PROFILE
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Government from March 24, 1977 to July
28, 1979.

Widely respected within the country and
abroad as a statesman of the genre of Pt.
Jawaharlal Nehru, Shri Vajpayee’s 1998-99
stint as Prime Minister has been characterised
as ‘one year of courage of conviction’. It was
during this period that India entered a select
group of nations following a series of suc-
cessful nuclear tests at Pokharan in May 1998.
The bus journey to Pakistan in February 1999
was widely acclaimed for starting a new era
of negotiations to resolve the outstanding
problems of the sub-continent. India’s honesty
made an impact on the world community.
Later, when this gesture of friendship turned
out to be a betrayal of faith in Kargil, Shri
Vajpayee was also hailed for his successful
handling of the situation in repulsing back
the intruders from the Indian soil. It was dur-
ing Shri Vajpayee’s 1998-99 tenure that de-
spite a global recession, India achieved 5.8
per cent GDP growth, which was higher than
the previous year. Higher agricultural pro-
duction and increase in foreign exchange re-
serves during this period were indicative of a
forward-looking economy responding to the
needs of the people. “We must grow faster.
We simply have no other alternative” has
been Shri Vajpayee’s slogan focussing par-
ticularly on economic empowerment of the
rural poor. The bold decisions taken by his
Government for strengthening rural economy,
building a strong infrastructure and revitalising
the human development programmes, fully
demonstrated his Government’s commitment
to a strong and self-reliant nation to meet the
challenges of the next millennium to make
India an economic power in the 21st century.
Speaking from the ramparts of the Red Fort
on the occasion of 52nd Independence Day,
he had said, “I have a vision of India: an India
free of hunger and fear, an India free of illit-
eracy and want.”

Shri Vajpayee has served on a number of
important Committees of Parliament. He was

Go gle

Chairman, Committee on Government Assur-
ances (1966-67); Chairman, Public Accounts
Committee (1967-70); Member, General Pur-
poses Committee (1986); Member, House
Committee and Member, Business Advisory
Committee, Rajya Sabha (1988-90); Chair-
man, Committee on Petitions, Rajya Sabha
(1990-91); Chairman, Public Accounts
Committee, Lok Sabha (1991-93); Chairman,
Standing Committee on External Affairs
(1993-96).

Shri Vajpayee participated in the freedom

* struggle and went to jail in 1942. He was

detained during Emergency in 1975-77.

Widely travelled, Shri Vajpayee has been tak-
ing a keen interest in international affairs,
upliftment of Scheduled Castes and Sched-
uled Tribes, women and child welfare. Some
of his travels abroad include visits such as -
Member, Parliamentary Goodwill Mission to
East Africa, 1965; Parliamentary Delegation
to Australia, 1967; European Parliament,
1983; Canada, 1987; Indian delegation to
Commonwealth Parliamentary Association
meetings held in Canada, 1966 and 1994,
Zambia, 1980, Isle of Man 1984, Indian dele-
gation to Inter-Parliamentary Union Confer-
ence, Japan, 1974; Sri Lanka, 1975; Switzer-
land, 1984; Indian Delegation to the UN Gen-
eral Assembly, 1988, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993
and 1994; Leader, Indian Delegation to the
Human Rights Commission Conference,
Geneva, 1993.

Shri Vajpayee was conferred Padma Vibhushan
in 1992 in recognition of his services to the
nation. He was also conferred the Lokmanya
Tilak Puruskar and the Bharat Ratna Pt.
Govind Ballabh Pant Award for the Best Par-
liamentarian, both in 1994. Earlier, the Kanpur
University honoured him with an Honorary
Doctorate of Philosophy in 1993.

Well known and respected for his love for
poetry and as an eloquent speaker, Shri
Vajpayee is known to be a voracious reader.
He is fond of Indian music and dance.

INDIA NEWS © November 1,1999 7