B'day Special: Jairam Ramesh “ The IITian-turned-Congress minister

Jairam Ramesh is a senior politician of the Indian National Congress. He was born on 9th April, 1954 in Chikmagalur, Karnataka.He is presently the Rural Development Minister in Dr Manmohan Singh's cabinet.Jairam Ramesh is known to be a very soft spoken person. People consider him as one of the driving forces behind India's economic growth story.Let us know more about Jairam Ramesh on his 60th birthday:Jairam Ramesh was born to C. K. Ramesh and Sridevi Ramesh. He was married to K R Jayashree on 26th January, 1981. Jairam terms his marriage as interdenominational and not intercaste as Jayashree is an Iyer and he is an Iyengar.The couple has been blessed with two boys. His sons are named after Pradyumna and Anniruddha - Lord Krishna's son and grandson respectively.Intellectually, he believes himself to be an ‘endangered species' who died ‘with Nehru's public sector'.Jairam Ramesh is a Hindu by birth but has firm faith in the principles of Buddhism.His father taught Civil Engineering at IIT Bombay. Taking a leaf out of his book, Jairam Ramesh decided to make a mark for himself in the academic sphere.Jairam Ramesh is a voracious reader. At a very young age, he began reading about people like Paul Samuelson (an American economist who won Nobel Prize in 1970).At the age of 17 Jairam Ramesh was greatly inspired by Gunnar Myrdal (a Swedish economist who won the Nobel Prize). After reading his book, he wrote a note to him on his perception on the book. Gunnar Myrdal was intrigued by the young lad that he responded through a letter and asked him to keep in touch.Jairam Ramesh wove a web of books and thoughts around himself. He always craved to understand the Indian society deeply.Jairam Ramesh has also authored some book : Making Sense of Chindia: Reflections on China and India and Mobilizing Technology for World Development. He is a columnist for many eminent newspapers in India.Jairam Ramesh completed his graduation from IIT Bombay in Mechanical Engineering.Later he went on to pursue Master of Science in Public Policy & Management from Carnegie Mellon University. In 1977 he enrolled himself a the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.Jairam Ramesh is one of the founders of the India School of Business in Hyderabad. He is often called as the Keynote speaker to eminent colleges in India and abroad.He started his career with the World Bank. Then he returned to India and started working with the Planning Commission.In 1991 he was the advisor to the Prime Minister of India. He also worked with Dr Manmohan Singh in finance ministry When Narasimha Rao was the Prime Minister.In February 2009, he led the party's Poll Strategy Panel after resigning from the cabinet. At that time he was serving as Minister of State for Power, Commerce and Industry.In December 2009, he was the Chief negotiator for India at the United Nations Climate Change Conference held in Copenhagen, Denmark.Jairam Ramesh is a great admirer of Jawarharlal Nehru. Nehru's approach to life fascinated him.Other than Nehru, Jairam Ramesh has learnt a lot from Rabindranath Tagore's books and Mahatma Gandhi (whom he initial opposed for his anti – modern philosophy).