Bhairon Singh Shekhawat

Why is in news? PM pays tributes to Former Vice President of India, Shri Bhairon Singh Shekhawat on his 100th birth anniversary

Bhairon Singh Shekhawat (23 October 1925 – 15 May 2010) was the 11th vice president of India.

He served in that position from August 2002, when he was elected to a five-year term by the electoral college following the death of Krishan Kant, until he resigned on 21 July 2007, after losing the presidential election to Pratibha Patil.

Bhairon Singh Shekhawat was a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party.

He served as the Chief Minister of Rajasthan three times, from 1977 to 1980, 1990 to 1992 and 1993 to 1998.

He represented several constituencies in Rajasthan Vidhan Sabha from 1952 to 2002. He was also awarded Padma Bhushan in the year 2003.

He was born in 1925 to a Rajput family in the village of Khachriyawas, then in Sikar district, Rajputana Agency, British India.

Referred to as "Rajasthan ka ek hi Singh" (The only lion of Rajasthan) or "Babosa" (Head of the family of Rajasthan) and affectionately as Bhairon Baba, Bhairon Singh Shekhawat entered politics in 1952.

He played the most crucial role in removing Sati (practice) from Rajasthan as a part of their culture, especially among Rajput community.

Shekhawat started the "Antyoday Yojna" scheme, which was intended to uplift the poorest of the poor. The chairman of the World Bank, Robert McNamara, referred to him as the Rockefeller of India.

Bhairon Singh Shekhawat succumbed to cancer and other related health problems, and died on 15 May 2010 at the Sawai Man Singh Hospital in Jaipur.