Manohar Singh Gill (born 14 June 1936) is an Indian bureaucrat, politician, and writer. As bureaucrat, he belonged to the

Indian Administrative Service The Indian Administrative Service (IAS) is the administrative arm of the All India Services of Government of India. Considered the premier civil service of India, the IAS is one of the three arms of the All India Services along with the Indian ...

. As politician, he belonged to the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British E ...

party. He has served as the Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports. He represented

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising a ...

in the

Rajya Sabha The Rajya Sabha, constitutionally the Council of States, is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of India. , it has a maximum membership of 245, of which 233 are elected by the legislatures of the states and union territories using si ...

, upper house of the

Indian Parliament The Parliament of India ( IAST: ) is the supreme legislative body of the Republic of India. It is a bicameral legislature composed of the president of India and two houses: the Rajya Sabha (Council of States) and the Lok Sabha (House of the ...

Early life and career

Gill attended St. George's College in

Mussoorie Mussoorie is a hill station and a municipal board, near Dehradun city in the Dehradun district of the Indian state of Uttarakhand. It is about from the state capital of Dehradun and north of the national capital of New Delhi. The hill s ...

, India. In 1958, he joined the

Indian Administrative Services The Indian Administrative Service (IAS) is the administrative arm of the All India Services of Government of India. Considered the premier civil service of India, the IAS is one of the three arms of the All India Services along with the Indian ...

and served in administration at various places in different capacities in the undivided Punjab until 1966 when Punjab was trifurcated to carve out separate states of Himachal Pradesh and Haryana. His various postings included as Sub-Divisional Magistrate in Mahendragarh, now in Haryana, Deputy Commissioner of the then Lahaul-Spiti district, now in Himachal Pradesh. He also served as the Agriculture Secretary of Punjab from 1985-1987 under Captain Amarinder Singh who was then the Agriculture Minister of Punjab. Gill served as the

Chief Election Commissioner of India The Chief Election Commissioner of India heads the Election Commission of India, a body constitutionally empowered to conduct free and fair elections to the national and state legislatures and of President and Vice-President. This power of th ...

from 1996 to 2001 succeeding T. N. Seshan. His major achievement was introduction of

Electronic Voting machines An electronic voting machine is a voting machine based on electronics. Two main technologies exist: '' optical scanning'' and '' direct recording'' (DRE). Optical scanning In an optical scan voting system, or marksense, each voter's choices ...

which curbed malpractices to a large extent. He was awarded the

Padma Vibhushan The Padma Vibhushan ("Lotus Decoration") is the second-highest civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is given for "exceptional and distinguished service". All persons without ...

for his work in this post. At the 300 year anniversary of the

Khalsa Khalsa ( pa, ਖ਼ਾਲਸਾ, , ) refers to both a community that considers Sikhism as its faith,Kha ...

, he was awarded the " Nishan-e-Khalsa". In April 2008, Gill was inducted as the Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports, as a replacement for

Mani Shankar Aiyar Mani Shankar Aiyar (born 10 April 1941) is an Indian politician and former career civil servant diplomat. He is a member of the Indian National Congress Party. He represented the Mayiladuthurai constituency of Tamil Nadu in the 10th Lok Sabha, ...

. After the Congress Party won the 2009 Indian election, he was re-inducted to the same position. Later after a cabinet reshuffle he was dropped from the union cabinet. In 1972, Gill authored the book ''Himalayan Wonder: Travels in Lahaul and Spiti'', recounting stories from his days as a young IAS officer in the Lahaul-and-Spiti district, then in Punjab. Another book based on that period that he wrote is ''Tales from the Hills: Lahaul's Enduring Myths and Legends'' (2014).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gill, M. S. Indian National Congress politicians Recipients of the Padma Vibhushan in civil service Chief Election Commissioners of India Living people Indian Sikhs Union ministers of state of India Rajya Sabha members from Punjab, India 1936 births Indian Administrative Service officers Alumni of Queens' College, Cambridge People related to Lahaul and Spiti district