years in public service as an IAS officer. The TMC had said that it had selected him as its Rajya Sabha candidate because "his invaluable contribution to public service will help us serve our country better".

After filing its nomination, the government thanked the TMC for reposing faith in them. "I will try to fulfill their (TMC) trust in every possible way. I have been very impressed by the fighting spirit of Mamata Banerjee in the assembly elections," he said.

At the time of TMC's nomination announcement, he had said, "I have been a bureaucrat all my life, I am not a political person. But I will definitely work for the development of the people and will raise issues related to them in Parliament."

Rajya Sabha by-elections will be held if the opposition BJP fields a candidate. Otherwise, the TMC candidate will be declared elected unopposed. Congress and Left parties did not get a single seat in the 2021 assembly elections. Only the Indian Secular Front had won one seat.

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