Karan Singh (born 9 March 1931) is an Indian politician and philosopher. He is the titular Maharaja of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir. From 1952 to 1965 he was the '' Sadr-i-Riyasat'' (President) of the state of Jammu and Kashmir. He is the chairperson trustee of the Dharmarth Trust of Jammu and Kashmir which maintains 175 temples in north India and works in other areas such as historical preservation. Singh was a member of India's Upper House of Parliament, 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 ...

, representing the national capital territory of

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...

. He is a senior member of the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party, or simply the Congress, is a political parties in India, political party in India with deep roots in most regions of India. Founded on 28 December 1885, it was the first mo ...

party who served successively as President ('' Sadr-i-Riyasat'') and Governor of the Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir. He was a life trustee and president of India International Centre. He was elected chancellor of

Banaras Hindu University Banaras Hindu University (BHU), formerly Benares Hindu University, is a collegiate, central, and research university located in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India, and founded in 1916. The university incorporated the Central Hindu College, ...

for three terms until 2018 when he was succeeded by Giridhar Malaviya. He has been a prospective presidential candidate over the years.

Early and personal life

'' Yuvraj'' Karan Singh was born at the Martinez Hotel,

Cannes Cannes (, ; , ; ) is a city located on the French Riviera. It is a communes of France, commune located in the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department, and host city of the annual Cannes Film Festival, Midem, and Cannes Lions Internatio ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, into the

Dogra dynasty The Dogra dynasty of Dogra Rajputs from the Shivalik hills created Jammu and Kashmir through the treaties with the East India Company following the First Anglo-Sikh war. Events led the Sikh Empire to recognise Jammu as a vassal state in 1820, ...

. He was the only son of Sir Hari Singh,

Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir The Dogra dynasty of Dogras, Dogra Rajput, Rajputs from the Shivalik hills created Jammu and Kashmir (princely state), Jammu and Kashmir through the treaties with the East India Company following the First Anglo-Sikh war. Events led the Sikh E ...

. His mother, Maharani Tara Devi, who was the fourth wife of his father, was the daughter of a landowning

Katoch Katoch is a Chandravanshi Rajput clan. Their areas of residence are mainly in the Indian states of Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, and Uttarakhand, and the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. Traditionally resided in Kangra Fort, Trigarta King ...

Rajput Rājpūt (, from Sanskrit ''rājaputra'' meaning "son of a king"), also called Thākur (), is a large multi-component cluster of castes, kin bodies, and local groups, sharing social status and ideology of genealogical descent originating fro ...

family and came from (Vijaypur near Bilaspur) in

Kangra district Kangra district is the most populous district of Himachal Pradesh, India. Dharamshala is the administrative headquarters of the district. History Kangra is known for having one of the oldest serving Royal Dynasty in the world, the Katoch of ...

Himachal Pradesh Himachal Pradesh (; Sanskrit: ''himācāl prādes;'' "Snow-laden Mountain Province") is a States and union territories of India, state in the northern part of India. Situated in the Western Himalayas, it is one of the thirteen Indian Himalayan ...

. Singh was educated at Doon School,

Dehradun Dehradun (), also known as Dehra Doon, is the winter capital and the List of cities in Uttarakhand by population, most populous city of the Indian state of Uttarakhand. It is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous Dehradun district, d ...

, a boarding school, which represented a departure from the usual practise of princes being educated by tutors at home. The school was very elite, but it nevertheless meant that Karan Singh shared the classroom (though not the hostel) with boys from non-royal backgrounds, and received a standard education. Unusually for the scion of an Indian royal family, he then enrolled in a college for a graduate degree, receiving first a B.A. degree from Jammu and Kashmir University,

Srinagar Srinagar (; ) is a city in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir in the disputed Kashmir region.The application of the term "administered" to the various regions of Kashmir and a mention of the Kashmir dispute is supported by the tertiary ...

, and subsequently an M.A. degree in Political Science and a

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

from

University of Delhi The Delhi University (DU, ISO 15919, ISO: ), also and officially known as the University of Delhi, is a collegiate university, collegiate research university, research Central university (India), central university located in Delhi, India. It ...

. In 1950, the 19-year-old Karan Singh was married to 13-year-old Yasho Rajya Lakshmi, granddaughter of Mohan Shumsher Rana, Maharajah of Nepal, belonging to the Rana dynasty of

Nepal Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China Ch ...

