G. N. Ratanpuri: Difference between revisions

He was born on 5 March 1954 in [[Ratnipora]] of [[Pulwama district|Pulwama District]], [[Jammu and Kashmir (state)|Jammu and Kashmir]]. Ratanpuri belongs to the [[Wani_(surname)|Wani]] caste. He received his early schooling from a local school and then graduated from the [[University of Kashmir]] in the year 1976. After graduation Ratanpuri joined the Urdu Newspaper [[AFTAAB|Daily Aftaab]] as Assistant Editor and continued to work with the paper till 1979. In year 1979 at a young age he was appointed as the editor of the [[NAWA-E-SUBH|Nawa-e-Subh]] which was published by the then ruling party [[Jammu & Kashmir National Conference]]. Working at the Nawa-e-Subh was instrumental for Ratanpuri in developing acquaintance with then Chief Minister [[Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah]].  He joined [[All India Radio]] at [[Srinagar]] in the year 1981 after being selected by the [[Union Public Service Commission]] as a Programme Officer, but continued to work for Nawa-e-Subh till the death of [[Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah]]. By the year 2000 he had become one of the renowned interviewers in the State of J&K.

Ratanpuri had campaigned for [[Omar Abdullah]] in the [[Lok Sabha]] in 2004. In 2008 [[Omar Abdullah]] asked him to contest elections from his party, [[Jammu & Kashmir National Conference]], to which he agreed. Consequently, he had to seek premature retirement in order to contest the Assembly Elections. In his political debut the result of the election was not in his favour and he lost the election by a huge margin to [[Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party]] candidate [[Mohammad Khalil Bandh]]. Even though unsuccessful in the assembly elections but due to his stature, his then party JKNC in July 2009 nominated him to be the member of [[Rajya Sabha]], to which he was elected in August 2009. As a [[Member of Parliament (India)]] he was the member of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Labour, Parliamentary Forum on Children and the Parliamentary Consultative Committee for HRD Ministry. Before his resignation from  [[Jammu & Kashmir National Conference]] he was the Vice President for the party form South Kashmir.