Family Background

Biography
Speaker, XI Lok Sabha

MR. PURNO AGITOK SANGMA

CONGRESS (I) - TURA( MEGHALAYA)

Family Background

Born in September 1947 at Village Chapahati in the West Garo Hills District of Meghalaya in the North East of India. Hails from the small tribal Christian minority community of Garos, who constitute slightly over half a million in India's total population of 960 million.

Married to Soradini of his own community and has four children-two sons and two daughters. The elder son, James, is doing Honours in English language at Delhi. The eldest daughter, Christie, is a student of Architecture at Bombay. The second son, Conrad, is in the Wharton School of Business Administration in USA. The second daughter Agatha, is doing "O Level" at Delhi.

Academic Background

Did his Honours and Masters with International Relations as special subject, apart from Law (B.A. Hons, M.A. and LL.B) at Dibrugarh University, Assam.

Early Career

Worked as a lecturer and taught constitutional law. He was also a Lawyer and a Journalist.

Political Experience

Started his career as a Congress (I) Party worker. Having been General Secretary and Vice President of the Meghalaya Pradesh Youth Congress during 1973-76, was General Secretary of the Meghalaya Pradesh Congress Committee from 1975 to 1980. He was associated with the building up of the Congress in Meghalaya and the merger of the All Party Hill Leaders' Conference with the Congress. Became Joint Secretary of the All India Congress Committee in 1980.

Was elected to the Lok Sabha (the House of the People) five times- in 1977, 1980, 1984, 1991 and 1996. Since 1977, he has been Member of Parliament for 17 years.

For 13 out of these 17 years, he held Ministerial positions in the Government of India as -

Deputy Minister, Industry 1980-82

Deputy Minister, Commerce 1982-84

Minister of State, Commerce 1984-85

Minister of State, IndiaPress Affairs 1985-86

Minister of State, Labour 1986-88

Minister of State, Coal and Labour 1991-93

Minister of State, Labour 1992-95

Cabinet Minister, Labour

Cabinet Minister, Information & Broadcasting 1995-96

For the three years from 1988 to 1991, when Mr. Sangma was not in the Government of India, he was in the politics of the State of Meghalaya and held position as -

Chief Minister, Meghalaya 1988-90

Leader of the Opposition,

Meghalaya Legislative Assembly 1990-91

Speaker, Lok Sabha (House of the People) since 1996

In the history of Lok Sabha, Mr. Sangma has been-

The first to be unanimously elected as Speaker, with universal support cutting across all political parties.

The first from the Opposition to hold the Office of Speaker.

The youngest Speaker.

Parliamentary Experience

As Parliamentarian, Mr. Sangma, by virtue of interest as well as office was active in several committees. He was Member, Committee on Subordinate Legislation, Member, Committee on Communications, Member, Committee on Government Assurances and Chairman of the Parliamentary Consultative Committees on Labour, Coal and Communication.

As Speaker, guided formation of a Standing Joint Parliamentary Committee on Empowerment of Women,

-guided constitution of a Joint Parliamentary Committee for considering 81st Constitutional Amendment which seeks to enhance the presence of women in the Parliament and

-created a Group of Parliamentarians to report on Ethics and Standards in Public Life.

As Speaker, he is also Chairman of the Indian Parliamentary Group of the Inter-Parliamentary Council and Chairman, Institute of Parliamentary and Constitutional Studies and

President of the National Branch of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA).

Led the Indian Parliamentary delegation to the 42nd CPA Conference at Kuala Lumpur in August 1996.

Led the Indian Parliamentary delegation to the 96th IPU Conference at Beijing in September, 1996.

Hosted and chaired the Specialised Inter-Parliamentary Conference of the IPU on Partnership between Men and Women in Politics in February 1997.

Led bilateral Parliamentary delegations since September 1996 to Australia, Croatia, DPR Korea, Finland, Norway, Russian Federation , Saudi Arabia, Sweden and United Kingdom.

Policy Initiatives

During his uninterrupted political career of over two decades, with diversified experience at the Central and State (Provincial) levels and in varied and important portfolios, Mr. Sangma is reputed and recognised in India for several of his policy initiatives. Important among these initiatives are -

As Industry Minister

Enhancement of Production capability of the cement industry of India to the level of self sufficiency

As Coal Minister

Turning Coal India Ltd., a giant Public Sector Corporation of 700,000 workers into a profit making Enterprise.

As Commerce Minister

Introduction of Plantation crops of Export importance, like Tea, Rubber and Cashew in non traditional areas of the North East of India.

As Labour Minister

Initiation of Social security measures in the liberalisation phase of Indian Economy since 1991.

In particular -

Introduction of Pension for 18 million industrial workers
Rationalisation of wages and employment injury compensation for unorganised labour - like agricultural workers and construction workers.
Creation and chairing of seven Special Industrial Tripartites to go into the social and economic impact of Reforms and Structural Adjustment on working people so as to maintain industrial peace side by side with Reforms.
Generation of awareness about enhancement of productivity amongst Trade Unions and working people.
Skill development and Re-training respectively amongst job seekers and working people through vocational training.
Placing Child Labour Elimination high on National Agenda and mobilising political and resource commitment for the purpose at the national and State (Provincial) levels.
Elimination of discrimination against women amongst working people.

As Information & Broadcasting Minister

Initial preparation of the draft of the Broadcasting Law so as to liberalise usage of airwaves and investments in the electronic Media.

International Experience

Led the Indian delegation to UNIDO Conference at Khartoum, Sudan in 1981.
Led the Indian delegation to ESCAP Conference at Bangkok, Thailand in 1984 and was elected Conference Vice -Chairman.
Headed the Tripartite Indian delegation to the International Labour Conference organised by the ILO six times.
Led the Indian delegation to the Conference of Asia Pacific Labour Ministers (CAPLM) at Tehran, Iran in 1993 and was elected Conference Vice -Chairman.
Was Chairman of the Asia-Pacific Regional Group in the International Labour Conference in 1994-95.
Hosted and chaired the Fifth Conference of Labour Ministers of Non-Aligned and Other Developing Countries at Delhi in January 1995.

Travels abroad

As Minister in charge of several portfolios in the Government of India and as Parliamentarian, over the years, he travelled extensively to all the important countries of the world in East Asia, South East Asia, South Asia, West Asia, Europe, Africa and Australia, apart from USA.

Journalistic and Literary Work

Edited a local Daily entitled "Chandambeni Kalrang"
Edited two volumes of the book entitled "India in ILO"

Social activities

Has been connected with social organisations like the Red Cross and the Night School for indigent children in his constituency.

Distinctions and Awards

Received 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.
Received from the President of India Golden Jubilee Award of the Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC) for outstanding contribution to the cause of the working class in May 1997.

Special interests

Tribal , Western and Indian Music apart from Reading. Our Other Sites IndianPost.com AcornObituaries.com RajPurohit.com >