Sangeeta Gupta
Sangeeta Gupta (born 25 May 1958), a retired Chief Commissioner of Income Tax, is an Indian abstract artist, poet and filmmaker. She is the first woman who qualified Civil Services from her district in Uttar Pradesh, India. She is an officer of 1984 batch IRS. Her artistic journey so far consist of 35 solo exhibitions of paintings, 20 published books including twelve anthologies of poems in Hindi and three in English. From her collection of poems, 9 books are translated into German, Greek, Mandarin, English, Bangla, Dogri and Urdu. She has also directed, scripted and shot 7 documentary  films which are in the collection of Library of Congress, US. Song of the Cosmos is her creative biography. A film, "Life beyond Tax", has been made about her life by Tax India. Personal life and education. Sangeeta Gupta (B.Sc., M.A, L.L.B) born at Gorakhpur, U.P. in 1958 spent her childhood in Tamkuhi road a small town, part of Kushi Nagar district, Uttar Pradesh. She completed her schooling from Carmel School, Gorakhpur, graduation and Post-graduation from Banaras Hindu University and Law from Delhi University, India Career. Sangeeta Gupta started her career as a Junior Research Fellow at Advance Study  Centre for Nepal, Department of Political Science, Banaras Hindu University in 1979 after completing her post graduation from the same university. She joined as a Lecturer of Political Science in a Government Degree College affiliated to Gorakhpur University in 1980 and continued to teach Political science to the under graduates students there till 1984. She then qualified Civil Services examination and then joined as Indian Revenue Service Officer (1984 batch). She is the first woman from her district, who qualified Civil Services.   She served as Income Tax Officer from 1986 to 1988 June at Allahabad. Thereafter, she served as ACIT ; ADIT & DCIT in West Bengal till the year 1996. She then went on deputation to Delhi Jal Board as Director Revenue and served there till 31 March 1999. She was promoted as JCIT and also worked as Director IT in CBDT, Minister of Finance, was promoted as CIT in the year 2003 and since then has worked in various capacity. Sangeeta Gupta joined as Principal Commissioner of Income Tax, Jammu & Kashmir in July 2015. Before coming to Jammu she was PCIT at Delhi. She rose to the apex level as Chief Commissioner of Income Tax, Delhi on account of her  dedication and hard work. She accepted many challenging assignments, which she accomplished to the satisfaction of the hierarchy. She has also worked as Advisor (Finance and Administration) to Lalit Kala Akademi, National Akademi of Visual Arts (July 2019 to January 2020). She is a member of the Finance committee of Jawaharlal Nehru University since November 2018. She was awarded gold medal in 1986 by National Academy of Direct Taxes, Nagpur for being the best probationer of her batch and the best bureaucrat of the year award of Make in India Excellence award conferred by Indo Global Business Council, Delhi She  has done her town, district and state proud by her achievements in her career. She retired as Chief Commissioner of Income Tax, Delhi in May 2018. Professional Achievements. During her short stint in the State in Jammu & Kashmir as Principal Commissioner of Income Tax the department produced remarkable results. Four new income tax offices at moffusil stations were opened at Katra, Samba, Baramulla and Rajouri and were made operational. Her tremendous efforts for widening and deepening of tax base at all levels finally bore fruits and resulted in addition of substantial new tax payers. Apart from a successful bureaucrat during  her career, Sangeeta Gupta is known for her love for poetry and Abstract Art. For her, abstract art is a means to reach the non-objective experiences that help shape the inner life. It is a witness to the fact that man's spiritual needs do not disappear even in times engulfed by gross materialism. She strives to express the poetic vision in her works. Keeping in view her strong passion for painting and writing, one may think, what about her professional achievements as a Revenue officer. But the fact is that she has earned distinctions in different fields like  art, literature, film making and civil services. Social pursuits. In the year 1995 she held her first solo exhibition at Birla Academy of Art & Culture, Kolkata, which was inaugurated by none other than Mother Teresa. The entire sale proceeds of this show were donated to CRY for building up an educational centre for poor children in sub urban part of Kolkata. She has held 35 solo exhibitions all over India including Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Lucknow, Chandigarh and overseas in London, Berlin, Munich, Lahore Belfast (Northern Ireland), Thessaloniki (Greece) and Toronto (Canada). In August, 2013, her 26th solo exhibition  dedicated to Uttarakhand was inaugurated by the former President of India Dr. A P J Abdul Kalam. The fund of Rs.20 lakh raised through the sale proceeds of her paintings has been used for creating a Fine Art Education Grant for the fine arts students of Uttarakhand. She is promoting Art and Culture through Prithvi Fine Art & Culture Centre, a charitable society of Delhi. As part of a cultural exchange programme of Prithvi, she was instrumental in organising an exhibition of 18 Greek artists at Lalit Kala Academi, Delhi (2014) and in 2015 a group of seven artists of India  were represented in an exhibition at EMS Museum Gallery Thessaloniki (Greece) as part of a  Cultural Exchange project. She has participated in more than 200 group shows in India and abroad, in national exhibitions of Lalit Kala Akademi, AIFACS and Sahitya Kala Parishad and in several art camps. Her paintings are in the permanent collection of the Bharat Bhavan Museum, Bhopal, Museum of Sacred Art (MOSA) Belgium and Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art, Thessaloniki (Greece). Her works have been represented at the India Art Fair, New Delhi in 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018 and 2019. As part of Indian  Delegation she held a solo exhibition of paintings at Shenzhen, China, 11th International Cultural and Industrial fair 2015. Apart from winning all India awards for drawing and painting her works occupy space on the walls of the country's most prestigious residences and offices including those of the President and Prime Minister as well as Governors of Karnataka and Jammu and Kashmir. Also, she dabbles in several other fields like photography and she has taken part in national exhibitions of photography in 1999 and 2001, New Delhi. Contributions. She has to her credit 20 published books, 9 of her poetry  books are translated in several languages. She is a bilingual poet and has twelve anthologies of poems in Hindi and three in English to her credit. Her books of poems are translated in many languages, in Greek, Mandarin, English, German, Bangla, Dogri and Urdu. Sangeeta Gupta's collection of poems "Iss Par Uss Par", has been translated in Bangla and "Pratinaad", has also been translated in Bangla, English and German. "Weaves of Time", a collection of English poems was published in 2013 by Partridge, a Penguin company, which is  translated in Greek and Mandarin "Sparsh Ke Gulmohar" (collection of Hindi  poems published by Rajkamal Prakashan 2015) also translated in Dogri. ""Ladakh: Knowing the unknown"" published by Full Circle 2015 launched at Jaipur Literature Festival 2015, Nehru Centre London and in Thessaloniki, Greece. "EKAM" a book of poems and photographs published in 2017, launched at Jaipur Literature Festival 2017. In 2020, "Weaves of Time" and "Song of Silence", both books are translated and published in Mandarin. Documentary film maker. She has also directed, scripted and shot seven documentary films. Her films have been screened at various venues overseas and in India. Her 7 films are in the collection of Library of  Congress, USA. Awards. Sangeeta's contribution in various fields have been recognised and acknowledged by both government and non government agencies. These awards are testimony of the well deserved accolades.