Jawhar Sircar

Jawhar Sircar (born 22 March 1952) is a former top Civil Servant and a public intellectual based out of Kolkata, India. He created a stir in September 2024 by resigning prematurely as a Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha), a coveted post, to join the people of Bengal in their protest against Government's repression and political corruption - which is unprecedented. He now assists activists and advocacy groups with his life-long experience of some 45 years in public affairs and administration. He is with them in standing up against repressive governmental measures and to fight for human rights and multiculturalism — both of which are under severe strain in India at present. Many of his writings and speeches are on these issues.

Sircar has been active in research in cultural, historical and anthropological subjects for several years, even while working full-time in administration. He has published numerous articles and delivers regular talks on topics from history, culture, social responses and the media. His monograph: ‘The Construction of the Hindu Identity in Medieval Western Bengal: The Role of Popular Cults’ was well received in India and abroad. His book in Bengali (his mother tongue that has 260 million speakers) on cultural festivals and rituals of India has been extremely popular. India’s oldest intellectual body, the Asiatic Society awarded him for his ‘Contribution to History and Politics’.

In August 2021, he was elected unopposed to represent West Bengal as Member of the Upper House — the Council of States Rajya Sabha,the upper house of the Parliament of India by the TMC that is virulent in its opposition to Prime Minister Modi’s ruling party. His performance in Parliament was outstanding and he took active part in debates and in grilling the Modi government on its failures.

Sircar was elected to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology & Communications to examine laws on the freedom of the media, including the social media. He joined opposition parliamentarians to check governmental digital surveillance through the internet and other modes of communications. He has fought, though not very successfully, governmental control over data protection and privacy. He was also on the Parliamentary Advisory Committee on Micro, Small &; Medium Enterprise. The latter is a sector he has led as an IAS (Indian Administrative Services) officer, both at the State and at the Central/Federal governments. His speeches in Parliament are available on YouTube— both under ‘Jawhar Sircar’ and ‘Sansad TV’ searches.

He was elected to the important Joint Parliamentary Committees to examine the amendments to the Biodiversity Act and the Forest Conservation Act. He is deeply involved in environmental issues and is constantly opposed to the current regime’s cavalier attitude to this very critical domain.

In September 2024, however, he resigned as Member of Parliament after three very active and fulfilling years — on grounds of principle, in protest against the controversial handling of the spontaneous unrest of the people of West Bengal against the State Government. The latter is led by the Trinamool Congress that had supported his candidature as MP, which is why he resigned This long-drawn public agitation was triggered by the inept and controversial handling of a sensational rape and murder of a junior doctor in a reputed government hospital in Kolkata (2024 Kolkata rape and murder incident).

Even after his resignation as an MP, he takes a bold and proactive role in standing up against right-wing authoritarian forces that run India’s intolerant majoritarian government since 2014. He is active in writing and joins activists’ movements against corruption and authoritarian— both in his State of West Bengal and in Delhi, against the Central regime. His uncompromising campaign for restoration of India’s plurality and religious tolerance have been attacked publicly, every week, by the ruling authoritarian and intolerant regime. He is currently supporting the cause of 26,000 secondary school teachers in West Bengal who have been dismissed because of corruption and bungling by the State Government.

Before his stint in Parliament, Sircar has been chairman of the board of governors of the prestigious Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Kolkata, a premier research and teaching institute set up in 1973. He has been on the governing bodies and trusts of numerous national-level cultural institutions of India, including the National Library, the National Museum, the Indian Museum and the National Archives. and also associates with several universities and academic bodies.

He has been a member of India’s topmost civil service from 1975 to 2015 and has headed important positions in the state and the federal governments. He last served as Chief Executive Officer of Prasar Bharati, India’s public service broadcaster, from 2012 to 2016. He supervised one of the largest broadcast networks in the world that covered well over a billion people, through 483 stations of All India Radio (AIR) &; Doordarshan Television. Jawhar Sircar also steered the 67-nation Asia Pacific Broadcasting Union as its senior Vice President.

From late 2008 to February 2012, Sircar was Secretary in the Government of India heading the Ministry of Culture, where he reported directly to the Prime Minister for most of his tenure. He initiated long-pending reforms and took up the modernization of museums, archives, and libraries for which he was awarded the British Museum Medal. He contributed substantially to the preservation of intangible and tangible culture and in nurturing cultural heritage and diversity.

His studies were at St. Xavier's School, Presidency College and Calcutta University — all in Kolkata — and also at the University of Cambridge and the University of Sussex, both in the UK. He did his Masters in Ancient Indian History and Culture from Calcutta University and a second Masters in Sociology, with Social Anthropology. He also did a professional course at the World Trade Institute, New York.