Kapil Sibal Wiki, Age, Caste, Wife, Family, Biography

Kapil Sibal is a renowned Indian Politician. He is associated with the Indian National Congress (INC). He has also been a Union Minister several times in his career. Kapil Sibal is a Supreme Court Advocate too.

Wiki/Biography

Kapil Sibal was born on 8 August 1948 (age 71 years; as in 2018). His zodiac sign is Leo. He was born in Jullundur, Punjab. He did his schooling from St. John’s High School, Chandigarh. He moved to Delhi in 1964. He joined St. Stephens College in Delhi to pursue Bachelors in Law. In 1969, after completing his LLB, he did M.A. in History from St. Stephens as well. He joined the BAR Association in 1972. He even attempted the Indian Administrative Services (IAS) exam in 1973 and passed, but he had other plans and declined the offer. He started his own firm in 1973. He then went to Cambridge, USA to pursue his Masters in Law from Harvard Business School. After he completed his LLM in 1977, he returned to India and started practising law. In 1989, he was designated as a senior lawyer. In 1989, he was appointed as the Additional Solicitor General of India. He was also the President of the Supreme Court BAR Association 3 times.

He got elected to the Rajya Sabha for the first time in July 1998. He was nominated as he had gained an image over the years of a constitutional lawyer. Over the years, he served in many ministerial positions and made some very crucial judgements and passed many acts which were crucial for the nation.

Physical Appearance

Height: 5′ 8″

Weight: 80 kg

Eye Colour: Brown

Hair Colour: White

Family, Caste & Wife

Kapil Sibal belongs to a Khatri family. His family migrated to India after the partition in 1947. He was born to Hari Lal Sibal and Kailash Rani Sibal. His father was a very renowned lawyer. He was famously called as The Living Legend of Law. His father was honoured with the Padma Bhushan for his contribution towards public service.

 

He got married to Nina Sibal on 13 April 1973. Nina was in the Indian Foreign Service. They had two sons, Amit Sibal and Akhil Sibal. Nina died on 30 June 2000 in New York after suffering from a prolonged illness of breast cancer.

 

Kapil Sibal got remarried in the year 2005 to Promila Sibal. She was a businesswoman.

Political Career

Kapil Sibal’s political career began after he was nominated to the Rajya Sabha by the Indian National Congress (INC) in 1998. He was appointed as the Secretary of the Congress Parliamentary Party from 2000 to 2002. He was a Member of the Business Advisory Committee in August 2001 and a Member of the Committee on Home Affairs in 2002. He got elected to the Lok Sabha for the first time in 2004 and was appointed as the Union Minister of Science & Technology and Earth Sciences in the Manmohan Singh Government. He got re-elected to the Lok Sabha in 2009 and got appointed as the Union Minister of Human Resource Development. On 19 January 2011, he was appointed as the Union Minister for Communications and Information Technology Ministry. In May 2013, he was given the additional charge of the Ministry of Law & Justice. On 5 May 2016, he was elected as a Rajya Sabha member from Uttar Pradesh.

Controversies

• In 2007, Kapil Sibal was accused of being involved in the Vodafone Tax Scandal. Vodafone had a dispute of INR 11,000 Crores on the purchase of Hutchison Essar Telecom services in April 2007. He was accused of attempting to opt for an out-of-court settlement with Vodafone.

• In 2011, Kapil Sibal stated that the National Exchequer had faced zero losses in the 2G spectrum and it did not put any pressure on the Government. There was a public outcry after he made this statement. Sibal eventually had to retract his statement.

• While he was the Union Minter of Communications and Information Technology in 2011, he passed an act which made it possible to monitor and regulate all content over the internet by the Government of India. There were massive protests after the decision was made. Kapil Sibal’s personal website was hacked by a hacker group named Hackers Anonymous, and the description about him was changed, calling him a retard. The Government soon rolled back the decision following unrest and arguments about freedom over the internet and free speech.

  Kapil Sibal’s Website Hacked

Address

C-1, Maharani Bagh, New Delhi

Facts

• He was the only defence lawyer in the historic impeachment process of the Supreme Court Justice V. Ramaswami in 1993.

• Sibal started the process of news channels and entertainment channels getting separate airwaves instead of using Doordarshan’s airwaves. This led to many new entrants in the television space.

• Kapil Sibal was on an expedition to Antarctica in 2005. He was the first Indian Minister and the second Minister in the world to visit Antarctica. He went there to inaugurate the first Indian R&D station in Antarctica.

  Kapil Sibal Before Starting Off For Antarctica

• Kapil Sibal is a cricket lover. He watches all the matches he can and avoids missing any match. Once while an India-Australia cricket match, he was invited to be a guest commentator.