Jawhar Sircar is a Member of Parliament of India who represents the State of West Bengal. He was elected to the upper house, the Rajya Sabha, in August 2021. His speeches in parliament on the President’s Address and on the Union Budget for 2022-2023 have earned him regard as a hard-hitting public debater.
He is a member of important parliamentary bodies like the Joint Consultative Committee on Bio-Diversity Amendment Bill, the Standing Committee on Communications & Information Technology and the Consultative Committee of the Ministry or MSME.
He has served as an Indian Administrative Service officer for 41 years (1975 to 2016), where he rose to the highest rank as Secretary to the Government of India. He headed India’s Culture Ministry from November 2008 to February 2012 — the longest for any Secretary — and was then appointed as the CEO of India’s public broadcaster for five years (2012 - 2017) but he quit a few months prematurely.
In public administration, he was known for his forthrightness and had , therefore, to pay for his outspoken views and conduct. Sircar resigned as the head of India’s public broadcaster in 2016, following differences with Prime Minister Modi and his non-inclusive policies, after which he entered directly into public affairs — as a severe critic of the regime.
He has been active in research even while working full-time in administration and his first work on The Construction Of The Hindu Identity In Medieval western Bengal: The Role Of Popular Cults was well received in India and abroad. He has published numerous articles and research papers on cultural, historical and anthropological subjects for several years. He has been commended for his recent book in Bangla —Tero Parbaner Itikatha— on religious festivals of India and their socio-economic role and significance.
In 2017, Jawhar Sircar was elected as the first non-academic Chairman of the prestigious Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta, a foremost research and teaching institution.
Sircar also became totally involved with civil society in its constant opposition to right-wing political and governmental forces that encroach on liberty. He was soon acknowledged as a public intellectual — thanks to his profuse writings, speeches and bold stands. He also joined as an active member of think-tanks and powerful pressure groups of retired senior administrative, diplomatic and police officials, as well as media persons and other activists — who stood up to the present government whenever its actions crossed the line of constitutional propriety
After he became an MP of the All India Trinamool Congress, he has moved off from several non-political bodies, but he remains active on more burning public issues than ever before, both within parliament and outside.