Vinai Kumar Saxena is an Indian businessman who is the chairman of the Khadi & Village Industries Commission (KVIC), an organization under the Ministry of Medium, Small, and Micro Enterprises of the Government of India responsible for creating jobs in rural regions through the implementation of Khadi & Village Industry programmes. On 26 May 2022, he was appointed as the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi. In 2021, he was nominated as a member of Padma awards selection panel.
Vinai Kumar Saxena was born on Sunday, 23 March 1958 (age 65 years; as of 2022) in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India. His zodiac sign is Aries. After completing his primary and secondary education, he got himself enrolled at the Chhatrapati Shahu Ji Maharaj University, Kanpur to pursue his higher education.
Height (approx.): 5′ 6″
Eye Colour: Black
Hair Colour: Black
Family
Parents & Siblings
Not much information is available about his family.
Career
J K Group
Vinai Kumar Saxena, in 1991, started working as a assistant officer at the J K Group Rajasthan in the White Cement Plant. He worked there for almost 11 years performing various roles. In 1995, he was selected as the General Manager to look after the proposed Port Project in Gujarat. With his high work efficiency and dedication towards his work, he was subsequently promoted to be the CEO and later as the Director of the Dholer Port Project.
National Council for Civil Liberties (NCCL)
In 1991, he founded the National Council for Civil Liberties. The non-profit organization strictly opposed social activists Medha Patkar for her Narmada Bachao Andolan for the welfare of Adivasis. Medha Patkar emerged as the most outspoken opponents of the Sardar Sarovar Project, which was being accelerated under the Modi led Gujarat government at the time. Gujarat was struck by a powerful earthquake on 26 January 2001. NCCL enlisted the help of a well-known organisation called “Earth Center” in Hyderabad, which specialises in interpreting satellite photos, to investigate the impact of the earthquake on SSP using satellite imagery. He was also involved in Gujarat and Rajasthan’s Water Resource Planning and Water Shed Management. NCCL commissioned a research in 2003 named “Trishna” to deliver unutilized water to the arid districts of Gujarat and Rajasthan, in order to catalyse the process of greater scientific understanding of environmental concerns by very qualified Indian and foreign scientists. In 2004, Vinai Kumar Saxena’s NGO in Ahmedabad came up with the ‘Mission ENDURE (Ensuring Dust Reduction).’ The vision behind launching the project was based on a very simple and workable methodology which was to pave the road shoulders across the city with eco-friendly material, thus removing dust assimilation, and in turn, preventing raising of dust by vehicles and pedestrians. The project received global recognition win high appreciations and it also won the UN-“Dubai Habitat’s International Award.” NCCL does relief work in all across Gujarat. On 21 November 2014, it launched another project called ‘Rainbow Hills’ from village Vanaj, in district Sabarkantha in Gujarat. This projects aimed to reconstruct/repairs and modernize the tribal houses in the picturesque Adivasi Vanaj village, situated on a small hillock facing a huge lake. The Adivasis built the 12 selected houses in Vanaj using mud for the walls and local wood for the ceiling. Those decaying and dusty houses were unfit for human habitation. In a record time of three months, NCCL completed the repair and reconstruction of these 12 houses. Repairs of walls, floors, roofs, verandas, and other structures including toilets were completed as part of the programme, The scheme’s goal was to give basic facilities to the underprivileged Adivasis while preserving their culture, customs, and environment. These Adivasis were also encouraged to rent out one room in these reconstructed housings to encourage tourists in order to supplement their income.
Khadi & Village Industries Commission (KVIC)
Vinai Kumar Saxena, in 2015, was appointed as the Chairman Khadi & Village Industries Commission (KVIC), an organisation within the Ministry of Medium, Small and Micro Enterprise, Government of India, charged with creating jobs in rural regions through the implementation of Khadi and Village Industry programmes. He launched several innovative employment-generation schemes like ‘Honey Mission’, ‘Kumhaar Sashaktikaran Yojana’ and ‘Leather Artisans’ Empowerment Scheme’ under his leadership. He majorly promoted Khadi among the public sector and government departments, securing major orders from companies like Air India, ONGC, REC, PMO, Railways, Ministry of Health, Department of Postal and Telegraph, and others. He also came up with the e-governance and e-portals for subsidy distribution to entrepreneurs, Khadi institutions, and craftspeople to the Khadi sector, bringing transparency and ease of implementation. One of his most recognized wok while working for the commission was to open up Khadi for sale through franchises, malls, and retail chains. Khadi was sold in Khadi Korners at Globus, NOIDA, Chennai, and Ahmedabad, with the help of the Retailer Association of India. Khadi Korners are also being opened in Apna Bazars around the state. It was under his tenure that the turnover of KVIC increased by 248% while a massive 40 lakh new employment was created in just seven years. In 2021-22, KVIC achieved a historic turnover of Rs.1.15 lakh crore for the first time, the biggest by KVIC and any FMCG firm in India to date.
