Nikhil Kumar (born 15 July 1941) is a former IPS officer-turned politician hailing from Bihar who was Governor of Nagaland from 2009 to 2013 and Governor of Kerala from 2013 to 2014. One of country's well known IPS officers of 1963 batch from the AGMUT Cadre Kumar also served as DGP of the National Security Guards,

Indo-Tibetan Border Police The Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) is a border patrol organization of India deployed along its borders with Tibet Autonomous Region. It is one of the seven Central Armed Police Forces, established in 1962 in the aftermath of the Sino-Indi ...

Railway Protection Force Railway Protection Force is a security force under the ownership of Indian Railways, Ministry of Railways, Government of India established by the Railway Protection Force Act, 1957; enacted by the Indian Parliament for "the better protectio ...

and Commissioner of Delhi Police. He was elected member of the

14th Lok Sabha The 14th Lok Sabha (17 May 2004 – 18 May 2009) was convened after the 2004 Indian general election held in four phases during 20 April – 10 May 2004, which led to the formation of first Manmohan Singh ministry (2004–2009). Indian Natio ...

India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...

from 2004 to 2009, representing the

Aurangabad Aurangabad ( is a city in the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the administrative headquarters of Aurangabad district and is the largest city in the Marathwada region. Located on a hilly upland terrain in the Deccan Traps, Aurangabad is the ...

constituency in

Bihar Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West ...

as a member of 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 ...

(INC) political party. He also served as the Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on

Information Technology Information technology (IT) is the use of computers to create, process, store, retrieve, and exchange all kinds of data . and information. IT forms part of information and communications technology (ICT). An information technology system ...

Family background

Bihar Governor CM Fmr Governor Kerala during public function

He is a son of

Satyendra Narayan Sinha Satyendra Narayan Sinha (12 July 1917 – 4 September 2006) was an Indian politician and statesman, participant in the Indian independence movement, a leading light of Jaya Prakash Narayan's ‘ ''complete revolution''’ movement during the ...

, who was Chief Minister of Bihar, a veteran Indian National Congress leader and a seven-term

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house ...

, also from the constituency of Aurangabad. His mother Kishori Sinha was MP for Vaishali and his wife

Shyama Singh Shyama Singh (born 26 November 1942 – 11 September 2017) was an Indian politician and a former Member of Parliament from the Aurangabad (Bihar) (Lok Sabha constituency) and was married to the former Governor of Nagaland and Kerala, Nikhil Ku ...

also represented Aurangabad in the Lok Sabha. His grandfather Dr. Anugrah Narayan Sinha, known as ''Bihar Vibhuti'', was the first Deputy Chief Minister cum

Finance Minister A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", ...

of Bihar and an eminent

Gandhian The followers of Mahatma Gandhi, the greatest figure of the Indian independence movement, are called Gandhians. Gandhi's legacy includes a wide range of ideas ranging from his dream of ideal India (or ''Rama Rajya)'', economics, environmentalism, ...

; his father "''Chhote Saheb''" was close in his later years to

Jayaprakash Narayan Jayaprakash Narayan (; 11 October 1902 – 8 October 1979), popularly referred to as JP or ''Lok Nayak'' (Hindi for "People's leader"), was an Indian independence activist, theorist, socialist and political leader. He is remembered for le ...

and was one of the most prominent leaders of the anti-

Emergency An emergency is an urgent, unexpected, and usually dangerous situation that poses an immediate risk to health, life, property, or environment and requires immediate action. Most emergencies require urgent intervention to prevent a worsening ...

movement in Bihar and also the President of the Bihar wing of the

Janata Party The Janata Party ( JP, lit. ''People's Party'') was a political party that was founded as an amalgam of Indian political parties opposed to the Emergency that was imposed between 1975 and 1977 by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi of the Indian Nat ...

in 1977. His brother-in-law is ex Rajya Sabha MP N. K. Singh, Chairman of 15th

Finance Commission of India The Finance Commissions ( IAST: ''Vitta Āyoga'') are commissions periodically constituted by the President of India under ''Article 280'' of the Indian Constitution to define the financial relations between the central government of India a ...

who has been among country's prominent bureaucrats and served as India's Revenue Secretary and also Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister.

