Balwinder Singh Bhunder (born 20 September 1944) is an Indian politician, former member of the

Rajya Sabha Rajya Sabha (Council of States) is the upper house of the Parliament of India and functions as the institutional representation of India’s federal units — the states and union territories.https://rajyasabha.nic.in/ It is a key component o ...

, from the state of

Punjab Punjab (; ; also romanised as Panjāb or Panj-Āb) is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia. It is located in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising areas of modern-day eastern Pakistan and no ...

, and is the

Working President The Congress Working Committee (CWC) is the executive committee of the Indian National Congress. It was formed in December 1920 at Nagpur session of INC which was headed by C. Vijayaraghavachariar. It is composed of senior party leaders and is r ...

Shiromani Akali Dal The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) (translation: ''Supreme Eternal Party'') is a centre-right Sikh-centric state political party in Punjab, India. The party is the second-oldest in India, after Congress, being founded in 1920. Although there are ma ...

. He is a member of the

party. He served as the Cabinet Minister for Agriculture, the Cabinet Minister for Forest and the Cabinet Minister for Soil Conservation from 1977 to 1980. He has held former positions of

General Secretary Secretary is a title often used in organizations to indicate a person having a certain amount of authority, Power (social and political), power, or importance in the organization. Secretaries announce important events and communicate to the org ...

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

All India Kisan Sabha All India Kisan Sabha ( AIKS; lit. ''All India Farmers Union'', also known as the Akhil Bharatiya Kisan Sabha) is the peasant or farmers' wing of the Communist Party of India, an important peasant movement formed by Sahajanand Saraswati in 19 ...

and

Member of the Legislative Assembly A Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) is a representative elected to sit in a legislative assembly. The term most commonly refers to members of the legislature of a federated state or an autonomous region, but is also used for several nation ...

from

Sardulgarh Sardulgarh is a City in Mansa district in the Indian state of Punjab. Surrounded by cities of Mansa city, Sirsa, Tohana, Bathinda, Fatehabad. It is a Sub-Division (Tehsil) of District Mansa. Its old name was Tadalan or Dhudalan/Dhudhal. Geog ...

, Mansa district.

Early life

Bhunder was born in the village of Bhunder,

, Mansa district, in the state of

, to Sardar Boota Singh and Shrimati Surjit Kaur.

Biography

Bhunder married Shrimati Balwant Kaur. They had two sons, Balraj Singh Bhunder and Dilraj Singh Bhunder. Balraj Singh Bhunder died in 2007 at the age of 40. Balraj was the National

of the Youth Wing, Youth Akali Dal. Dilraj Singh Bhunder is an MLA from

, Mansa district.

Political career

Bhunder started his political career when he was elected the Village

Sarpanch A sarpanch, gram pradhan, mukhiya, or president is a decision-maker, elected by the village-level constitutional body of local self-government called the gram sabha (village government) in India. The sarpanch, together with other elected panchay ...

from 1964 to 1972. He was then elected to be a member of the

Punjab Legislative Assembly The Punjab Legislative Assembly or the Punjab Vidhan Sabha is the unicameral legislature of the state of Punjab (India), Punjab in India. The Sixteenth Punjab Legislative Assembly was constituted in March 2022. At present, it consists of 117 M ...

from the

, Mansa District constituency for 4 consecutive terms; 1972–1977, 1977–1980, 1980-1982 and 1982–1987. During which he served as the

Cabinet Minister A minister is a politician who heads a ministry, making and implementing decisions on policies in conjunction with the other ministers. In some jurisdictions the head of government is also a minister and is designated the ' prime minister', ' p ...

for Agriculture, the

for Forest and the

for Soil Conservation. From 1997 to 1999, Bhunder served as the

Chairman The chair, also chairman, chairwoman, or chairperson, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the gro ...

of the Agricultural Marketing Board. In 1998, he was elected to the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the

Parliament of India The Parliament of India (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the supreme legislative body of the Government of India, Government of the Republic of India. It is a bicameralism, bicameral legislature composed of the Rajya Sabha (Council of States) and the Lok ...

. From 2002 to 2007, Bhunder was again elected to be a member of the

from the

, Mansa District constituency for the 5th time. Since then, he has served as a member of Consultative Committee for the Ministry of Agriculture, Civil Supplies and Public Distribution, and the Committee of Food. Bhunder was again elected as a member of the Rajya Sabha in 2010 and 2016 as well. Since then, he has also served as a member of Committee to the Wakf (Amendment) Bill, Committee on Water Resources, Committee on Subordinate Legislation, and the Committee of Rajya Sabha on the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Bill. Bhunder was appointed as the

Secretary General Secretary is a title often used in organizations to indicate a person having a certain amount of authority, Power (social and political), power, or importance in the organization. Secretaries announce important events and communicate to the org ...

in June 2020.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bhunder, Balwinder Singh 1944 births Living people People from Mansa district, India Rajya Sabha members from Punjab, India Shiromani Akali Dal politicians