Ashwini Vaishnaw is an Indian politician and currently the Minister of Railways, Communications, Electronics and Information Technology of India. He is a former IAS officer of Odisha in 1994 batch.
Wiki/Biography
Ashwini Vaishnaw, also known as Ashwini Vaishnav, was born on Saturday, July 18, 1970 (Age 51; as of 2021) lives in Jodhpur, Rajasthan. His star sign is Cancer. He received his education at St. Anthony’s Convent School and Mahesh School in Jodhpur. In his 11th grade examinations, he was the topper in the state. He studied at MBM Engineering College, Jai Narain Vyas University, Jodhpur, Rajasthan, for his Bachelor of Engineering and graduated with a gold medal in 1992. In 1994, he obtained his Master of Technology from Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur. After clearing the Civil Services Examination, he served as an IAS officer. In 2008, he went to the United States to pursue his MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, and graduated in 2010.
appearance
Height (approximate): 5′ 9″
Eye color: Black
Hair color: gray and white
family
Parents and siblings
His father’s name is Dau Lal Vaishnaw (a lawyer and tax consultant) and his mother’s name is Saraswati Vaishnaw. He has a brother named Anand Vaishnaw.
Ashwini Vaishnaw’s parents and brothers
Wife and children
His wife, Sunita Vaishnav, is an entrepreneur and they have a daughter, Tanya Vaishnav (who works at Apple) and a son, Rahul Vaishnav (a social entrepreneur).
Ashwini Vaishnaw with his wife and son
Ashwini Vaishnaw’s children
Caste
He belongs to the Bairagi family. Bairagi is a branch of the Brahmins in India.
Profession
Civil Service
In 1993, he passed the UPSC examination with an AIR of 27 and was posted to Odisha. As an IAS officer, he served as a collector in Balasore and Cuttack districts of Odisha. During his posting in Balasore, the state was hit by a cyclone that killed many people. Ashwini is said to have handled the situation effectively, bringing him to the limelight of political circles. The National Human Rights Commission appreciated Ashwini’s sincerity, dedication and commitment in organizing and executing relief and reconstruction work in his district. He served as an IAS in Odisha until 2003 when he was appointed as Additional Secretary in the office of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
Ashwini Vaishnaw and Atal Bihari Vajpayee
While working in the Prime Minister’s Office, he contributed to the creation of a framework for public-private partnerships in infrastructure projects. In 2004, after the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance lost the elections, he was appointed as Vajpayee’s personal secretary. In 2006, he became the vice chairman of the Mormugao Port Authority and worked there for two years before leaving for the US to pursue his MBA. In 2010, after returning to India, he took voluntary retirement due to debts incurred during his studies in the US.
Corporate employment and entrepreneurship
After completing his MBA, he returned to India and joined GE Transportation as Managing Director. He subsequently joined Siemens in Gurgaon as Vice President, Locomotives and Head of Urban Infrastructure Strategy. He also served as one of the three directors of Thriveni Pellets Private Limited, a subsidiary of Thriveni Earth Movers Private Limited, one of the largest mine developers in India. In 2012, he resigned from the company and started Three Tee Auto Logistics Private Limited and Vee Gee Auto Components Private Limited, both of which are auto component manufacturing units in Gujarat. Speaking about this in an interview, he said,
I went to Gujarat and lived in a container for seven months to build my factory because I wanted that factory to be built in record time.”
politics
In June 2019, Ashwini joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Ashwini Vaishnaw joins BJP
Vaishno won the Rajya Sabha elections without a suspense, with the help of members of the Biju Janata Party (BJD) in Odisha, which raised concerns about the relationship between the rival BJP and RJD. He won the elections despite many members of the ruling BJD opposing his nomination and doubting whether BJP supremo Naveen Patnaik would succumb to pressure from Narendra Modi and Amit Shah and support Vaishno. On June 28, 2019, he was appointed as a member of the Subordinate Legislation and Petitions Committee and the Committee on Science, Technology, Environment and Forests. He believes that India’s economic slowdown is cyclical rather than structural. He believes that it is better to invest rather than spend money on consumption. On December 5, 2019, he supported the Taxation Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2019 in the Rajya Sabha. He also raised a range of issues in the Rajya Sabha, from the Ship Recycling Bill to Women’s Protection. In April 2021, he was appointed as a member of the Press Council of India (PCI) for a three-year term. On July 8, 2021, during the cabinet reshuffle, he was appointed Minister of Railways, Minister of Electronics and Information Technology, and Minister of Communications.
Ashwini Vaishnaw assumes office as Communications Minister at Sanchar Bhawan
sign
Ashwini Vaishnaw’s signature
address
Everlasting: Apartment No. 1-A, Ananda Residency, Plot No. 45, Shaheed Nagar. Bhubaneswar, Odisha 751007
current: Apartment No. 17/207, Heritage City, MG Road, Gurgaon, Haryana – 122002
Net Worth and Assets
Aswin owns movable property worth Rs 13.08 crore (approx.) and immovable property worth Rs 410 million, including two residential buildings worth Rs 34.5 crore in Ahmedabad (Gujarat) and Gurgaon (Haryana) and non-agricultural land worth Rs 6.5 crore in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, which brings his net worth to Rs 17.18 crore (approx.) (as of 2018).
Car Collection
Facts/Trivia
- Many sources claim that his family came from Jeewand Kallan village in Rani, Pali district of Rajasthan. Later, his family settled in Jodhpur.
- In March 2021, after Rashmi Samant resigned as president of the Oxford University Students’ Union after her old racist comments on social media were exposed, Aswin claimed that she was unfairly forced to do so due to cyberbullying.
- He was awarded the Presidential Silver Medal and Commendation by the National Human Rights Commission of India.
- In 2021, Twitter defied the Indian government’s request to comply with India’s new IT rules, which, among other requirements, required social media platforms with more than 500,000 users to appoint three key personnel — a chief compliance officer, a liaison officer, and a grievance officer. Twitter instead took the case to the Delhi High Court. A day after Ashwini Vaishnaw was sworn in as communications minister, he warned Twitter about the new IT rules and said:
Whoever lives and works in India is subject to Indian rules and Indian laws are supreme.”
Categories: Biography
Source: HIS Education