Harivansh, deputy chairman of the Rajya Sabha, assumed the role of acting Chairman of the Rajya Sabha today (July 22) following the resignation of Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar due to “medical reasons”.

First elected as the Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha in August 2018, Harivansh belongs to the Janata Dal (United) party. Following in the footsteps of his political inspiration, Jaiprakash Narayan, Harivansh Narayan Singh dropped his surname before being elected as the Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha.

The National Democratic Alliance’s (NDA’s) candidate for the position was re-elected for a second term as Deputy Chair in September 2020. First elected to the Rajya Sabha in April 2014, Harivansh holds a postgraduate degree in Economics from Banaras Hindu University (BHU) along with a diploma in Journalism.

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Career before politics

He embarked on his political career after spending many years as a journalist. Despite securing a government position as a bank officer post graduation, he chose to work as a journalist. He kicked off his journalistic career as a subeditor at Dharamyug, a pictorial weekly published by the Times of India group till 1993 and subsequently contributed to publications like Ravivar and Prabhat Khabar, eventually becoming the chief editor of the latter.

A published Hindi author, Harivansh, was honoured for his contributions to the language at the World Hindi Conference in September 2012. He also received the renowned Madhav Rao Sapre Award in Bhopal for his contributions to journalism.

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Political participation

After a brief stint of working as an adviser to former Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar, he returned to journalism when that government collapsed. Harivansh, an active political figure, has been a vocal participant in House discussions, addressing various issues during his tenure. These include, but are not limited to, the Fugitive Economic Offenders Bill, the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act, and the banking sector crisis. He succeeded P.J. Kurien, whose term as Deputy Chairman ended on July 1, 2018.