Purno Agitok Sangma (p a sangma ) biodata
Date of birth - 1 September 1947
Village - Chapahati ,West Garo Hills District , Meghalaya in North
East India .
Education - graduation from St. Anthony's College , Dibrugarh University
in Assam
Masters degree in International Relations. he also obtained a degree in Law.
political history
Sangma is a man of many parts, having been, in the course of
his career, a lecturer, a lawyer and a journalist before he joined politics. He
started his political life as a worker of the Congress Party and his rise
through the ranks of the Party has been phenomenal. In 1974, he became the
General Secretary of the Meghalaya Pradesh Youth Congress; he also remained its
Vice-President for some time. In recognition of his commitment to the party's
ideals and also taking into account his organisational skills, he was appointed
the General Secretary of the Meghalaya Pradesh Congress Committee in 1975 and
held that post till 1980.
Sangma came to the national political scene in 1977 when the
country was preparing for the Sixth General Elections. He was elected to the
Lok Sabha from the Tura constituency in his home State on the Congress ticket.
The 30-year-old Sangma entered the portals of Parliament at a time when the
nation was witnessing a major political change with the Congress Party losing
power at the Center for the first time since Independence . It was an opportune moment for
a budding parliamentarian to make his mark and the articulate Sangma made full
use of the opportunity to make an impact as a sincere and hard-working member.
In less than two years, national politics came a full turn
and the Janata Party went out of office. The Charan Singh Government which
assumed office subsequently lasted but a few months. In the mid-term elections
of 1980, the Indira Gandhi led Congress
Party returned to power at the Centre. Sangma was re-elected to the Lok Sabha
from the same constituency.
In the party organisation too, Sangma moved up fast and
became the Joint Secretary of the All India Congress Committee in 1980, before
he was inducted into the Union Cabinet and assumed the office of the Deputy
Minister in charge of Industry in November 1980, After two years, he shifted to
the Ministry of Commerce as Deputy Minister and held that post till December
1984.
Sangma was returned to the Eighth Lok Sabha in the General
Elections of 1984. Recognising his potential and dedication to the Congress
ideals, the then Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi inducted him into his Cabinet,
this time as a Minister of State holding charge of Commerce and Supply. For a short while, he also functioned as the
Minister of State for Home Affairs. Sangma took over as the Minister of State
for Labour with Independent Charge in October 1986.
Ever amenable to reason and conciliatory in attitude,
Sangma, however, was uncompromising when it came to safeguarding the
fundamentals of national interests. It was no wonder then that during his
tenure as the Labour Minister, there was a sharp decline in industrial strikes
and lock-outs.
Known for his meticulous homework, complete mastery of the
subject at hand and phenomenally long memory for facts and details, Sangma was
one Minister who could reply to a heated debate in Parliament without the aid
of officials' slips from the Officers' Gallery. His amiability, thorough
knowledge of the functioning of his Ministry and an inimitable sense of humour
enabled him to tackle all challenges in Parliament. The Question Hour
particularly brought out the best in him, handling the most ticklish matters
with consummate ease. Throughout his Ministerial tenure, he retained the image
of an honest and conscientious executive and always steered clear of any
controversy.
Sangma had a remarkable understanding of the political
realities of the entire North East, particularly of his home State. Though,
starting 1977, he was in Delhi
and busy in national politics, he never cut himself off from his roots and
always kept track of political developments back home. It was this thorough
understanding of the State politics which made the Congress Party leadership to
requisition his services for Meghalaya in 1988. That year, he returned to
Meghalaya politics, this time as the Chief Minister. He headed a 48-member Coalition
Government in a tumultuous period in the State's political history. In 1990, following the resignation of his
Government, Sangma became the Leader of the Opposition in the State Legislative
Assembly.
The call of the nation brought Sangma back to the Centre
soon. He returned to the Lok Sabha in 1991 following the General Elections and
was inducted into the Union Cabinet, this time by Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha
Rao. Sangma was given the Independent Charge of the Ministry of Coal. In
February 1992, he was given the additional responsibility of assisting the
Prime Minister in the Ministry of Labour. In the context of the Economic
Reforms and Liberalisation Policy announced by the Union Government, his
principal challenge was to sell the idea of economic reforms to a restive and
apprehensive labour force. Tirelessly presiding over tri-partite Industrial
Committee meetings, he made tenacious efforts at convincing the labour of the
inevitability of economic reforms. He emphasised the need for a new Management
and Work Culture, the hallmark of which was generation of wealth through
efficiency, productivity and modernisation and sharing of wealth equitably.
Sangma assumed the Independent Charge of the Ministry of
Labour in January 1993. He was elevated to the Cabinet rank (the first tribal
to be elevated as such) in the Ministry of Labour in February 1995. As the
Union Labour Minister, he headed the Tripartite Indian Delegation to the
International Labour Conference in Geneva
six times where he proved his mettle repeatedly. He was also elected the
Chairman of the Asia and Pacific Region for
the International Labour Ministers' Conference, 1994-95. When foreign investors
had just begun to favour India
as their destination and a furore was raised in some quarters over the
so-called 'social clause' issue, Sangma, as Labour Minister, organised a
Conference of Labour Ministers from Non-aligned and other Developing Countries
in 1994-95. He brought about unanimity amongst them to hold the position that
the leverage of international trade should not be used in respect of social
issues like labour standards as that would be coercive.
In September 1995, Sangma took over as the Minister of
Information and Broadcasting, the post he held till the General Elections to
the Eleventh Lok Sabha.
As a parliamentarian, Sangma, by virtue of his interest as
well as the offices he held, was active in several Committees. He was a member
of the Committee on Subordinate Legislation, Committee on Communications and
Committee on Government Assurances and Chairman of the Parliamentary
Consultative Committees on Labour, Coal and Communications.