Civil service

He was educated at

St. Xavier's High School, Patna , motto_translation = For God and Country , location = , streetaddress = West Gandhi Maidan Marg , region = , city = , county = Patna , state ...

and then at

Allahabad University , mottoeng = "As Many Branches So Many Trees" , established = , type = Public , chancellor = Ashish Chauhan , vice_chancellor = Sangita Srivastava , head_label ...

, where he earned an M.A. in Modern History. He entered the

civil service The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...

in 1963 and was an

Indian Police Service The Indian Police Service ( IPS) is a civil service under the All India Services. It replaced the Indian Imperial Police in 1948, a year after India became Partition of India, independent from the British Raj. Along with the Indian Administ ...

officer assigned to the erstwhile Union 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, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders wi ...

Vice Admiral Satish Soni presenting a memento to the Governor of Kerala Nikhil Kumar

He held many important assignments and posts of national importance, in particular Additional Director General,

Border Security Force The Border Security Force (BSF) is India's border guarding organisation on its border with Pakistan and Bangladesh. It is one of the seven Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) of India, and was raised in the wake of the 1965 war on 1 December ...

(BSF) (1989–91;1992–94), Police Commissioner of New Delhi during 1995–97. In 1997-99 he became Special Secretary with charge of

internal security Internal security is the act of keeping peace within the borders of a sovereign state or other Self-governance, self-governing territories, generally by upholding the national law and defending against internal security threats. Responsibility fo ...

at the

Home Ministry An interior ministry (sometimes called a ministry of internal affairs or ministry of home affairs) is a government department that is responsible for internal affairs. Lists of current ministries of internal affairs Named "ministry" * Ministr ...

. He also served as

director-general A director general or director-general (plural: ''directors general'', ''directors-general'', ''director generals'' or ''director-generals'' ) or general director is a senior executive officer, often the chief executive officer, within a governmen ...

of the

, and National Security Guards, a position he held till his retirement in July 2001. He was then appointed Member, National Security Advisory Board, Government of India (2001–03). He was awarded the Police Medal for Meritorious Service in 1977 and the President's Police Medal for Distinguished Service in 1985.

Governor of Nagaland

He took the oath of office and secrecy as the Governor of Nagaland on 15 October 2009. He has been appointed a member of the Committee of Governors, constituted by the President of India to study and recommend measures for enhancing productivity, profitability, sustainability and competitiveness of the agriculture sector in India with special reference to rainfed area farming. He has been conferred with the prestigious Neelachakra Samman, during the national cultural festival Baisakhi Utsav at Jayadev Bhawan in Bhubaneswar.

Governor of Kerala

The President of India,

Pranab Mukherjee Dr. Pranab Mukherjee (11 December 193531 August 2020) was an Indian politician and statesman who served as the 13th president of India from 2012 until 2017. In a political career spanning five decades, Mukherjee was a senior leader in the Indi ...

, appointed him as Governor of Kerala on 9 March 2013. He had an illustrious tenure in the state and even in a short time, he was revered as a true "People’s Governor" and left his indelible mark on the people with ease and dignity. His astonishing capability to speak extempore on important policies, in his own inimitable style and his ability to communicate with the masses facilitated his deep and sympathetic involvement in all aspects of the life in the state of Kerala. He resigned as Governor on 4 March 2014 to contest the Lok Sabha Elections from

Positions held

* 1995-97: Commissioner of Police, Delhi ( DGP rank) * 1997: Director-General

(ITBP) * 1997-99: Special Home Secretary (Internal Security),

Government of India The Government of India ( ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, ...

* 1999-01: Director-General National Security Guards * 2001-03: Member, National Security Advisory Board,

* 2004-09: Elected to

* 2009-13: Governor of Nagaland * 2013-14: Governor of Kerala

References

External links

Brief Profile of Nikhil Kumar,Governor of Nagaland
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kumar, Nikhil 1941 births Living people Governors of Kerala Governors of Nagaland Indian National Congress politicians from Bihar Delhi politicians Chiefs of police Indian police chiefs Indian civil servants Bihar cadre civil servants People from Vaishali district Politicians from Patna University of Allahabad alumni Aurangabad, Bihar India MPs 2004–2009 People from Aurangabad, Bihar St. Xavier's Patna alumni Lok Sabha members from Bihar United Progressive Alliance candidates in the 2014 Indian general election Commissioners of Delhi Police Indian Police Service officers