Sharad Pawar

Born On: 12 December, 1940
Born In: Baramati, Maharashtra
Career: Politician

Sharadchandra Govindrao Pawar, widely known as, Sharad Pawar is the President of the International Cricket Council and the Nationalist Congress Party. He has been a part of the World Health Organization and represented India as a part of the Disaster Management Team of the United Nations. He believes that only major investment, fast economic progress and better employment opportunities make a country a super power. According to him, India can be a center for the rising sectors of software production, information technology and telecommunication. Sharad Pawar, in his life time has achieved great success, as a politician as well as the head of the BCCI and ICC. He has laid claim to noticeable positions in national politics together with the politics of Maharashtra. Sharad Pawar is well known as an explorer of talents across the country and always backs his decisions with comprehensive information. Read on to know more about the man who is Sharad Pawar.

Early Life
Sharad Pawar was born on 12th December, 1940 in Baramati which is in Pune, Maharashtra. He completed his graduation in science. On 1st August, 1967, he married a woman named Pratibha and had one daughter named Supriya Sule, who is a Member of Parliament.

Career
In 1967, Pawar entered into the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly from Baramati as the representative of the Congress Party. In 1978, he left the Congress Party to form the government in alliance with the opposition. He thus became the Chief Minister of Maharashtra for the very first time. This was when Indira Gandhi was disliked for implying an emergency in the country. In February 1980, the Progressive Democratic Front government was terminated as the Congress Party under the governance of Indira Gandhi came into power. After this, Sharad Pawar was the head of the opposition in the State Assembly. It was in 1984, when he was first elected as a member of the Lok Sabha. In 1985, he was the winner of the State Assembly elections as the Indian Congress (Socialist) Party won 54 seats out of the 288 in the State Assembly which made him the leader of the opposition. He thus resigned from the Lok Sabha. In 1987, Sharad Pawar made a decision to go back to the Congress (I) Party after a time period of nine years. In 1988, Rajiv Gandhi, the then Prime minister and the President of the Congress (I) Party, replaced the Chief Minister of Maharashtra Shankarro Chavan with Sharad Pawar and Shankarro was made the Finance Minister. Mr. Pawar was given the responsibility to keep an eye on the rise of Shiv Sena in state politics. In the elections of 1990, the alliance of the Bhartiya Janata Party and the Shiv Sena seemed like a tough challenge to the Congress (I) Party, but still the Congress (I) Party won 141 seats out of 288, and thus Sharad Pawar once again became the Chief Minister of Maharashtra with the support of twelve independent MLAs. Soon after this, he started the campaign for the Congress party for the mid-term Parliamentary elections of 1991. The Congress won 38 seats out of the 48 in the state elections. After the assassination of the former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, P.V. Narsimha Rao became the Prime Minister of India and Sharad Pawar became the Defense Minister. After this, Mr. Pawar, became the Chief Minister of Maharashtra as Sudhakarrao Naik, the then Chief Minister, dropped his responsibilities. He was elected as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra for the fourth time in 1993 and this was when Mumbai witnessed a series of bomb blasts. In the Vidhan Sabha elections, 1995, the Shiv Sena and BJP stuck together and won the election with 138 seats. Manohar Joshi succeeded Sharad Pawar and became the Chief Minister of Maharashtra. Again in the general elections of 1996, Mr. Pawar successfully won from Baramati. He also worked as the forerunner of the opposition in the 12th Lok Sabha. In June 1999, Sharad Pawar with P.A. Sangma formed the Nationalist Congress Party. Later on, after the elections of 2004, he joined the United Progressive Alliance government as the Minister of Agriculture and Food, which is supervised by Manmohan Singh, the Prime Minister of India.

On 29th November, 2005, Sharad Pawar was made the President of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). On 28th May, 2009, he was chosen as the Union Minister of Agriculture and Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution. This was when the allegation that he was involved in a multi-crore scam of wheat imports surfaced. Due to this charge, the BJP asked him to hand over his resignation. Until 2007, Mr. Pawar worked as the Vice-President of the International Cricket Council (ICC). In 2010, however, he became the President of ICC. He is the only second Indian personality after Jagmohan Dalmiya to hold this position. He is also connected with several sports organizations such as the Maharashtra Olympics Association, Wrestling Association, Kabbadi Association and Kho Kho Association. Along with this, he is also associated with the Mumbai Cricket Association and was the President of the Pune International Marathon Trust.

Contribution
During the time period of seven years as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Sharad Pawar turned the state into a leading industrial center of the country. He was also involved in the economic development of Maharashtra and introduced the advantages of the IT revolution in Baramati. Vasantdada Sugar Institute, which is the best institute for the advanced sugar technology, is supervised by Mr. Pawar and is also the institute that has connections with international institutions. Sharad Pawar is also the President of Vidya Pratishathan, a famous educational institution in Baramati, Maharashtra.

Timeline
1940: Born In Baramati, Maharashtra.
1967: Got married and entered the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly from Baramati.
1978: Left the Congress Party and became the Chief Minister of Maharashtra for the first time.
1984: First elected as a member of the Lok Sabha.
1985: Resigned from Lok Sabha, was the winner of the elections to the State Assembly.
1987: Went back to Congress (I) Party.
1988: Became the Chief Minister of Maharashtra.
1990: Became the Chief Minister of Maharashtra for the third time.
1991: Served the country as the Defense Minister.
1993: Elected for the fourth time as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra.
1996: Won the general elections
1999: Formed the Nationalist Congress Party together with P.A. Sangma.
2005: Became the President of BCCI.
2009: Worked as the Union Minister of Agriculture and Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution.
2010: Became the President of ICC.