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Literary, Artistic & Scientific Accomplishments |
Published various papers on a variety of subjects such as economics, sociology and taxation; Chairman, Konkan Kala Academy; and Vice-Chairman, All India Central apex body of Marathi stage contributes regularly to leading national and international publications |
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Social And Cultural Activities |
Connected with a large number of organisations active in the field of education, art and literature, sports, adult education, rehabilitation of mentally retarded children, hospitals, theatre, drama, trade associations; Treasurer, Confederation of UNESCO; Clubs and various Parliamentary Forum |
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Special Interests |
Co-operatives, social work, international affairs, education, economic affairs and public finance, industry, rural development, literature and fine arts and trade unions and associations |
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Favourite Pastime and Recreation |
Reading, travelling, sports, music and drama |
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Sports and Clubs |
Table tennis, chess, cricket, tennis and football; Member, (i) Boat Club; (ii) Khar Gymkhana; (iii) New Bombay Sports Association; (iv) MIG Sports Club; (v) India International Centre; (vi) India Habitat Centre; and (vii) Gyamkhana Club, New Delhi; Vice-Chairman, Table Tennis Federation of India |
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Countries Visited |
Widely travelled (more than 80 countries in Asia, Pacific, North America, Africa, Europe and Latin America) ; led17 delgations to different countries as Union Minister for Environment & Forests /Chemical & Fertilizers/ Power two as Chairman, Task Force on Interlinking of Rivers and six delgations as Member of Parliament |
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Other Information |
Had his own Chartered Accountancy Firm- before joining politics in 1996; Chairman of the largest Urban Co-operative Bank in India and connected with over 150 NGOs which operate in various fields; also connected with many companies in corporate world; Chairman, (i) Indo- German Parliamentary Forum; (ii) Parliamentary Forum on Environment; (iii) Parliamentary Maritime Group and Forum Against Spurious drugs; and (iv) Co-operative Forum of Parliamentarians; Co-Chairman, Indo-Japanese Parliamentary Foum; Executive Member, Indo-UK and Indo-E.U. Parliamentary Forum; Member, Board of Directors of several companies; has been in the forefront of UNESCO movement; was in the executive committee for International Voluntary Service in Paris; associated with (i) Wild Life First, and (ii) Forum for Water; active in sports, arts, literary and music world; delivered talks and spoke on serious subjects at different fora almost all over the world and interacted with deans faculties and students of unversities in India and aborad; considered a leading Chartered Accountant; featured among the top three Indian leaders of the future in its cover story by the Hong Kong based Asia Week, September 2000; ranked 2nd best performing Minister in its report by India Today, 27 August 2001; and declared as the best MP in the Lok Sabha by Aaj Tak TV Channel in April 2004; as Minister of Environment and Forests, took more than 500 new initiatives such as preparation of National Environment Action Plan, draft Biological Diversity Act, finalisation of the Hazardous Waste Management Rules, Solid Waste Management Rules, Biomedical Waste, Management Rules, formulation of National Zoo Policy, development of bamboo resources; as Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers intiated steps to formulate long term policies in the pharma, chemicals, petrochemicals and fertilizers sectors; as Minister of Power initited reform in power distribution by encouraging its privatisation/restructuring; initiated and piloted Electricity Regulatory (Amendment) Bill, 2001, Energy Consuration Bill, 2001 and Electricity Bill 2001 in Lok Sabha; Seven year Action Plan for Rural Electrification and Special Action Plan for maintaining of Grid Discipline; as Chairman of Task Force on Interlinking of Rivers steered the Task Force towards making an action plan for completion of the feasibility studies; has provided an innovative model of development Parivartan Kendras(PKs) or Transformation Centres in the villages of his constituency; PKs aim at providing economic opportunities and sustainable livelihood to each and every villager/inhabitant of a hamlet at his place of residence and also works on the development aspects like health and environment; registered for Ph.D. with Freie University, Berlin (Germany)-(Topic:Climate change issues in relation to Energy & Environment) and with Mumbai University in Economics (State Public Finance) |
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