. Her father, General Maharajkumar Sharada Shumsher Jung Bahadur Rana, was a son of Mohan Shumsher. The match, arranged by their families in the usual Indian way, lasted all their lives. The couple had three children: *'' Yuvraj'' Vikramaditya Singh, elder son and crown prince; married Chitrangada Scindia, the daughter of

Madhavrao Scindia Madhavrao Jiwajirao Scindia (10 March 1945 – 30 September 2001) was an Indian politician and minister in the Government of India. He was a member of the Indian National Congress. He was viewed as a potential future prime ministerial candidat ...

of Gwalior, in 1987. * Ajatshatru Singh, second son; took to politics, was elected to the state assembly from the Nagrota constituency and became a minister in the state government. His wife is the daughter of an army officer. * Jyotsna Singh, only daughter, married to Dhirendra Singh Chauhan, belonging to Mainpuri in

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh ( ; UP) is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. With over 241 million inhabitants, it is the List of states and union territories of India by population, most populated state in In ...

. In the early 1960s, he took initiation from Sri Madhava Ashish, a disciple of Sri Krishna Prem of the Mirtola ashram.

Political career

In 1949, at age of eighteen, Singh was appointed as the Prince Regent of Jammu and Kashmir state after his father stepped down as the ruler, following the state's accession to India. From that point, he served successively as regent, the ''Sadr-i-Riyasat'', and the first governor of the state of Jammu and Kashmir from 1965 to 1967. On 8 August 1953 as the President ( Sadr-i-Riyasat) of Jammu and Kashmir, Karan Singh backed a coup d'etat against the elected Prime Minister

Sheikh Abdullah Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah (5 December 1905 – 8 September 1982) was an Indian politician who played a central role in the politics of Jammu and Kashmir. Abdullah was the founding leader and President of the All Jammu and Kashmir Muslim Confer ...

, allegedly for harboring independent ambitions for Kashmir, which led to the imprisonment of Abdullah for eleven years following the Kashmir Conspiracy Case. In 1967, he resigned as Governor of Jammu and Kashmir, and became the youngest-ever member of the Union Cabinet, holding the portfolios of Tourism and Civil Aviation between 1967 and 1973. Two years later, he voluntarily surrendered his privy purse, which he had been entitled to since the death of his father in 1961. He placed the entire sum into a charitable trust named after his parents. In the 26th amendment to the

Constitution of India The Constitution of India is the supreme law of India, legal document of India, and the longest written national constitution in the world. The document lays down the framework that demarcates fundamental political code, structure, procedures ...

promulgated in 1971, the Government of India, of which Karan Singh was a

Union cabinet The Union Council of Ministers is the Cabinet (government), principal executive organ of the Government of India, which serves to aid and advise the President of India in execution of their functions.Article 74 of the ''Constitution of India' ...

minister, abolished all official symbols of princely India, including titles, privileges, and remuneration ( privy purses). During the conclusion of the

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

, he was India's ambassador to the USA. Singh received the

Padma Vibhushan The Padma Vibhushan ( , lit. "Lotus Grandeur") 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 w ...

in 2005.In 1971, he was sent as an envoy to the Eastern Bloc nations to explain India's position with regard to East Pakistan, then engaged in civil war with West Pakistan. He attempted to resign following an aircraft crash in 1973, but the resignation was not accepted. The same year, he became the Minister for Health and Family planning, serving in this post until 1977. Following the Emergency, Karan Singh was elected to the Lok Sabha from Udhampur in 1977 on a Congress ticket he party had not split into Congress(I) and Congress(U) factions till then and became Minister of Education and Culture in 1979 in Charan Singh's cabinet, representing Congress(U), which had split from Indira's Congress. Notably, Charan Singh became Prime Minister after the fall of Janata Party government headed by Morarji Desai. And Charan Singh himself resigned without facing Parliament even for a day as he was not sure of having a confidence motion passed in his favour. Karan Singh contested the 1980 Lok Sabha election on a Congress(U) ticket and won. In 1989–1990, he served as Indian Ambassador to the US, and this experience became the subject of a book he wrote, "Brief Sojourn". From 1967 to 1984, Karan Singh was a member of the Lok Sabha. In 1984, he contested the Lok Sabha polls as an independent candidate from Jammu but lost the election. He was a member of the Rajya Sabha from 30 November 1996 to 12 August 1999, representing National Conference, a Muslim dominated party active in Jammu and Kashmir. Later, he was a

member from 28 January 2000 to 27 January 2018 representing INC. He is known for switching his loyalties from one political party to another quite frequently. He has served as Chancellor of

, Jammu and Kashmir University,

Jawaharlal Nehru University Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU; ISO: Javāharalāla Neharū Viśvavidyālaya) is a public research university located in Delhi, India. It was established in 1969 and named after Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first Prime Minister. The university ...

