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P Chidambaram

About P Chidambaram

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Who is P Chidambaram?

Palaniappan Chidambaram is the former Finance and Home Minister of India and a member of the Rajya Sabha. He was born on September 16, 1945, in Chennai, Tamil Nadu.
 
Education
P Chidambaram completed his schooling at the Madras Christian College Higher Secondary School in Chennai. After completing his school education, he enrolled in Loyola College in Chennai and passed the one-year pre-University course. He then went on to complete his Bachelor of Law from the Madras Law College in 1966.

Chidambaram's educational qualifications are not limited to law. He also holds an MBA from the prestigious Harvard Business School in the United States. Chidambaram's qualifications in law and business have helped him in his political career, especially during his tenure as the Finance Minister of India.
 
Political career
Chidambaram started his career as a lawyer and began practicing in the Madras High Court. He later shifted to Delhi and entered politics in the early 1980s. In 1984, he was elected to the Lok Sabha from the Sivaganga constituency in Tamil Nadu. He was re-elected from the same constituency in 1989 and 1991.
 
Chidambaram was first appointed as the Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances, and Pensions in 1986. He was later appointed as the Minister of State for Commerce in 1989. In 1991, he was appointed as the Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, and later as the Minister of State for Finance.
 
In 1996, Chidambaram was appointed as the Finance Minister of India in the United Front government. He presented the 1997 Union Budget, which was widely praised for its focus on fiscal consolidation and structural reforms. However, his tenure as Finance Minister was marked by a severe economic crisis, which was triggered by external factors such as the Asian financial crisis and internal factors such as drought and a fall in agricultural output.
 
Chidambaram was re-elected to the Lok Sabha from the Sivaganga constituency in 1998 and 1999. He was appointed as the Minister of Home Affairs in the UPA-I government in 2004. During his tenure as Home Minister, he played a key role in the formulation of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), which is considered to be one of the landmark social welfare schemes in India.
 
In 2008, Chidambaram was appointed as the Finance Minister of India for the second time in the UPA-I government. He presented the 2008 Union Budget, which was aimed at reviving the economy in the aftermath of the global financial crisis. He introduced various measures such as a stimulus package, tax cuts, and increased public spending to boost the economy.
 
Chidambaram's tenure as Finance Minister was also marked by various controversies. In 2012, he was accused of facilitating the sale of telecom licenses to private companies at below-market prices during his tenure as the Finance Minister in 2008. He was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in August 2019 in connection with the case. He was later released on bail.
 
Chidambaram has also been involved in various international forums and has represented India in the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the G-20. He has also been a member of various parliamentary committees, including the Standing Committee on Finance and the Committee on Public Accounts.
 
Chidambaram has faced controversies on account of his son being accused of corruption in the Aircel-Maxis and INX cases.

Latest Updates on P Chidambaram

The trial court on November 27, 2021, took cognisance of the chargesheets filed by the CBI and the ED against Chidambaram and Karti in the Aircel-Maxis case

Updated On: 20 Nov 2024 | 12:20 PM IST

The former Union Minister also took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying that it would be statesmanship if PM Modi visited Manipur and addressed their problems

Updated On: 19 Nov 2024 | 10:55 AM IST

In the pleas before the high court, Chidambaram and Karti, who were represented by senior advocate Sidharth Luthra and advocate Akshat Gupta, have assailed a trial court order refusing to defer the

Updated On: 18 Nov 2024 | 5:40 PM IST

He urged the people to think carefully before voting for their government

Updated On: 16 Nov 2024 | 2:00 PM IST

Former home minister said the photograph of the LG of Jammu and Kashmir presiding over a meeting to review the law and order situation in J-K is telling

Updated On: 24 Oct 2024 | 11:35 AM IST

Addressing the media here, the former union minister lashed out at the BJP government over several issues including agriculture, economy, and state debt

Updated On: 16 Sep 2024 | 6:18 PM IST

He asserted that there were greater constitutional obstacles to 'one nation, one election'

Updated On: 16 Sep 2024 | 2:46 PM IST

Chidambaram said the RBI governor who conceived of the idea was C Rangarajan

Updated On: 29 Aug 2024 | 2:01 PM IST

During the Budget discussion in Rajya Sabha, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman slammed the Opposition for attempting to "politicise" Agniveer scheme

Updated On: 31 Jul 2024 | 6:40 PM IST

Union budget 2024-25: Former Finance Minister P Chidambaram and Congress leader Shashi Tharoor find Budget 2024 presentation full of missed opportunities, compared it Congress manifesto

Updated On: 23 Jul 2024 | 6:12 PM IST

Union Budget 2024: Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said the Finance Minister has taken a leaf out of the INC's Nyay Patra 2024, with its internship programme. Here's how the Opposition reacted

Updated On: 23 Jul 2024 | 1:36 PM IST

Emphasising that this is too large a country with too many candidates writing the examination, he said that the government needs to give up this all-India examination

Updated On: 14 Jul 2024 | 2:57 PM IST

The panel would study the new laws to propose amendments including 'state-level name change' for the three laws

Updated On: 09 Jul 2024 | 10:30 AM IST

Dhankhar had said he was 'shocked beyond words' when he read Chidambaram's interview to a leading national daily wherein he had said that the new laws were drafted by part-timers

Updated On: 07 Jul 2024 | 11:50 AM IST

Chidambaram added the government did not rebut or answer any of the criticisms in the dissent notes and there was no worthwhile debate

Updated On: 01 Jul 2024 | 9:38 AM IST

In a post on 'X', he said the people have voted to curtail the ambitions of the BJP

Updated On: 25 Jun 2024 | 12:13 PM IST

Tamil Nadu's principal opposition party, AIADMK, on June 15 announced a boycott of the bypoll to the Vikravandi Assembly constituency

Updated On: 16 Jun 2024 | 10:49 AM IST

The ED has registered the money laundering case against Karti Chidambaram in the alleged scam pertaining to the issuance of visa to 263 Chinese nationals in 2011

Updated On: 06 Jun 2024 | 1:31 PM IST

The Election Commission Wednesday came down heavily on the ruling BJP and opposition Congress, asking them to desist from campaigning along caste, community, language, and religious lines

Updated On: 23 May 2024 | 11:03 AM IST

"On his death anniversary, my tributes to our former PM Shri Rajiv Gandhi Ji," Modi said in a post on X

Updated On: 21 May 2024 | 9:58 AM IST