User:DR. K. Jayakumar

Dr. K Jayakumar is an Indian politician and a leading expert on developmental economics and industrial development. He is an active member of the Indian National Congress (INC) since 1976 when he was still a student leader at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras. He has been the Congress Party's National Secretary, for 14 years during this period he has handled Political affairs of Undivided Andhra Pradesh, Vicha Vibagh Department, Scheduled Caste Department and Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland & Sikkim. He was an elected member of the Tamil Nadu assembly for two terms.

Dr. Jayakumar is the founder of the Amirtham Group of Institutions that manages colleges, schools and vocational training institutions. He serves on the board of many leading business establishments and public sector undertakings. He has contributed extensively to India's industrial development and international trade. He is also recognized for his work in development economics.

Dr. Jayakumar was awarded a doctoral degree for his work in development economics by the prestigious Gandhigram Rural University a Central University and post graduate degrees from Delft University, Holland and Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Madras. He obtained a B.E. from Anna University (formerly known as College of Engineering Guindy ).

Dr. Jayakumar has contested 1996, 1998 & 2014 Parliament Elections and 2001, 2006 & 2011 Assembly Elections from Tamil Nadu. From 2001 - 2011 as MLA of Namakkal Constituency set an example of how to develop a constituency remaining non corrupt.

Dr. K. Jayakumar is the son C. Kuppuswamy an IInd world war veteran and Amirthammal. He has 5 brothers and 2 sisters.

Although his elementary school was under a tamarind tree in Pinayoor a remote village in Uthiramerur Taluk, Kancheepuram District, Tamil Nadu he excelled in academics by graduating out of India’s and the world’s most prestigious academic institutions like Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras and Delft University, Holland after his schooling from St. Joseph’s High School, Chengalpattu and Pachaiyappa’s College Kancheepuram.

Dr. Jayakumar secured a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from India’s oldest engineering college - College of Engineering – Guindy (222 years) (now known as Anna University), Chennai, Tamil Nadu in 1972. After a successful career as an aircraft design engineer at Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), Bangalore India’s leading Defense Public Sector he obtained a meritorious scholarship to obtain an advanced master’s degree in Industrial Management from IIT - Madras.

His started his engineering career as a junior engineer with the Highways Department, Government of Tamil Nadu. This professional stint secured him a scholarship to graduate with a Post Graduate qualification in Rail Transport & Management from Institute of Rail Transport, New Delhi in 1980.

In 1982, he was awarded an international fellowship by the Government of Netherland to further his academic excellence in Industrial Development from the world renowned Delft University of Technology, International Institute for Management Science, the Netherlands.

Dr. K. Jayakumkar undertook an extensive formal research on poverty alleviation in 2010 and for his thesis – “Impact of Government Anti – Poverty Programmes” he was awarded a Doctor in Philosophy by the Gandhigram Rural University (a central government university), Dindigul, Tamil Nadu.

Professional Career

Dr. Jayakumar’s first assignment immediately after graduating from College of Engineering – Guindy (now known as Anna University) was formation of approach roads for the Pamban Bridge at the Rameshwaram end.

After post-graduation he joined Hindustan Teleprinters Limited a leading Public Sector Undertaking as a Quality Control Manager. Thereafter he also worked in State Industrializes Promotion Corporation (SIPCOT) to promoted industrial development and industrialization in Tamil Nadu.

Dr. Jayakumar also served in Export Import Bank of India (EXIM Bank) as a Senior Executive specializing in overseas project finance. It was during this tenure he was selected for appointment as banking expert in African Development Bank (ADB), Ivory Coast.

He later was a part of the founding management team to establish the National Schedule Caste & Schedule Tribe Corporation (NSFDC) a national-level Public Sector Undertaking under the Ministry of Social Development, Government of India. He was later elevated to the Board of Directors of NSFDC. Dr. Jayakumar was the Government of India’s nominee to India’s largest non-life insurance company the National Insurance Company, Kolkata.

During his entire professional career, Dr, Jayakumar was a visiting faculty to almost all leading banker’s training colleges in India.

Political Career:-

Hailing from a traditional Congress Party family, Dr. Jayakumar joined the Indian National Congress (INC) as an active member while still a student leader at IIT Madras and leading a huge student contingent to support Smt. Indira Gandhi during the emergency days.

In 1996, the Congress Party nominated him to contest the Parliamentary Election from Rasipuram Constituency which had formed an alliance with the AIADMK. Although both the AIADMK and its allies lost the elections, Dr. Jayakumar secured the highest votes amongst all Congress candidates. As he hails from Kancheepuram District the Congress Party fielded him in 1998 from the Sriperumbendur Parliamentary Constituency where Shri Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated in 1991. The Congress Party, which contested the elections without an electoral tie up with either the DMK or the AIADMK lost the elections. This time, Dr. Jayakumar secured the third highest votes among the Congress candidates.

Dr. Jayakumar contested and won the assembly elections twice in 2001 and again in 2006 as was elected as MLA in Tamil Nadu Assembly from Namakkal Assembly Constituency for 10 years. In 2011, he unsuccessfully contested the assembly elections from Maduranthakam and also unsuccessfully contested the 2014 parliamentary elections from Tenkasi.

At the national-level politics, Dr. Jayakumar has the unique distinction of being the longest serving AICC Secretaries since the history of the Congress Party. He has continuously been an AICC Secretary for 15 years. During this period he was in-charge of the undivided Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Nagaland, Manipur and Tripura. He also was the Secretary of AICC’s SC Department and Vichar Bhag Department.

As a political activist, Dr. Jayakumar courted arrested several times during a political career spanning over 3 decades.

Special Achievements

As an MLA, he undertook a vow to provide drinking water from the Cauvery River all villages in Namakkal Constituency. He achieved this by getting Pattanam – Seerapalli, integrated water scheme, sanctioned by Tamil Nadu Govt. at a cost of Rs. 125 crore.

During his tenure as MLA Namakkal town, was declared as garbage-free municipality and was awarded UN Citation.

With Shri Karunanidhi as Chief Minister, the Tamil Nadu Government waived off 7000 crore agriculture farmer loans as he has promised in the election manifesto.

He prevailed upon the government to waive off TAHDCO loans for SCs & STs on the same lines as has been done in agricultural loans.

While at EXIM Bank, in 1987, he appraised the world’s largest civil engineering project - “The Great Man Made River Project” at Libya at the estimate cost of USD 3 billion. The Project was to drill thousand bore-well of about thousand feet depth in the Sheba desert and pump water from the Sheba desert, Libya to the capital and various commercial cities of Libya viz; Tripoli and Benghazi.

On the floor of the Assembly house vehemently opposed the Religious Anti Conversion Bill.

Foreign Countries Visited:- i.	Netherlands ii. England iii. Belgium iv. Greece v.	Austria vi. Kenya vii. Zimbabwe viii. Libya ix. Yemen x.	Ivory Coast xi. Singapore xii. Sri Lanka