Arvind Kejriwal (born 16 August 1968) is an Indian social activist and politician. Born in Haryana, Kejriwal is a graduate of the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, where he studied Mechanical Engineering. He is a former Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer and former Joint Commissioner in the Income Tax Department. He is well-known for his role in drafting a proposed Jan Lokpal Bill and his efforts to bring and implement the Right to Information (RTI) act at grassroots level.
Kejriwal won the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Emergent Leadership in 2006 for his contribution to the enactment of the Right to Information Act and for his efforts to empower the poorest citizens of India. In 2006, after resigning from the IRS, he donated his Magsaysay award money as a corpus fund to found an NGO, Public Cause Research Foundation.^[1] In 2012, he launched the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), and defeated Sheila Dixit in the Delhi Legislative Assembly election, 2013.

Kejriwal was born in Hisar, Haryana, on 16 August 1968 in a Bania family^[2] to Gobind Ram Kejriwal and Gita Devi, a well-educated and financially well-off couple. He has a younger sister and brother. His father was an electrical engineer who graduated from the Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra, and whose work led to many changes in the family's residence. Kejriwal spent most of his childhood in north Indian towns such as Sonepat, Ghaziabad and Hisar. He was educated at Campus School in Hisar.^[3]
Kejriwal studied mechanical engineering at IIT Kharagpur and then from 1989 he worked for Tata Steel. He left that job in 1992, having previously taken leave of absence in order to study for civil service examinations,^[3] and spent some time in Kolkata, at the Ramakrishna Mission in North-East India and at Nehru Yuva Kendra.^[4]
Kejriwal joined the Indian Revenue Service later in 1995 after qualifying through the Civil Services Examination. In February 2006, he resigned from his position of Joint Commissioner in the Income Tax Department.^[5]
Kejriwal is married to Sunita, who is also an IRS officer and his batchmate from National Academy of Administration in Mussoorie. The couple have two children, a daughter and a son. Kejriwal is a vegetarian. He has been practicing Vipassana for many years.^[3]

Parivartan

In December 1999, while still in service with the Income Tax Department, he helped found a movement named Parivartan (which means "change"), focused on assisting citizens in navigating income tax, electricity and food ration matters in parts of Delhi. He believes "Change begins with small things".^[6] Kejriwal unearthed the fake Ration card scam in Delhi in 2008 through his movement parivartan.^[7][8]

Right to Information

Kejriwal has been using the Right to Information Act (RTI) in corruption cases in many government departments including the Income Tax Department, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, the Public Distribution System (PDS), the Delhi Electricity Board and others.^[4]

Jan Lokpal Bill

Main article: Jan Lokpal Bill

Kejriwal was the civil society representative member of the committee constituted by the Government of India to draft a Jan Lokpal bill, following a campaign for introduction of such legislation that featured Anna Hazare. He had been arrested for his support of Hazare.^[9][10]

Political career

Kejriwal established the Aam Aadmi Party in November 2012. The party name — Aam Aadmi Party — reflects the phrase Aam Aadmi, or "common man", whose interests Kejriwal proposed to represent. The party was formally launched in Delhi on 26 November 2012.^[11] The party's first electoral test is the Delihi legislative assembly elections on 4 December 2013.^[12] He has also become one of the five most mentioned Indian politician on social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter.^[13]
In the 2013 Delhi Legislative Assembly elections, Kejriwal defeated the three-time Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit from the New Delhi Assembly constituency.^[14]

Writing

Kejriwal's book, Swaraj, was published in 2012.^[15]

Awards

• 2004: Ashoka Fellow, Civic Engagement^[4]
• 2005: 'Satyendra K. Dubey Memorial Award', IIT Kanpur for his campaign for bringing transparency in Government^[16]
• 2006: Ramon Magsaysay Award for Emergent Leadership^[6]
• 2006: CNN-IBN, 'Indian of the Year' in Public Service^[17][18]
• 2009: Distinguished Alumnus Award, IIT Kharagpur for Eminent Leadership^[19]
• 2009: Awarded a grant and fellowship by the Association for India's Development.^[20]
• 2010: Policy Change Agent of the Year, The Economic Times Awards for Corporate Excellence along with Aruna Roy^[21]
• 2011: NDTV Indian of the Year along with Anna Hazare^[22]