Chidambaram holds Home Ministry

Noor En Ahmed

New Delhi

Mon, 01 Dec 2008: 

Palaniappan Chidambaram, 63, the outgoing Finance Minister has taken the charge of Home Ministry today (Dec 01), after Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh asked him to take the ‘active’ charge of Home Ministry, which became vacant when Shivraj Patil on Saturday resigned from his post owning the ‘moraresponsibility’ for 60 hours of terror nightmare in Mumbai last week.

After Patil’s resignation, PM had to reshuffle his cabinet and in this move he asked the then Finance Minister P Chidambaram to take the charge of home minister, while PM decided to keep the charge of finance ministry to himself.

Assuming his new duty as a home minister, Chidambaram told reporters this morning that he was reluctant about his new assignment, but he would accept the duty whatever party’s top authority gave to him.

However, he added that there was unfinished work in the finance ministry but hoped that under Prime Minister, the ministry would work far better as it was now under the person who has excellent portfolio in this specific area.

Dr. Singh has already been experienced having served top three financial bodies in the past as finance minister, vice president of Planning Commission and governor of Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

Chidambaram hopes that Indian economy will grow at 7-8% despite global economic meltdown.

“We will have a reasonable growth rate this fiscal year and the inflation will be moderate. There will be a slowdown in India but there would not be any recession,” he said and added that this year has been a challenging year for him.

Since last four years, India has registered a remarkable growth rate of above 9% but in the fifth and final year, the first four months, country faced an unprecedented global economic crisis, and the next four were even more eventful with recession in several economies, Chidambaram said adding that this year has proved the most eventful year in his ministerial career.

This year too, India has recorded an average growth rate of 7.8% in the first two quarters, far ahead of the government estimation (7-8%) and RBI’s 7.5%.

Chidambaram told media that he would apply the same principle of finance ministry into his new ministry.

About Chidambaram

P Chidambaram was born on September 16, 1945, in the Sivaganga district of the state of Tamil Nadu into a rich family. He holds a B.Sc., a LL.B. and an M.B.A. degree and was educated at the University of Madras and Harvard University. In 1969, he enrolled as an advocate in the Madras High Court. He was designated as a Senior Advocate in 1984 and practiced in several high courts and even in Supreme Court. He is married to Nalini Chidambaram, a prominent lawyer practicing with the Madras High Court. The couple has a son Karthik Chidambaram, who is also a politician.

Ministerial Career

Chidambaram won the first Lok Sabha election in 1984 from Sivaganga constituency of Tamil Nadu and since then he was re-elected from the same constituency in the general elections of 1989, 1991, 1996, 1998 and 2004.

In 1985, he was first introduced in the union cabinet of the then prime minister Rajiv Gandhi on September 21 as a deputy minister in the Ministry of Commerce and then in the Ministry of Personnel; later he was elevated to the rank of Minister of State in the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions in January 1986 followed by Minister of State for Internal Security in Ministry of Home Affairs.

In 1996, Chidambaram got the charge of Finance Minister for the first time in the coalition government as a minister of newly formed Tamil Manila Congress (TMC), which later dissolved into Congress (I) just before the general election in 2004.

After winning the election in May 2004, he was redeployed to the Finance Ministry on May 24, 2004 in UPA government regime till Dec 01, 2008, when he took the charge of Home Ministry.