Digvijay Singh
Born to royalty, Digvijay has risen to become a leader of the masses and served the longest chief ministerial stint in the history of MP.
Digvijay Singh was born on February 28, 1947 in the royal family of Raghogarh principality, presently in Guna district of Madhya Pradesh. His father, late Balbhadra Singh was former ruler of this erstwhile Indian princely state. He is an engineering graduate from GS Institute of Technology, Indore. He is an avid sports person with particular interest in cricket, tennis and squash.
Singh joined politics at a young age of 24. Owing largely to his astute organising and leadership qualities, he rose from within the ranks of Congress Party to become president of Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee in the year 1984 and in 1992. He distinguished himself as Minister of State and later as a Cabinet Minister in the Ministry of Arjun Singh between 1980-84. Digvijay Singh was elected Member of State Legislative Assembly in 1980. He was elected as a Member of Parliament in 1984 and 1991.
On December 7, 1993, he became Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh. He has served as the longest serving Chief Minister in the history of Madhya Pradesh after leading the Congress to victory in assembly elections twice in 1993 and 1998. Central to Digvijay's vision is his firm belief in the abilities and potential of the common people. People are not the problem, but they are the solution is the cornerstone of his philosophy of development. Extensive decentralisation of powers, democratisation of society at the grassroots and reservation for women in different walks of public life are some of his notable contributions as Chief Minister.
Under his leadership Madhya Pradesh has bagged three prestigious international awards for development achievements. The Education Guarantee Scheme won the Gold Award of CAPAM (Commonwealth Association for Public Administration and Management) at Kuala Lumpur in 1998 for universalising access to primary education. Gyandoot project claimed the Stockholm Challenge Award in the year 2000 for using information technology in rural areas for the direct benefit of common people. Rogi Kalyan Samiti ( Patients' Welfare Society ) initiative has won Global Development Network Award for breathing a new life in government run hospitals and health institutions through people's participation.
In recognition of his efforts in conserving water and soil, Singh was invited to participate in the World Water Forum held at The Hague in March 2000. He was also invited to share his experiences on a panel on poverty reduction strategies held as a part of Social Summit of the UN General Assembly in Geneva in July 2000. In recognition of his innovative style of governance, he was invited to participate in the World Economic Forum held in Davos, Switzerland in January 2001.