Sangma was elected to the Lok Sabha for the fifth time from
the Tura constituency in the 1996 General Elections. On 23 May 1996, he was
unanimously elected the Speaker of the Eleventh Lok Sabha with universal
support cutting across all political parties. In half a century of Indian
parliamentary history, he was the first member from the Opposition to hold the
office of the Speaker.
Sangma, undoubtedly, had all the credentials for the august
office—legal training, long experience as a parliamentarian as well as a Minister,
reputation for impartiality, transparency, humility and wit and wisdom. From
the time he assumed the office of the Speaker, he executed his responsibility
with such flair and assurance, it seemed that expertise of the job came to him
instinctively. He had a unique approach to parliamentary reforms. As a Speaker,
he ensured that rules were observed by the members even in the midst of stormy
debates. Parliamentary democracy, he observed, meant free debate, objective
deliberations and healthy criticism and it was for the Speaker to ensure that
these objectives were achieved.
As one who went beyond holding the balance between the
Treasury and the Opposition benches to holding the balance of every individual
member. Speaker Sangma won the admiration of both the ruling Coalition and the
Opposition within a short span of time. He also displayed a tremendous sense of
timing and history when he took laudable initiatives towards facilitating
greater partnership between men and women in politics and in stressing the
importance of ethics and probity in public life. With this in view, during his
Speakership, he guided the formation of a Standing Joint Parliamentary
Committee on Empowerment of Women and also the constitution of a Joint
Parliamentary Committee for considering the Constitution (Eighty-first
Amendment) Bill, 1996 which sought to provide for 33-1/3 per cent reservation
for women in the Lok Sabha and the State Legislative Assemblies.
In order to maintain high traditions in parliamentary life,
Sangma believed, members of Parliament were expected to maintain standards of
conduct, both inside the House and outside. He was of the considered view that
the ethical values that ought to permeate the legislative, the executive and
the judicial wings of the constitutional system had a deep and lasting Impact
on the
character, direction, credibility and future of democratic
governance. During Sangma's tenure as Speaker, in a move which won encomiums
from all quarters, an 8-member Study Group of the Committee of Privileges was
constituted to report on Ethics and Standards in Public Life, The Study Group's
report was considered by the Committee of Privileges and adopted with some
amendments. The report was later presented to the Twelfth Lok Sabha.
Another major initiative taken by Speaker Sangma was the
convening of a Special Session of both the Houses of Parliament from 26 August
to 1 September 1997 as part of the Golden Jubilee Celebrations of India's Independence . The Session
took stock of the achievements and also set a National Agenda for the future.
Opening the Special Session, for the first time in the Indian parliamentary
history, the Speaker addressed the House and stressed the need for a second
freedom struggle—"freedom from our own internal contradictions, between
our prosperity and poverty, between the plenty of our resource endowments and
the scarcity of their prudent management, between peace and tolerance and the
current conduct sliding towards violence, intolerance and discrimination".
As Speaker, Sangma led the Indian Parliamentary Delegations
to the 42nd and 43rd Commonwealth Parliamentary Association Conferences in Kuala Lumpur in August 1996, and in Port Louis in September 1997, respectively.
He also led the Indian Parliamentary Delegations to the 96th
Inter-Parliamentary Union Conference in Beijing
in September 1996 and the 98th Conference in Cairo in September 1997. Sangma also headed
the Indian Parliamentary Delegation to the Second Conference of the Association
of SAARC Speakers and Parliamentarians held in Islamabad in October 1997. He chaired the
Inter-Parliamentary Specialised Conference of the IPU on "Towards
Partnership between Men and Women in Politics" hosted by the Indian
Parliament in New Delhi in February 1997. The first ever Conference of the
Chairmen and Members of the Public Accounts Committees of SAARC Parliaments was
also held in New Delhi
in August 1997 during his eventful tenure.
Sangma was an extremely popular Presiding Officer, respected
for his knowledge of rules and even more for his innate understanding of
parliamentary traditions. He was equally at his best outside the House. He participated in many social gatherings and
intellectual interactions organised by activist groups with great enthusiasm,
guided objective and non-partisan debates on national issues and added a new
social and public dimension to the office of the Speaker.
Sangma has been closely associated with various social
organisations and educational institutions. He was the Editor of a Meghalaya
daily, Chandambeni Kalrang. He has also edited two volumes of the book India in ILO.
Sangma received the Michael John Roll of Honour of the Tata
Workers' Union for "Distinguished
Contribution to the Cause of Labour and to the Parliamentary System" in
March 1997. He also received from the President of India in May 1997 the Golden
jubilee Award of the Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC) for
outstanding contribution to the cause of the working class.
Sangma is a multi-faceted personality. His concern for
decorum, freedom and dignity of the House earned him the reputation of an
outstanding parliamentarian. What, however, made Sangma acceptable to political
parties of all shades, as a Speaker, was his ability to earn the confidence of
people on both sides of the House. His abiding concern for the underprivileged
and his tireless endeavors to eradicate poverty and remove socio-economic
inequalities have endeared him to the masses. Indeed, he is a man of the masses
with an international standing. It is the human side of Sangma which has
brought him a large number of friends amongst the people at large.
In a short span of less than two years, Sangma left an
indelible impress of his personality on the office of the Speaker of the Lok
Sabha. His cherubic face, hearty laugh, quick wit, boundless enthusiasm,
impeccable demeanour and earthy wisdom made him a household name, with people
from all over the country showering compliments for the rare skill with which
he conducted the proceedings of the House. In the media too, his tenure as
Speaker was highly appreciated.
information taken from