Nitish Kumar | |
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22nd Chief Minister of Bihar | |
Assumed office 22 February 2015 |
|
Deputy | Tejashwi Yadav |
Preceded by | Jitan Ram Manjhi |
In office 24 November 2005 – 17 May 2014 |
|
Deputy | Sushil Modi |
Preceded by | President's rule |
Succeeded by | Jitan Ram Manjhi |
In office 3 March 2000 – 10 March 2000 |
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Preceded by | Rabri Devi |
Succeeded by | Rabri Devi |
Minister of Railways | |
In office 20 March 2001 – 21 May 2004 |
|
Preceded by | Mamata Banerjee |
Succeeded by | Lalu Prasad Yadav |
In office 19 March 1998 – 5 August 1999 |
|
Preceded by | Ram Vilas Paswan |
Succeeded by | Ram Naik |
Minister of Agriculture | |
In office 27 May 2000 – 21 July 2001 |
|
In office 22 November 1999 – 3 March 2000 |
|
Minister of Surface Transport | |
In office 13 October 1999 – 22 November 1999 |
|
Prime Minister | Atal Bihari Vajpayee |
In office 14 April 1998 – 5 August 1999 |
|
Personal details | |
Born |
Bakhtiarpur, Bihar, India |
1 March 1951
Nationality | Indian |
Political party | Janata Dal (United) and Janata Parivar group |
Spouse(s) | Manju Kumari Sinha |
Children | Nishant Kumar |
Alma mater | Bihar College of Engineering (now National Institute of Technology, Patna) |
Profession | Politician Engineer |
Religion | Hinduism |
Nickname(s) | Sushasan Babu (Mr. Good Governance) Lord Turnaround |
Nitish Kumar (born 1 March 1951) is an Indian politician who has been Chief Minister of Bihar since February 2015. Previously he served as the Chief Minister of Bihar from 2005 to 2014 and served as a minister in the Union Government of India. He belongs to the Janata Dal (United) party. He endeared himself to Biharis, used to low expectations from previous regimes, when as Chief Minister, his socialist policies bore dividends in appointing more than 100,000 school teachers, ensuring that doctors worked in primary health centers, electrification of villages, paving of roads, cutting female illiteracy by half, turning around a lawless state by cracking down on criminals and doubling the income of the average Bihari. The cumulative growth rate of GDP of Bihar during his tenure as CM is highest as compared to other states for that period.
On 17 May 2014 he resigned, owning responsibility for his party's poor performance in the 2014 general elections, and was succeeded by Jitan Ram Manjhi. However, he returned to office in February 2015 after a political crisis and won the state elections of November 2015. He was elected as the national president of his party on 10 April 2016.
Nitish Kumar was born in Kalyanbigha, Nalanda district of Bihar in a Kurmi family to Kabiraj Ram Lakhan Singh and Parmeshwari Devi. His father was a freedom fighter and was close to the great Gandhian Bihar Vibhuti Anugrah Narayan Singh, one of the founders of modern Bihar. His father, who was also an Ayurvedic Vaidyaraj, left the Indian National Congress to join the Janata Party after it denied him candidature in the 1952 and 1957 general elections.
He got a degree in electrical engineering from Bihar College of Engineering, (now NIT Patna) in 1972. He joined the Bihar State Electricity Board, half-heartedly, and later moved into politics.
Nitish Kumar belongs to a socialist class of politicians. He learnt the lessons of politics under the tutelage of stalwarts Jayaprakash Narayan, Ram Manohar Lohia, S N Sinha, Karpuri Thakur and V. P. Singh.