Kapil Sibal is a prominent politician in India and currently the Minister for Ministry of Science and Technology and Ministry of Earth Sciences in the Government of India. He was born in Jalandhar, Punjab on 8 August, 1948 and obtained his M.A. in History from St. Stephen's College, University of Delhi, Delhi and LL.M. from Harvard Law School, USA. Kapil Sibal obtained a Master's in Law from Harvard Law School in 1977. In his time at Harvard Law School, he demonstrated himself to be a good scholar, the ultimate "reasonable man" in discussions, and a more than passable chef. He was offered appointment to the Indian Administrative Service, but declined the offer.[1] He joined the Bar association in 1972. He was designated as a Senior Advocate in 1983. He has been the Additional Solicitor General of India between 1989 and 1990. In August, 2008 an Anthology of Kapil Sibal's poems titled "i witness" was published by Roli Books, New Delhi. He has also contributed several articles on various prominent issues such as security, nuclear proliferation, terrorism etc., in national dailies and periodicals. He won a landslide victory in the constituency of Chandni Chowk for the Indian National Congress against popular TV star Smriti Zubin Irani of the Bharatiya Janata Party. Kapil Sibal has held several important positions in the Government of India and the Society, such as : Additional Solicitor General of India (December 1989-1990) ; Member, Board of Management, Indira Gandhi National Open University (1993) ; President, Supreme Court Bar Association (1995-96, 1997-98 and 2001-2002) ; Member, Rajya Sabha (July 1998) ; Member, Executive Council, Institute of Constitutional and Parliamentary Studies (July, 2001) ; Member, Business Advisory Committee (August, 2001) ; Member, Committee on Home Affairs (January, 2002) ; Co-chairman, Indo-US Parliamentary Forum (2002) ; Member, Board of International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (2002) ; Member, Programme Board of the Bill Melinda Gates Foundation's Indian AIDS initiative (2003) ; Member, Working Group on Arbitrary Detention set up by the Human Rights Commission, Geneva. Kapil Sibal has visited several countries such as the USA, Canada, Switzerland, China, Bhutan, Vietnam, South Africa, Nigeria, Senegal and several South East Asian Countries, throughout Europe and North Africa. Kapil Sibal was the first Indian Minister to have traveled to the icy continent of Antarctica and stayed at the Maitri base in sub-zero temperatures, for getting a first hand experience about the hardships being faced by the Indian scientists. Kapil Sibal announced an upgrading of India's scientific facilities at the Maitri, besides augmenting the fleet strength of the piston bully vehicles required to travel on ice. Kapil Sibal visited laboratories near Maitri, besides carrying out a final assessment on India's proposed third permanent base. Kapil Sibal led the first Indian expedition to the Arctic and was responsible for setting up an Indian Research Station ‘Himadri’ there in July, 2008. He represented India in the Annual Meetings of the World Economic Forum in 2005 and 2009 held at Davos, Switzerland. He led the Indian delegation to the Annapolis Conference, USA, held to gather International support for establishment of a Palestinian State and the realization of Israeli–Palestinian Peace during November 2007. He led the Indian delegation to the United Nation Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) at Bali in December 2007.
