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Who is Ghulam Nabi Azad?
Ghulam Nabi Azad is an Indian politician who served as the Chief Minister of erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) from 2005 to 2008.
Early life and education
Ghulam Nabi Azad born on March 7, 1949, in J&K's Doda district. After completing his elementary education, he received the Bachelor's of Science degree from G G M Science College and in 1972, did his Master's in Zoology degree from the University of Kashmir, Srinagar.
Political career
Ghulam Nabi Azad worked as the secretary for the Block Congress Committee in Bhalessa in 1973. Two years later, he was nominated as the President of the Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Youth Congress. He was hand-picked by Sanjay Gandhi to head the All India Youth Congress in 1980 — at 30, he was the first Muslim and the only Kashmiri to head the organisation.
Azad served as the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs in the Manmohan Singh government until October 27, 2005, when he was appointed as the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir. He has also been a two-term member of J&K Legislative Assembly between 2006 and 2008.
He was the Minister of Health and Family Welfare from 2009 to 2014. He was also the leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha between 2014 and 2021. Azad resigned from Indian National Congress (INC) on August 26 2022 and established his own political party 'Democratic Progressive Azad'.
In 2022, the government conferred Ghulam Nabi Azad with the Padma Bhushan, India's third highest civilian award, in the field of Public Affairs.