Biography

Born heir apparent (Yuvraj) to Maharaja Hari Singh and Maharani Tara Devi of Jammu and Kashmir, Dr. Karan Singh was catapulted into political life at an early age of eighteen when, in 1949, he was appointed Regent by his father on the intervention of Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. Thereafter he was head of the Indian State of Jammu and Kashmir for the next eighteen years as Regent, as elected Sadar-i-Riyasat and lastly as Governor. His was a unique instance of the last representative of the old order becoming, by the will of the people, the first representative of the new. During these years he fulfilled his delicate and onerous duties with commendable success.

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In 1967, Dr. Karan Singh was inducted as a member of the Union Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. At 36, he was the youngest person to ever become a Central Cabinet Minister in India. He was elected soon thereafter the Lok Sabha from the Udhampur Parliamentary Constituency in Jammu and Kashmir on behalf of the Indian National Congress by an overwhelming majority, and was re-elected from there in 1971, 1977 and 1980. He was a four-time member of the Rajya Sabha (the Upper House of Parliament) from Delhi and Chairman of its Ethics Committee.

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Dr. Karan Singh first held the portfolio of Tourism and Civil Aviation for six years, where he created a marked impact by his vision and dynamism. In 1973 he moved to the ministry of Health and Family Planning. In 1979 he assumed the portfolio of Education and Culture. During these tenures as Minister, Dr. Karan Singh neither drew any salary nor lived in government accommodation.

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Dr. Karan Singh was the only former ruler of a princely state to voluntarily surrender his privy purse. He put the entire sum into the Hari-Tara Charitable Trust, named after his parents, in the service of the people of India.  He and his wife Maharani Yasho Rajya Lakshmi converted his Amar Mahal Palace into a Museum and Library containing a priceless collection of Pahari miniature paintings and modern Indian art, as well as his personal library of over twenty thousand volumes. Dr. Karan Singh also looks after several other trusts in  Jammu and Kashmir including the  Dharmarth Trust which administers over a hundred Hindu shrines and temples.

Dr. Karan Singh passed the Senior Cambridge examination from the Doon School, Dehradun, in the first division, and later graduated from the Jammu and Kashmir University, of which he was himself the Chancellor. In 1957 he took the M.A. degree of the Delhi University in Political Science with a first class, creating a university record which is still unbroken. He then earned his doctorate from the Delhi University by writing a thesis on the Political Thought of Sri Aurobindo, thus reaching the apex of a brilliant educational career.

Dr. Karan Singh was for many years Chancellor of the Jammu and Kashmir University, the Jawaharlal Nehru University and the Banaras Hindu University, President of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations, Chairman of the Central Sanskrit Board, President of the Authors Guild of India, the Commonwealth Society of India, the Delhi Music Society, the India International Centre and member of the Unesco International Commission on Education for the Twenty first Century, Co-Chair of the Indo-French Forum jointly set up by the  Govt. of India and France. He is Chairman of the Auroville Foundation with the personal rank of Central Cabinet Minister, of the Temple of Understanding, a major global Interfaith association, Vice Chairman of the Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fund, His tenure as Ambassador of India to the United States, though brief, received extensive coverage in both countries and won many friends for India.

Dr. Karan Singh is associated with many other cultural and academic institutions. He has received several honorary degrees and other awards, including doctorates from the Banaras Hindu University, the Aligarh Muslim University, the Soka University, Tokyo and the Shenzhen University, China. He is a member of the prestigious club of Rome  and the club of Budapest and a Trustee of the Green Cross International. He is a lifelong conservationist, having been Chairman of the Indian Board of Wildlife for many years and the head of the spectacularly successful Project Tiger. He was awarded Padma-Vibhushan, a high civilian award by the President of India in 2005. He is an Honorary Major General in the Indian Army.

Dr. Karan Singh is an author of distinction, having written a number of books on political science, philosophical essays, travelogues and poems in English. His fascinating autobiography, important collections of his writings entitled Triveni and essays on Hinduism have been widely acclaimed. He has composed and recited devotional songs in his mother tongue, Dogri, and is a connoisseur of Indian classical dance and music. He has travelled extensively throughout the country and abroad, having represented India at many important conferences. With his deep insight into the Indian Cultural tradition, as well as his wide exposure to western literature and civilisation, Dr. Karan Singh is recognised as an outstanding leader and thinker in India and abroad. He is a renowned orator, and has lectured in five continents on philosophy and culture, politics and environment, education and Vedanta.

Dr. Karan Singh was married to the gracious Princess Yasho Rajya Lakshmi, granddaughter of the last Rana Prime Minister of Nepal, Maharaja Mohun Shumsher. She was an eminent social worker. As President of the Delhi Society for the Welfare of Special Children, she built up an excellent centre at Okhla, New Delhi which provides day care, vocational training and other facilities to the mentally challenged.

Dr. Karan Singh has three children, a daughter Jyotsna, and two sons, Vikramaditya and Ajatshatru and six grandchildren.