Manohar Singh Gill (14 June 1936 – 15 October 2023) was an Indian bureaucrat, politician, and writer. As a bureaucrat, he served as a member of the

Indian Administrative Service The Indian Administrative Service (IAS) is the Public administration, administrative arm of the All India Services of Government of India. The IAS is one of the three All India Services along with the Indian Police Service (IPS) and the Indian ...

from 1958 until his retirement in 2001 as 11th

Chief Election Commissioner of India The Chief Election Commissioner of India (CEC) heads the Election Commission of India, a body constitutionally empowered to conduct free and fair elections. An election commissioner is appointed by the President of India on the recommendatio ...

. Upon his retirement, he joined 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 ...

and was elected to 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

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 ...

in 2004 and served as a member of the upper house until his retirement in 2016. He also served as Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports from 2008 to 2011 and as Minister of Statistics and Programme Implementation in 2011.

Early life and career

Gill attended St. George's College in

Mussoorie Mussoorie () is a hill station and a municipal board, in 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 hil ...

, 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. The IAS is one of the three All India Services along with the Indian Police Service (IPS) and the Indian Forest Service (IFS). ...

and served in administration at various places in different capacities in undivided

until 1966 when Punjab was trisected to carve out separate states of Himachal Pradesh and Haryana. His various postings included sub-divisional magistrate in Mahendragarh, now in Haryana, and deputy commissioner of the then Lahaul-Spiti district, now in Himachal Pradesh. He also served as the agriculture secretary of Punjab from 1985 to 1987 under

Amarinder Singh Amarinder Singh (born 11 March 1942) is an Indian politician, military historian, former royal and Indian Army veteran who served as the 15th Chief Minister of Punjab. His father, Yadavindra Singh, was the last Maharaja of the princely st ...

, who was then the agriculture minister of Punjab. Gill served as

from 1996 to 2001, succeeding T. N. Seshan. His major achievement was the introduction of electronic voting machines, which curbed malpractices to a large extent. He was awarded the Padma Vibhushan for his work in this post. At the 300-year anniversary of the

Khalsa The term ''Khalsa'' refers to both a community that follows Sikhism as its religion,Khalsa: Sikhism< ...

, he was awarded the Nishan-e-Khalsa. Upon his retirement from the election commission, he joined politics with the

. In 2004, he was nominated by the party for the election to the

from Punjab. He was re-elected in 2010 and continued to serve as its member until his retirement upon completion of his tenure on 9 April 2016. In a cabinet reshuffle held on 6 April 2008, he was inducted to the union council of ministers as Minister of State (Independent Charge) in the

Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports is a branch of the Government of India which administers the Department of Youth Affairs and the Department of Sports in India. Mansukh Mandaviya is the current Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports foll ...

. Following the Congress Party's victory in the 2009 Indian election, he was re-inducted into the council of ministers and held cabinet rank in the second term. He continued to serve as the minister of Youth Affairs and Sports. It was during this tenure that India hosted the

2010 Commonwealth Games The 2010 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XIX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Delhi 2010, were an international multi-sport event for the members of the Commonwealth that was held in Delhi, India, from 3 to 14 October 201 ...

in New Delhi which also contributed to concerns and controversies, including several allegations of corruption and mismanagement which later led to his removal from the ministry in a cabinet reshuffle in January 2011. Gill was then appointed as Minister of Statistics and Programme Implementation on 19 January 2011 and served until his resignation on 12 July 2011.

Death

M. S. Gill died on 15 October 2023, at the age of 87.

Books authored

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. He wrote another book based on that period titled ''Tales from the Hills: Lahaul's Enduring Myths and Legends'' (2014).

Awards and recognition

* Padma Vibhushan (2000)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gill, M. S. 1936 births 2023 deaths Indian National Congress politicians Recipients of the Padma Vibhushan in civil service Chief Election Commissioners of India Indian Sikhs Union ministers of state of India Rajya Sabha members from Punjab, India Indian Administrative Service officers Alumni of Queens' College, Cambridge People related to Lahaul and Spiti district