As we approach the 2024 Lok Sabha Polls, voters look to Know more about their “Neta”. The Bangalore North Constituency is seeing a candidate who is well-established and educated and is looking to bring about change. M. V. Rajeev Gowda is an Indian politician and educator. He previously served as a member of parliament in the Rajya Sabha and acted as a national spokesperson for the Indian National Congress party. He is the Congress Candidate for the 2024 Lok Sabha Election, from Bengaluru North. Here are 10 lesser-known facts about him.
Source: Ahmedabad University
Here are the 10 Lesser Known Facts About Rajeev Gowda:
He currently serves as Chairman of the “Congress Research Department”. Prof. Gowda has been active in politics since his return to India in 2000. He was invited by Smt. Sonia Gandhi to participate in the Vichar Manthan Shivir in 2003. Thereafter, in 2004, he was included in a team of 24 young leaders who worked with Shri Rahul Gandhi when he entered politics. He was chosen to launch the Congress party’s youth-focused campaign in Guwahati in the 2004 Lok Sabha elections.
In 2009, Prof. Gowda co-founded Hamara Congress.com which promoted the Congress party’s campaign online.
Prof. Gowda did his schooling at Cluny Convent School and St. Joseph’s Boys High School. He studied Economics and Political science at St. Joseph’s College, Bangalore, where he was elected Vice-president of the student union during 1982-83. He was awarded the Bangalore University gold medal in Political Science and secured a fully funded scholarship to pursue Masters in Economics at Fordham University, New York, USA.
He went to do post-doctoral research at the University of California, Berkeley where he was awarded the John M. Olin Post-doctoral Fellow in Law and Economics in 1991. He was also a visiting scholar at the Centre for Jurisprudence and Social Policy- Law School (Boalt Hall), University of California.
He joined the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB) where he taught Economics and Social Sciences. He was instrumental in setting up the Centre for Public Policy at IIMB and was Chairperson of the same. At IIMB, Prof Gowda has also taught bureaucrats and legislators from across the country. He designed and led the India-Women in Leadership(i-WIL) programme to train women politicians.
Prof Gowda has served as the Director on the Central Board of the Reserve Bank of India and has been a Carnegie Council Global Ethics Fellow. He also held the position of Director, General Insurance Corporation of India and was Member of the executive council at the Rajiv Gandhi National Institute of Youth Development.
He is a columnist for leading publications and writes on topics like governance, political process and analysis, economic growth, education system and electoral reforms.
Among the books that he has published are Editor, Judgements, Decisions and Public Policy, Cambridge University Press, 2002; Co-Editor (i) Integrating Insurance and Risk Management for Hazardous Wastes, Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1990 and (ii) India’s Risks, Oxford University Press, India, 2014.
An avid quizzer, Prof Gowda co-founded the Karnataka Quiz Association in 1983 and was the national runner-up on BBC TV’s Mastermind India in 2001.
Source: Rediff.com
Prof Gowda spoke during the discussion on the Securities Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2014. He urged the government to expand the special judicial apparatus to deal with financial white-collar crime, highlighted concern over India’s investor population dwindling from 20 million to just 10 million in 25 years, raised the issue on accountability of SEBI to the Parliament and concluded by calling for SEBI to actively pay attention to financial inclusion.
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