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Members of Parliament

Delegation to Japan

3 February – 10 February 2008

List of Members

1) Mr. Omar Abdullah Mission LeaderMember of ParliamentJammu and Kashmir National Conference (J&KNC)

2) Mr. Rahul Gandhi Member of Parliament Indian National Congress (INC)

3) Mrs. Prema Cariappa Member of Parliament Indian National Congress (INC)

4) Mr. Sachin Pilot Member of Parliament Indian National Congress (INC)

5) Mr. Madhu Goud Yaskhi Member of Parliament Indian National Congress (INC)

6) Mr. Vikram Badshah Coordinator Head – Public Policy Confederation of Indian Industry

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Omar Abdullah Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha: Srinagar -Jammu and Kashmir) Party: Jammu and Kashmir National Conference

Mr. Omar Abdullah, who is the President of the Jammu andKashmir National Conference Party, is in his 3rd term as a Member of Parliament,in the Lok Sabha. In his previous tenures, he has served as Member of theParliamentary Standing Committees on Transport and Tourism, Finance and theConsultative Committees of the Ministry of Tourism and the Ministry of ExternalAffairs.

He has the distinction of having been the Minister of State for Commerce andIndustry, and later External Affairs, in the erstwhile National Democratic AllianceGovernment.

As a current Member of Parliament, he serves on the Committee for SubordinateLegislation and the Consultative Committee of the Ministry of Home Affairs.

Born on 10th March 1970, Mr. Omar Abdullah, who belongs to an illustriouspolitical family of Jammu and Kashmir, had his early education at the LawrenceSchool, Sanawar and subsequently graduated, in Commerce, from SydenhamCollege, Mumbai University.

Some of the significant Indian Delegations that Mr. Omar Abdullah has led in thepast are:

• UN ESCAP conference in Bangkok, Thailand in 2000.• Mercosur World Economic Forum Summit in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil in

2000.• UN World Conference on Racism held in Durban, South Africa in 2001.

In the year 2001, he was nominated as a Global Leader for Tomorrow by theWorld Economic Forum, and in the year 2007, he was nominated as a YoungGlobal Leader, also by the World Economic Forum.

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Rahul Gandhi Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha: Amethi- Uttar Pradesh) Party: Indian National Congress

Since 2004, Rahul Gandhi has been the Member of Parliament representingAmethi in Uttar Pradesh in the Lok Sabha, India’s Lower House of Parliament.He is a General Secretary of the Indian National Congress.

Rahul was born on June 19, 1970 to Rajiv and Sonia Gandhi. He has attended St.Stephen’s College, Delhi, Harvard College and Rollins College, Florida fromwhere he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts. He went on to receive an M. Phil. inDevelopment Economics from Trinity College, Cambridge University. Thereafter,he joined the Monitor Group, a leading global strategy consulting group, inLondon, where he worked for three years. He has also founded a full –serviceback office engineering design firm.

From 2004 to 2006, Rahul was a member of the Parliamentary StandingCommittee on Home Affairs. Currently, he serves on the Parliamentary StandingCommittee on Human Resource Development and the ParliamentaryConsultative Committee on Civil Aviation.

Rahul has an interest in rural development including education, healthcare andlivelihoods. In his constituency, he has championed the development of a massliteracy program, among the largest primary healthcare networks in UttarPradesh, the largest eye hospital in the state and a self-help group movement.He also serves as a trustee of the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation.

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Prema Cariappa Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha : Karnataka) Party: Indian National Congress

Mrs. Prema Cariappa is a Political and Social Worker by profession.

She is a Bachelor of Arts and hails from Karnataka.

She has held various offices in the Government of Karnataka apart from being the Mayor

of Bangalore in 2000-2001.

Currently she is a Member of the Rajya Sabha. She is also Member, Parliamentary

Forum on Children; Member, Committee on External Affairs Member; Committee on

Empowerment of Women; Member, Committee on Government Assurances; Member,

Coffee Board; Member, Consultative Committee for the Ministry of Urban Development

and Member, Silk Board. In 2005, she was elected Secretary of Congress Parliamentary

Party.

Born on 15th August, 1951, she is greatly involved in the welfare and upliftment of poor

families, widows and destitutes; development of Karnataka State, urban cities and rural

villages, improvement of water supply, sanitation, maintenance of greenery and overall

development of villages.

