Dr. Harsh Vardhan is the incumbent Minister of Health and Family Welfare in the BJP-led
NDA government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
He represents Chandni Chowk in Delhi as a MP in the 16th Lok Sabha.
Vardhan is a MLA representing Krishna Nagar in the Delhi legislative assembly since 1993.
He was also the Chief Minister candidate for the BJP in the 2013 Delhi assembly election.
Early life Harsh Vardhan was born in Delhi to Om Prakash
Goel and Sneh Lata.
Vardhan finished his schooling from Anglo Sanskrit Victoria Jubilee Senior Secondary
School, Daryaganj, in 1971.
He attended Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi Memorial Medical College, Kanpur, where he graduated
in 1979 with a Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery.
He earned his Master of Surgery in Otorhinolaryngology from the same college in 1983.
Dr. Harsh Vardhan has been a member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh since childhood.
Political career In 1993, he was elected as a member of the
Delhi Assembly representing Krishna Nagar.
He was appointed as the State Minister of Health and Minister of Law for Delhi.
He later became the state Minister of Education in 1996.
Dr. Vardhan has been re-elected from the same constituency in the 1998, 2003, 2008 and 2013
elections.
State Minister of Health Dr. Vardhan as the State Minister of Health
in 1994 oversaw the successful implementation of the pilot project of the Pulse Polio Programme
which involved the mass immunisation of 1 million children up to the age of 3 in Delhi.
In 1995, this programme would be launched nationwide leading to 88 million children
being immunised.
On 28 March 2014, India was declared polio-free by the WHO, as there had been no reported
cases for three years.
In 1997, the Delhi Prohibition of Smoking and Non-Smokers Health Protection Act was
passed in the Delhi assembly which was one of the first anti-tobacco laws implemented
by any state government.
The act applied across the NCT of Delhi.
It prohibited smoking in places of public work or use for example hospitals, restaurants
and educational institutions and in public service vehicles.
It also prohibited the sale of smoking substances such as tobacco and beedis to anyone below
the age of eighteen.
Smoking products could not also be sold or stored within 100 metres of any educational
institution.
Under the provisions of the act, fines would be applied to anyone who contravened the law
and they could potentially be ejected from places of public use by the police.
2013 Delhi Assembly elections On 23 October 2013, Dr. Vardhan was named
the Chief Minister candidate for Delhi Assembly elections by the BJP.
After the 2013 elections, BJP emerged as the single largest party winning 32 out of the
70 seats in the Delhi Legislative Assembly.
However, they fell short of an absolute majority so were unable to form the government.
2014 Lok Sabha election Vardhan contested the Chandni Chowk seat in
Delhi where he defeated the incumbent Union Cabinet Minister of Law and Justice, Kapil
Sibal of the Indian National Congress.
He was also appointed in the Cabinet of India as Minister of Health and Family Welfare on
26 May 2014.
Awards and honours Dr. Harsh Vardhan has received the following
awards and recognitions: IMA President's Special Award of Appreciation
by the Indian Medical Association in 1994.
Director-General's Polio Eradication Champion Award Commendation Medal by the World Health
Organization in 1998.
Polio Eradication Champion Award by the Rotary International in 2001.
"Doctor of the last Decade" by Indian Medical Association's New Delhi branch in 2002.
Personal life Dr. Harsh Vardhan is married to Nutan, and
together they have two sons and a daughter.
See also Pulse Polio Programme in India
References
External links Official website
Harsh Vardhan on Facebook Political Information