Ghulam Nabi Azad was born 7 March 1949. He is an Indian politician belongs to Indian National Congress. He was the seventh chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir from 2005 to 2008 and was also the health minister of the country. He was recently awarded with the Padma Bhushan, India's third highest civilian award, in 2022 by the Indian Government in the field of Public Affairs.
Ghulam Nabi Azad was born in a village named Soti of Doda district which was part of of Jammu and Kashmir. His parents were Rahamatullah Batt and Basa Begum. He attended the local school in the village. He did Bachelor's in Science from GGM college and later received a Master's in Zoology in 1972.
Ghulam Nabi Azad started his career as the secretary for the Block Congress Committee in Bhalesa in 1973. With his activeness and performance he was nominated as the President of the Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Youth Congress within 2 years. In 1980, he became the President of the All-India Youth Congress.
He became MP from Maharashtra's Washim Lok Sabha constituency in 1980. He became Deputy Minister in charge of Law, Justice and Company Affairs Ministry in 1982, when he got an opportunity to work in Central government directly.
He was also elected as an MP in 1984 and was a member Rajya Sabha between 1990 - 1996 from Maharashtra. In P.V. Narsimhao Rao's government, he served in Parliamentary Affairs and Civil Aviation ministries. He was again Rajya Sabha member from Jammu and Kashmir during between November 1996 to 29 November 2002 and 30 November 2002 to 29 November 2008. He resigned on 29 April 2006 when he became Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir on 2 November 2005.
During second UPA government's regime under Dr. Manmohan Singh, Mr. Azad, became the Health Minister of India. He was again elected to Rajya Sabha. His is known for his work in National Rural Health Mission as a Health minister. He also launched National Urban Health Mission.
Since June 2014, when Narendra Modi's government won a majority in the Lok Sabha, Azad was appointed as the leader of opposition in the Rajya Sabha.
Ghulam Nabi Azad retired on February 15 2021 from the post in the Upper House.