She has been, President and Advisor for Mahila Samajams and Sports Organizations;

President, Karnataka State Harijan Sevak Sanghi; Deputy Chief Whip of Congress Party

in Rajya Sabha; She has participated in : (i) World Conference for Human Security and

Gender discrimination, held at Bangkok, Thailand, in 2002, (ii) Special Session on

Children, held at New York, U.S.A. in 2002, (iii) World Conference on ‘Making the World

a Better Place’ organised by Brahmakumaris at Mount Abu, Rajasthan (iv) South East

Asia Seminar on HIV/AIDS held in Dhaka, Bangladesh in 2005, (v) Inter- Parliamentary

Union (IPU) Conference on “Beyond Beijing 95 : Towards Gender Equality in Politics”,

as a National delegate at the UN Headquarters, in New York in 2005; attended the

World Mayoral Conference in Berlin, Germany in 1995; visited China at the invitation of

Indo- China Friendship Society, to strengthen the mutual understanding between the

people of the two countries. She has amongst other Conferences/ Fora, represented

India as a woman Parliamentarian, at the International Seminar on “The Maternal and

Newborn Health and Survival”, in London (UK) ,in 2007.

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Sachin Pilot Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha: Dausa – Rajasthan) Party: Indian National Congress

Mr. Sachin Pilot was elected to the 14th Lok Sabha, in 2004,from Rajasthan. Born on 7th September, 1977 , he is one of

the youngest Members of Parliament in the country. He is also a Member of theParliament's Standing Committee on Home Affairs, Member of the ConsultativeCommittee in the Ministry of Civil Aviation and Member of the Budget EstimatesCommittee of Parliament.

Mr. Pilot, completed his Bachelor of Arts degree from St Stephens' College, Delhi.He also did an internship with the B.B.C (news and current affairs) at the Delhibureau. He holds an MBA Degree from the Wharton Business School, Universityof Pennsylvania, USA, specializing in multinational management and finance.

Mr Pilot has worked for General Motors Corporation, an American MultinationalCompany in India, in the marketing and planning departments.

On returning to India after his MBA, he was inducted into the Congress Party onthe 10th February 2002, which is the birthday of the Late Kisan Leader ShriRajesh Pilot-his father. He has been actively working towards uplifting of thedowntrodden, the farmers and the landless labourers. He has been travelingextensively, especially in the remote and interior areas of Rajasthan to spreadthe message of communal harmony, social justice and empowerment to thefarming community. He is also trying to inculcate a sense of social and politicalresponsibility amongst the youth that live in the rural and the semi-urban areas ofthe country.

Mr. Pilot is also helping in the running of a charitable trust called the “Jai JawanJai Kisan Trust”. The trust provides monthly pensions to the physically andmentally challenged people, war widows, orphans etc. His special interestsinclude Current Affairs, International Trade and Economics, Agriculture and RuralDevelopment.

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Madhu Goud Yaskhi Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha: Nizamabad- Andhra Pradesh) Party: Indian National Congress

Mr. Yaskhi is a lawyer by profession. He was elected to the 14th Lok Sabha in2004, and is currently serving as a Member of the following ParliamentaryCommittees: Standing Committee on External & NRI Affairs; Standing Committeeon Subordinate Legislation; Standing Committee on Estimates; ConsultativeCommittee on Civil Aviation and Consultative Committee on Defence, as aPermanent Invitee. He is also Member of the Indian Council for World Affairs;the Bureau of Indian Standards(ISI), the Indo – US Parliamentary Forum and theZonal Railway Users Consultative Committee (ZRUCC).

Born on 15th October, 1958, Mr. Yaskhi is a keen Social and Cultural Activist.

He founded “ Madhu Yaskhi Foundation” in 2003; donates 25% of personalincome to the Foundation; providing financial help to distressed farmers’ familiesand educating their children upto 12th Standard; providing health care facilitiesand education in rural areas; helps and provides legal assistance to the artistswho perform in the U.S.; provides free legal services to the needy and other USorganisations.

His special interests involve working towards upliftment of the rural poor; fightingfor the cause of social justice; primary health care and education; providingmedicines to lakhs of beedi workers, especially women who suffer from TB andAsthama.

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Vikram Badshah Head – Public Policy Confederation of Indian Industry

Mr Vikram Badshah is Head – Public Policy in theConfederation of Indian Industry.

He is a professional, with over 38 years of Management Experience and is analumni of the Mayo College - Ajmer and St. Stephen’s College - Delhi University.He has also attended the Senior Management Programme at the Indian Instituteof Management, Ahmedabad.

He has varied experience in Marketing, Administration, as well as CorporateAffairs and during his career he has served in the Pneumatic Equipment, Tyre,Instrumentation, Construction, Pharmaceutical, Tourism and Aviation Sectors.

Mr Vikram Badshah, has for the last 25 years, worked in the area of CorporateAffairs and Public Policy. Prior to joining CII as a Senior Consultant in 2003, hewas Director, Corporate Affairs with Indian Airlines Ltd at its Headquarters, inNew Delhi. He has also been the Regional Director, responsible for theoperations of the National Airlines in the Eastern Region, functioning fromKolkata.