Jawaharlal Nehru University
On 18 March 2019, Vinai Kumar was appointed as the Member of University Court by the Honorable President of India for Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. He served for three years in his role as Visitor of the University.
Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)
On 9 September 2020, Saxena was selected as a member of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) – Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology’s “Research Council.” The Research Council is the institute’s highest decision-making body, with the mission of boosting the bio-economy by utilising Himalayan bio-resources sustainably and discovering, developing, and commercialising Himalayan bio-resources processes and products using cutting-edge science and technology.
Lieutenant Governor of Delhi
Vinai Kumar Saxena was appointed as the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi on 26 May 2022. The press note released by the Rashtrapati Bhawan read,
The President of India has been pleased to appoint Vinai Kumar Saxena to be the Lt Governor of National Capital Territory of Delhi with effect from the date he assumes charge of his office.”
Vipin Sanghi, the Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court, administered the oath of office and confidentiality to Saxena. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his Cabinet colleagues, Union Minister Giriraj Singh, Delhi MPs and MLAs, and top city bureaucrats all attended the ceremony. Arvind Kejriwal, the Delhi Chief Minister, took to Twitter to wish Vinai Kumar Saxena, the newly appointed Lieutenant Governor of Delhi. His tweet reads,
The former L-G Anil Baijal and I worked together in Delhi on several projects and tried to solve many issues. He is a very good man. I wish him the best for the future and wish him good health and a long life. I welcome the newly appointed L-G, Vinai Kumar Saxena on behalf of the people of Delhi. He will get the full support of the cabinet for Delhi’s betterment.”
Vinai Kumar orchestrated a huge bureaucratic upheaval shortly after taking office as Lieutenant Governor, transferring 40 top bureaucrats. The LG is in charge of the Centre’s services department in the national capital, and all transfers and postings are made at his discretion. There have been 34 IAS officers and six Danics officers transferred. According to sources, 14 officers from various states and union territories covered by the AGMUT cadre were deployed to Delhi a few weeks ago (Arunachal, Goa, Mizoram, and Union Territories). Lieutenant Governor of Delhi Vinai Kumar Saxena paid a visit to the sanitary landfill site at Ghazipur and asked employees to give a plan of action for the total razing of all three garbage mounds in Ghazipur, Bhalaswa, and Okhla within the next three days. According to a news statement issued by the LG office in Delhi, he also directed the formation of a dedicated team of officers to establish a plan of action with a timetable for completion. The LG said,
The LG has suggested adopting the reverse engineering model so as to ensure that the deadlines are met and goals achieved. The action plan to be submitted by MCD will be monitored on a regular basis by the LG himself and if required, he would visit the site to see actual progress at regular intervals.”
He’s working on a programme that will include Delhi residents, NGOs, ragpickers, and other civil society organizations in designing the city’s skyline and landscape in order to clear the city of waste piles in various locations throughout the National Capital.
Awards, Honours, Achievements
- In 2008, he received the “International felicitation” from the United Nations Decade of Sustainable Development (UNDESD), UNESCO, UNICEF, UNDP, and the International Association of Educators for World Peace (IAEWP), USA, (UN NGO), and the Social Organisation for Health – Human and Management (SOHAM) for “Outstanding Contribution to Environment Protection and Water Security.”
- In 2007, he received the UN-HABITAT “Dubai International Award” for best practises in improving living conditions in Ahmedabad City through his project Mission ENDURE (ENsuring DUst REduction), which was the first of its kind and size in the country launched by any NGO to reduce dust pollution with public involvement.
- In July 2000, UNESCO asked him to attend a workshop on ‘Wise Coastal Practice for Sustainable Human Development’ in honour of his work on water security in Gujarat’s Coastal Bhal region. The project was successful in resolving the problem of fresh water scarcity in the Bhal region.
- In April 2000, he was chosen as one of four judges for an important Joint Research Project in Yemen titled “Characterization and Environmental Prioritization of the Coastal Region in the State of Yemen” by the “Third World Network of Scientific Organizations” in Italy.