Manish Sisodia

Manish Sisodia (born 5 January 1972) is an Indian politician, journalist and former social activist who served as the first Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi from 2015 to 2023.

He is currently imprisoned over allegations of corruption.

Later, he commenced his career as a journalist after completing a diploma in journalism, awarded by Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan in 1993.

Manish Sisodia also worked as radio jockey in FM radio station during his early career.

He used to host several programs like "Zero Hour" for All India Radio in 1996 and then worked for Zee News as a reporter, news producer and news reader between 1997 and 2005.

Sisodia's association with the Chief Minister of Delhi and AAP's founding chief Arvind Kejriwal goes back to their time together as leaders of the non-profit Parivartan, founded by the latter to take up cases of citizens who struggled to engage with the government.

After formally quitting journalism, Sisodia along with Kejriwal founded Kabir, a non-profit that organised public hearings with government officials and people.

He was one of the key members of the group that drafted the Right to Information Act.

Subsequently, Sisodia became a key participant in the Anna Hazare led India Against Corruption movement of 2011 that sought a Jan Lokpal bill.

He was involved in drafting the first version of that proposed legislation and was jailed for his involvement in protests.

Sisodia was one of the key founding members of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).

He became a member of its Political Affairs Committee.

Sisodia was a cabinet minister in the Government of Delhi between December 2013 and February 2014 and continued to hold several cabinet positions after becoming the Deputy Chief Minister, including the portfolio of Education Minister through which he credited for reforming and overhauling the public education sector in Delhi.

He resigned from the post of Deputy Chief Minister and all cabinet positions following his arrest by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), on corruption charges in a major liquor scam.

There are counter-allegations against the Central Government and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party of misusing investigative agencies such as the CBI and ED to target their political opposition none of which have been proved, and Sisodia is one of several politicians with cases against them.

The supreme court however, held that the transfer of money of 338 crores is tentatively established and denied bail to Manish Sisodia.

Manish Sisodia was born in a Hindu Rajput family of Phagauta village in Hapur district of Uttar Pradesh.

Born to a father who was a public school teacher, he was enrolled into the government school in his village.

He was elected as a Member of the Legislative Assembly in the December 2013 Delhi Assembly election, when he defeated Nakul Bhardwaj, a Bharatiya Janata Party candidate, by 11,476 votes in the Patparganj constituency of East Delhi.

He represents the Patparganj constituency in Delhi Legislative Assembly since 2015 and had also represented the constituency from 2013 to 2014.

He has been in custody since February 2023 on corruption charges in a major Delhi liquor scam.

He is one of the founding members of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and a member of its National Executive Committee.

In the February 2015 Delhi Assembly election, which resulted in a landslide victory for AAP, he was again elected from Patparganj, defeating Vinod Kumar Binny of the Bharatiya Janata Party by over 28,761 votes.

One of the first decisions he took as Delhi's Finance Minister in 2015 was to double the funding for the public education program.

Every year since then, the Delhi government has allocated a quarter of its total budget to education, making it the highest proportion in the country.

One of the most visible hallmarks of these reforms is the reconstructed building infrastructure: modern classrooms equipped with tech-based teaching aids, and also football fields, field hockey turfs, auditoriums and science laboratories.

Delhi also has parent-led School Management Committees (School Boards), creating accountability structures within the communities that the school serves.

Delhi government has successfully conducted several mega PTMs (Parent Teacher Meetings) which provided a space for the teachers and parents to engage in meaningful conversations for the betterment of students.

Under Sisodia's leadership, many interventions have happened inside the classrooms.

Advanced teacher training modules that encourage educators to focus on learning outcomes have significantly bridged the learning deficit.

The government has launched a statewide program, Mission Buniyaad, to improve the foundational learning outcomes of the students.

Sisodia has experimented with new age curricula viz Happiness Curriculum and Entrepreneurship Mindset Curriculum and Deshbhakti Curriculum which instill values and skills in the students and prepare them to live a happy, meaningful and productive life.

The curricula is being implemented in all government and some private schools of Delhi to inculcate the right mindset among students by making them emotionally and professionally sound while becoming responsible citizens.

As a result of Sisodia's efforts, Delhi's education system has seen many positive changes.

Since 2016, Delhi government schools have performed better than the private schools in 12th board examinations.

There was a 20 per cent increase in the number of students between class three and five who can solve arithmetic division problems because of the effective implementation of Mission Buniyaad.

In 2020 Delhi Legislative Assembly election, he again defeated Ravinder Singh Negi, a BJP candidate by over 3000 votes.

He was a cabinet minister in all the three Kejriwal ministries and held the charge of below listed departments of the Government of Delhi during the Third Kejriwal Ministry-

He resigned from the cabinet on 28 February 2023, after being arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation for the Delhi liquor policy scam.

When the AAP came to power in Delhi, Sisodia decided to bring in radical reforms to the ailing public education system.