Jairam Ramesh

Some Lesser Known Facts About Jairam Ramesh

• Since a young age, Jairam Ramesh has been inspired by Jawaharlal Nehru. He was interested in Nehru’s alleged modern approach to life about bringing change in a traditional society and was also fascinated by his liberal, humanist, rational approach to life, women and civil matters.

  

• According to Ramesh, he was also influenced by Mahatma Gandhi, whose ideas were anti-modern, anti-science and anti-Western. He claimed that as he grew up and read more about Gandhi, he respected Gandhi’s ideologies more.

• In 1978, he began working at the World Bank. He worked there for a short period.

• In December 1979, at the age of 21, he returned to India from the US and began working as an assistant to the Indian economist Lovraj Kumar at the Bureau of Industrial Costs and Prices at a minimal salary. His father did not approve of his ideas and choice of career so Jairam left his home.

• In 1983, he was appointed as the Officer on Special Duty in the Advisory Board of Energy.

• Later, he began working in the Planning Commission for the Ministry of Industry and other economic departments of the Central Government including analyzing energy policy, reorganizing the CSIR in 1986 and implementing technology missions during 1987 and 1989.

• In 1990, he was appointed as an Officer on Special Duty during the National Front administration of the V.P. Singh government during which he reorganized India’s international trade agencies. In 1991, he was again appointed as the OSD to the Prime Minister; however, he was removed from PMO after a short time.

• In 1991, he worked in Manmohan Singh’s finance ministry and also participated in India’s economic reforms.

• In 1992, Jairam Ramesh became an advisor to the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission and remained in the position till 1994. From 1993-1995, he worked on a special mission in Jammu and Kashmir.

• From 1996 to 1998, he worked as a advisor to Finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram. In 1999, he was invited by the central government to join the official delegation to the World Trade Organization meeting in Seattle.

• In 2002, he became a member of the International Council of the Asia Society based in the New York city. In the same year, he became a Visiting Fellow and Affiliated Researcher at the Institute of Chinese Studies in New Delhi.

• In 2004, he became a member of the Court of the Jawaharlal Nehru University.

• Jairam was part of the 19-member ‘Foundation Day Committee’ of the All India Congress Committee (AICC), under the chairmanship of party president Sonia Gandhi> He was also given the duty of planning the 2010 year-long celebrations of the 125th anniversary of the Congress Party.

• In 2004, he became a part of the National Advisory Council, where he worked in putting together the UPA’s National Common Minimum Program.

• In December 2009, he acted as the chief negotiator for India at the 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference held in Copenhagen, Denmark.

• He has anchored various television programmes including Business Breakfast and Crossfire.

• Jairam Ramesh has published many books including Making Sense of Chindia: Reflections on China and India (2005), To The Brink and Back : India’s 1991 Story (2015), and A Chequered Brilliance: The Many Lives of V.K. Krishna Menon (2019).