Ashwini Vaishnaw Wiki, Age, Wife, Children, Family, Biography & More

Ashwini Vaishnaw is an Indian politician and the Union Minister of Railways, Communications, and Electronics and Information Technology. He is a 1994-batch former IAS officer of the Odisha cadre.

Wiki/Biography

Ashwini Vaishnaw, also Ashwini Vaishnav, ^[1]The Times of India was born on Saturday, 18 July 1970 (age 51 years; as of 2021) in Jodhpur, Rajasthan. His zodiac sign is Cancer. He did his schooling at St. Anthony’s Convent School and Mahesh School in Jodhpur. In his class 11 boards, he was the topper of his state. He attended M.B.M. Engineering College, Jai Narain Vyas University, Jodhpur, Rajasthan, to pursue a BE and graduated with a gold medal in 1992. In 1994, he gained an MTech from the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh. After cracking the civil service examination, he worked as an IAS officer. In 2008, he left for the United States to pursue an MBA from Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, where he graduated in 2010. ^[2]India.gov.in

Physical Appearance

Height (approx.): 5′ 9″

Eye Colour: Black

Hair Colour: Salt & Pepper

Family

Parents & Siblings

His father’s name is Dau Lal Vaishnaw (advocate and tax consultant), and his mother’s name is Saraswati Vaishnaw. He has a brother named Anand Vaishnaw.

Wife & Children

He is married to Sunita Vaishnav, an entrepreneur. Together, the couple has a daughter named Tanya Vaishnav (who works at Apple Inc.) and a son named Rahul Vaishnav (social entrepreneur).

Caste

He belongs to the Bairagi family. Bairagi is a section of Hindu Brahmins. ^[3]News 18

Career

Civil Services

In 1993, he cracked UPSC Examinations with an AIR of 27 and was allotted the Odisha cadre. As an IAS officer, he served as a collector in the Balasore and Cuttack districts of Odisha. While he was serving his term in Balasore, the state was hit by a cyclone that killed many people. Ashwini is said to have handled the situation efficiently that brought him in the focus of politicians. The National Human Rights Commission recorded its appreciation of Ashwin for the sincerity, dedication, and commitment he displayed by organizing and executing relief and rehabilitation work in his district. He worked in Odisha as an IAS, till he was appointed as deputy secretary in the office of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 2003.

While working in the PMO, he contributed to creating the public-private partnership framework in infrastructure projects. He was appointed as the private secretary to Vajpayee after the BJP-led NDA lost the election in 2004. In 2006, he became deputy chairman of Mormugao Port Trust, where he worked for the next two years, before leaving for the US to pursue an MBA. After his return to India in 2010, he took voluntary retirement from his post due to financial debts from his studies in the US.

Corporate Job & Entrepreneurship

After earning a degree in MBA, he returned to India and joined GE Transportation as managing director. He then joined Siemens in Gurgaon as the vice president of Locomotives & Head Urban Infrastructure Strategy. He also worked as one of the three directors in Thriveni Pellets Private Limited, a Thriveni Earth Movers Private Limited unit, one of India’s largest mine developers. In 2012, he quit the corporate job to launch Three Tee Auto Logistics Private Limited and Vee Gee Auto Components Private Limited, both automotive components manufacturing units in Gujarat. Talking about it in an interview, he said,

I went to Gujarat and built my units while living in a container for 7 months as I wanted that factory to come out in record time.”

Politics

In June 2019, Ashwini joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Vaishnaw won the Rajya Sabha elections unopposed with the help of Biju Janata Dal (BJD) members in Odisha, which raised eyes regarding the rival BJP & RJD relations. This happened despite many ruling BJD members opposed to his nominations and doubted that BJP Supremo, Naveen Patnaik, succumbed to Narendra Modi–Amit Shah’s pressure in supporting Vaishnaw. On 28 June 2019, he was appointed as a member of the Committee on Subordinate Legislation and Petitions and Committee on Science and Technology, Environment and Forests. He has argued that the economic slowdown in India was cyclical in nature and was not a structural slowdown. He believed that rather than putting money in consumption, it was better to invest. He supported the Taxation Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2019 on 5 December 2019 in Rajya Sabha. He also put out the issues ranging from Ship Recycling Bill to Women Protection in Rajya Sabha. In April 2021, he was appointed as a member of the Press Council of India (PCI) for three years. On 8 July 2021, when the cabinet overhaul happened, he was appointed as the Minister of Railways, Minister of Electronics and Information Technology, and Minister of Communications.

Signature

Address

Permanent: Flat No.1-A, Ananda Residency, Plot No.45, Shaheed Nagar. Bhubaneswar, Odisha 751007

Current: Flat No 17/207, Heritage City, M.G. Road, Gurgaon, Haryana-122002

Net Worth & Assets

Aswin has movable assets worth Rs. 13.08 crore (approx.) and immovable assets worth Rs. 4.1 crore, including two residential buildings in Ahmedabad (Gujarat) and Gurgaon (Haryana) worth Rs. 3.45 crore and non-agricultural land in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, worth Rs. 65 lakh, which makes his net worth Rs. 17.18 crore (approx.) (as of 2018). ^[4]My Neta

Car Collection

• Toyota Platinum Etios

• Hyundai Santa Fe

Facts/Trivia

• Many sources have claimed that his family belongs to the Jeewand Kallan village of Rani in Pali district, Rajasthan. Later, his family settled in Jodhpur. ^[5]Aaj Tak

• In March 2021, after Rashmi Samant resigned as the Oxford University student union president for her old racist social media posts surfaced, Aswin alleged that she was forced to do so as she was cyberbullied, which was unfair. ^[6]The Indian Express

• He has been awarded the President’s Silver Medal, Commendation by the National Human Rights Commission India.

• In 2021, Twitter went against the Government of India to comply with the new IT rules in India, which, among other requirements, mandates the appointment of three key personnel – chief compliance officer, nodal officer, and grievance officer by social media platforms with over 50 lakh users. Twitter instead moved to the Delhi High Court. A day after Ashwini Vaishnaw sworn in as the Minister of Communication, he warned Twitter over new IT rules and said,
  

  Whoever lives and works in India should follow its rules and the law of the land is supreme.”