Saifuddin Soz

Saifuddin Soz (born November 23 1937) is an Indian professor who currently serves as cabinet minister of the Ministry of Water Resources, Government of India. [ [http://www.wrmin.nic.in/writereaddata/linkimages/whoswho.htm Who's Who page from website of "Ministry of Water Resources", Government of India] ] Soz hails from the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. He was also India's Minister of Environment and Forests in the 1990s as well as a long-time Member of Parliament. In January 2006, he was nominated to the Congress Working Committee, the executive committee of the Indian National Congress. [http://www.tribuneindia.com/2006/20060108/j&k.htm#1 News item from "The Tribune", dated January 8, 2006] ] He is married to Mumtazunnisa Soz; they have two sons and a daughter.

Early life

Soz was born in Sopore, a township in northern Kashmir. He worked his way to completing a Master's degree in economics from the University of Kashmir, [http://164.100.47.5:8080/members/website/Biodata.asp?no=1794 Biodata from Rajya Sabha member's page of Saifuddin Soz] , retrieved on 19-July-2008] where he later held the position of registrar.Fact|date=July 2008 He held teaching positions in many colleges affiliated with the University of Kashmir before taking on the position of registrar of the university. From there, Soz moved to the Jammu and Kashmir State Board of School Education (BOSE), a government department responsible for administration of schools. Soz sought voluntary retirement from government service to enter politics in 1983. At that time, he was Secretary of the BOSE.

Career

In 1983 Lok Sabha election, Soz contested and won the Baramulla seat as a candidate of the ruling Jammu and Kashmir National Conference party. At the time, the JKNC was headed by Dr. Farooq Abdullah. Soz went on to win three more Lok Sabha elections as a member of the JKNC. He also represented the JKNC and the state of Jammu and Kashmir in the Rajya Sabha in the mid-'90s. In 1997-98, he became India's Minister of Environment and Forests in the cabinet of Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral. During 1998-99, Soz served in the same capacity under Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda. At the time, the JKNC was part of the United Front government ruling India. In 1999, Soz was expelled from the JKNC for voting against the government of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, a veteran leader of the right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Soz was a JKNC member of parliament and defied his party's leadership on supporting a political party that was typically viewed as being opposed to the JKNC in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. [ [http://www.hindustantimes.com/storypage/storypage.aspx?id=e5bd0036-9d14-48da-b3e1-70dd73402236&ParentID=0275f4d1-b19a-4b4d-9b3b-4711ffddcc59&&Headline=Deja+Vu Article titled "Deja Vu"] , Vinod Sharma, "Hindustan Times", dated 14-Jul-2008, retrieved on: Friday, July 18, 2008] Since then, some leaders of the JKNC have admitted that the decision to align with the BJP government was a mistake.

In 2003, Soz joined the Congress party and was elected to the Rajya Sabha in 2004. In January 2006, he was inducted into the ministry of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as Minister of Water Resources, [http://www.outlookindia.com/pti_news.asp?id=351754 News article from Outlook India dated 31-Jan-2006] ] a position he holds currently. Soz was appointed President of the Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh (state) Congress Committee in February 2008. [ [http://www.thehindu.com/2008/02/15/stories/2008021554881300.htm News article from "The Hindu" dated 15-Feb-2008 ] ]

Bibliography

Soz has written and edited several books including:
# Kashmir Crisis (Soz, Saifuddin (ed). 1993, LC Control No.: 93907156: http://lccn.loc.gov/93907156),
# Why Autonomy to Kashmir (Soz, Saifuddin (ed). 1995, LC Control No.: 95910487: http://lccn.loc.gov/95910487),
# Secularism - an Interpretation,
# 'Daj' (A play in Kashmiri on abuses of Dowry system).

He also translated M. Illin's book "1,00,000 Whys" from Russian to Kashmiri, an effort for which he received the Soviet Land Nehru Award. He has written essays and short stories in Kashmiri, several articles in reputed newspapers and journals on a variety of subjects like Islam and modernism, rights of women, secularism, literature, education and economics. He has participated widely in discussions on Kashmir during the last two decades. He is also the recipient of several literary awards including Soviet Land Nehru Award, All India Basic Literature Competition Award and Competition for Literature for Neo-Literates Award.

References