, and NIIT University. File:The Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh addressing at the launch of a film - "I Believe Universal Values for a Global Society", by Raja Choudhury based on the beliefs of Dr. Karan Singh, in New Delhi on March 09, 2011.jpg, Prime Minister

Manmohan Singh Manmohan Singh (26 September 1932 – 26 December 2024) was an Indian economist, bureaucrat, academician, and statesman, who served as the prime minister of India from 2004 to 2014. He was the fourth longest-serving prime minister after Jaw ...

addressing at the launch of a film - ''I Believe Universal Values for a Global Society'', by Raja Choudhury based on the beliefs of Dr. Karan Singh in 2011. File:Manmohan Singh presenting the “Rajiv Gandhi National Sadbhavana Award” to Dr. Kiran Seth of SPIC MACAY, at a function, in New Delhi. The President of ICCR, Dr. Karan Singh and the Member of Parliament.jpg, Karan Singh, along with Prime Minister

and Rahul Gandhi present the Rajiv Gandhi National Sadbhavana Award to K iran Seth in 2011. File:Hillary Clinton with Sonia and Rahul Gandhi.jpg, Karan Singh meets Hillary Clinton along with Congress party President Sonia Gandhi, and Rahul Gandhi. July 2009

Later life

He has been engaged by Sansad TV (a merged Global TV Channel of Lok Sabha TV and Rajya Sabha TV) as a Guest Anchor along with some other senior celebrated experts from diverse fields such as

Bibek Debroy Bibek Debroy (25 January 1955 – 1 November 2024) was an Indian economist, who served as the chairman of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister of India. He was also the Chairman of the Finance Ministry's 'Expert Committee for ...

, Amitabh Kant, Shashi Tharoor, Hemant Batra, Maroof Raza and Sanjeev Sanyal to present some flagship programmes.

Academic career

Karan Singh served as the chancellor of

for three terms up until 2018. In 2008, he awarded an honorary doctorate to the then prime minister

, and in 2016, he was asked by university administration to award an honorary doctorate to prime minister

Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician who has served as the Prime Minister of India, prime minister of India since 2014. Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Par ...

, that the prime minister declined.

Honours and awards

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

: *

(2005).

Views

On population

"In 1974, I led the Indian delegation to the World Population Conference in Bucharest, where my statement that 'development is the best contraceptive' became widely known and oft quoted. I must admit that 20 years later I am inclined to reverse this, and my position now is that 'contraception is the best development'.”

Bibliography

*''Towards A New India'' (1974) *''Population, Poverty and the Future of India'' (1975) *''One Man's World'' (1986) *
Essays on Hinduism
'. Ratna Sagar. 1987. . *''Humanity at the Crossroads'', with

Daisaku Ikeda was a Japanese Buddhist leader, author, educator and nuclear disarmament advocate. He served as the third president and then honorary president of the Soka Gakkai, which is considered among the largest of Japan's new religious movements but ...

. Oxford University Press, 1988. *''Autobiography'' (2 vols.)(1989) *''Brief Sojourn'' (1991) *''Hymn to Shiva and Other Poems'' (1991) *''The Transition to a Global Society'' (1991) *''Mountain of Shiva'' (1994) *''Autobiography''. Oxford University Press, 1994. . *
Hinduism
'. Sterling Publishers Pvt. Ltd, 2005. *''Mundaka Upanishad: The Bridge to Immortality''. *''Ten Gurus of the Sikhs Their Life Story'', Tr. into English Pramila Naniwadekar & Moreshwar Naniwadekar. *''Nehru's Kashmir''. Wisdom Tree. . *''A Treasury of Indian Wisdom''. Penguin Ananda, 2010. . * An Examined Life ed. Raghav Verma. Harper Collins, 2019.

References

External links

Detailed Profile: Dr. Karan Singh
''

Government of India The Government of India (ISO 15919, ISO: Bhārata Sarakāra, legally the Union Government or Union of India or the Central Government) is the national authority of the Republic of India, located in South Asia, consisting of States and union t ...

'' portal
Dr. Karan Singh's Official Website

Film: I Believe: Universal Values for a Global Society
with Dr. Singh and by Raja Choudhury.
Proclamation of May 1, 1951 on Jammu & Kashmir Constituent Assembly by Yuvraj (Crown Prince) Karan Singh from the Official website of Government of Jammu and Kashmir, India
{{DEFAULTSORT:Singh, Karan 1931 births Scholars from Jammu and Kashmir Indian religious writers Living people The Doon School alumni Delhi University alumni Governors of Jammu and Kashmir Academic staff of Jawaharlal Nehru University Recipients of the Padma Vibhushan in public affairs Ambassadors of India to the United States Maharajas of Jammu and Kashmir Indian Hindus Dogra people Indian autobiographers Indian National Congress politicians from Jammu and Kashmir Rajya Sabha members from Delhi India MPs 1967–1970 India MPs 1971–1977 India MPs 1977–1979 Lok Sabha members from Jammu and Kashmir Health ministers of India Civil aviation ministers of India Ministers of education of India 20th-century Indian historians Indian political writers Writers from Jammu and Kashmir Rajya Sabha members from Jammu and Kashmir India MPs 1980–1984 University of Kashmir alumni Indian National Congress (U) politicians Jammu & Kashmir National Conference politicians Independent politicians from Jammu and Kashmir