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Arvind Kejriwal: Biggest youth icon in 21st century in India

Arvind Kejriwal was born in 16th June, 1968 in a middle-class family in the Hisar district of Haryana. His father, Gobind Ram Kejriwal, is a retired electrical engineer. A quiet child, Kejriwal did his schooling from Sonipat, where he displayed a natural aptitude for mathematics and scored high marks. He spent most of his childhood surrounded by books. Whenever guests came to the his house of one-bedroom apartment, He avoid them and studied in the bathroom.

After schooling in 1985, Arvind decided he wanted to study at one of the prestigious engineering institute Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT). His father Gobind Ram Kejriwal advised him to apply to other state engineering colleges as a backup, and enrolled him at Kurukshetra University, Haryana. But Kejriwal refused to even consider it. He skipped the Kurukshetra entrance exam altogether. He has decided that he will go to IIT only.

He qualified for admission to IIT Kharagpur and started his career in Mechanical engineering. He finished his engineering degree in 1989. After engineering, he was hired as an assistant engineer (design) at Tata Steel in Jamshedpur. Kejriwal quit his job with Tata Steel in 1992 and spent some time working with Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity in Kolkata, the Ramakrishna Mission in the North-East India and Nehru Yuva Kendra. Then, He returned to Delhi and prepared for the Civil
Services Examination.

Kejriwal didn’t qualify for an Indian Administrative Service rank, but he scored enough to enter the Indian Revenue Service (IRS). At the training course in Mussoorie, he met his future wife, Sunita, and after passing out, they both joined the Income Tax (IT) Department in Delhi as assistant commissioners. During his job in bureaucracy Kejriwal always refused to use peons. he cleaned his own desk and emptied his own dustbin. He avoided office parties and other social gatherings,
preferring to sit at a nearby tea stall. He has worked for Indian government for more than one decade and resigned from the service in 2006.

While he was an Additional Commissioner of Income Tax in Delhi, Kejriwal quietly started Parivartan, an organization that has never been officially registered. It is run by a few young volunteers who have helped thousands of citizens get everyday benefits—like a ration card or an electricity connection—without paying bribes to government officials. Parivartan [which means change] is also spearheading research into the right to information (RTI) and governance issues.

Arvind Kejriwal with Anna Hazare

Kejriwal is among the top contributors in the two mass movements of the 21st century in India.

Arvind Kejriwal sleeping on Newspaper in New Delhi Railway Station

He has extensively worked in the Right To Information(RTI) and currently among the core team of Indian Against Corruption(IAC) led by Gandhian Anna Hazare.

His simplicity, dedication towards India and finally the top contributors in the two mass movements makes him one of biggest youth icon in 21st century in India.