AZAD, SHRI GHULAM NABI Permanent address: House No.58, New Rehari, Jammu.

M.Sc. (Zoology); I.N.C. (Jammu and Kashmir); s. of Shri Rahamatullah and Shrimati Basa Begum; b. at Village Soti, Bhadarwah, District Doda, Jammu and Kashmir, March 7, 1949; ed. at (i) Government Degree College, Bhadarwah, (ii) G.G.M. Science College, Jammu, (iii) S.P. College, Srinagar and (iv) Kashmir University, Srinagar; m. Shrimati Shameem Dev Azad, March 27, 1980; 1 s. and 1 d.

Political and Social Worker; an outstanding N.C.C. Cadet in Government Degree College, Bhadarwah, G.G.M. Science College and S.P. College, Srinagar; courted arrest more than dozen times and jailed during Janata Government in 1977-79 in different parts of the country; President, (i) District Congress Committee, Doda, 1975-88, (ii) Pradesh Youth Congress, Jammu and Kashmir, 1975-77, (iii) All India Youth Congress, 1980-82 and (iv) All India Muslim Youth Conference (Associated with Indian Youth Congress), 1978-81; Chairman, (i) Youth Services Committee, IX Asian Games, 1982 and (ii) First International Youth Conference, Delhi, 1982; Director, Board of Directors in the Associated Journals Limited, publishers of National Herald, 1988-90; General Secretary, (i) All India Youth Congress, 1977-80 and (ii) All India Congress Committee, 1987-92 and again since November, 1996; Cultural Secretary and elected representative of Post Graduate Department of Zoology, Kashmir University, 1970-72; Secretary, Block Congress Committee, Bhalesa, 1973-75; Leader, (i) Indian Delegation of Sarvodaya to Sri Lanka to visit one thousand Gandhian model villages, 1973, (ii) Young M.Ps'. Delegation to Iraq, 1981, (iii) Youth Congress Delegation to Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, Romania and Russia, 1980-82, (iv) Indian Goodwill Haj Delegation to Saudi Arabia, 1987, (v) Indian Parliamentary Delegation to Sweden, 1991 as Parliamentary Affairs Minister, (vi) Indian Parliamentary Delegation in the Inter-Parliamentary Union meeting held in New Delhi, 1992 as Parliamentary Affairs Minister and (vii) a number of Congress Party and Ministry of Civil Aviation Delegations to more than three dozen countries, 1991-96; Convenor, (i) Central Campaign Committee of AICC for 1998 Parliamentary Elections and (ii) Committee for Golden Jubilee Celebrations of India's Independence of AICC; was Member, (i) Jammu and Kashmir Gandhi Smarak Nidhi (as Member and organiser of Jammu and Kashmir Gandhi Smarak Nidhi, 1970-75, organised hundreds of camps, symposia and seminars on teachings of Mahatma Gandhi), (ii) Central Haj Committee, 1980-82, (iii) Governing Council, Rajaji International Institute of Public Affairs and Administration, 1980-82, (iv) Bazam-i-Adab, S.P. College, Srinagar, 1967-68, (v) Anti-Copying Front, S.P. College, Srinagar, 1967-68, (vi) Peace Committee, G.G.M. Science College, Jammu, 1967-69, (vii) National Integration Committee, G.G.M. Science College, Jammu, 1967-69, (viii) Publication of Journals and Beautification of Campus Committee, Kashmir University, 1970-72, (ix) Jammu and Kashmir Gandhi Centenary Committee, 1969, (x) Jammu and Kashmir Bhoodan Committee, (xi) Congress Executive Committee, J & K Pradesh Congress, 1975-85, (xii) Delegation to the 11th World Youth and Students' Festival, Hawana (Cuba), 1978, (xiii) Parliamentary Delegation to Mexico and Greece, (xiv) Committee on Public Undertakings, 1980-82, (xv) Special Organising Committee, IX Asian Games, 1982, (xvi) Consultative Committee for the Ministry of Defence, 1981-82 and 1988-89, (xvii) Consultative Committee for the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and (xviii) Lok Sabha from Washim (Maharashtra) Parliamentary Constituency, 1980-84 and 84-89; Member, (i) Congress Executive Committee, Maharashtra since 1980, (ii) Congress Working Committee since 1987 (re-elected in August, 1997), (iii) Central Disciplinary Action Committee of AICC since June, 1998, (iv) Committee on Energy, (v) Consultative Committee for the Ministry of Railways, (vi) Rajghat Samadhi Committee since July 1998, (Vii) Indian Parliamentary Group and (viii) Consultative Committee for the Ministry of Home Affairs, 1996-97; Union Deputy Minister in the Ministry of (i) Law, Justice and Company Affairs, 1982-83 and (ii) Information and Broadcasting, 1983-84; Union Minister of State in the Ministry of (i) Parliamentary Affairs from December 31, 1984 to May 11, 1986, (ii) Home Affairs from May, 1986 to October, 1986 and (iii) Food and Civil Supplies from October, 1986 to September, 1987; Union Minister of (i) Parliamentary Affairs from June, 1991 to January, 1993 and December, 1995 to May, 1996 and (ii) Civil Aviation and Tourism, January, 1993 to May, 1996; elected to the Rajya Sabha in April, 1990 and re-elected in November, 1996.

Travels abroad: Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, China, Hong Kong, Iraq, Japan, Kuwait, Malaysia, Nepal, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Thailand, Austria, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czechoslovakia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Russia, Yugoslavia, Egypt, Bahamas, Canada, Cuba, Mexico, U.S.A., Australia, Luxembourg, Finland, Netherlands, Spain, Uzbekistan, Kazaksthan, Kyrgysthan, Azerbaijan, Mauritius, South Africa, Tanzania, Kenya, Romania, Indonesia, Vietnam, Poland, Argentina, Brazil, North Korea, South Korea, Iran, Turkmenistan, U.A.E., Jordan, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait and Turkey.

Special interest: Organising camps, symposia and seminars on the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi.

Favourite pastime and recreation: Gardening, meeting people and cultural activities, secularism and national integration.