Dayanidhi Maran

Dayanidhi Maran
Dayanidhi Maran
Minister of Communications and Information Technology
In office
22 May 2004 – 16 May 2007
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh
Preceded by Arun Shourie
Succeeded by A. Raja
Member of Parliament
for Chennai Central
In office
June 2004 – May 2014
Preceded by Murasoli Maran
Succeeded by S. R. Vijayakumar
Personal details
Born (1966-12-05) 5 December 1966
Madras, Madras State (now Chennai, Tamil Nadu India)
Political party Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam
Spouse(s) Priya Maran
Children Karan Maran, Divya Maran
Alma mater Loyola College, Chennai
As of 22 September, 2006
Source: [National Informatics Centre archives[1]]

Dayanidhi Murasoli Maran (born 5 December 1966) is an Indian politician and one of the prominent members of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam party. He was elected twice as a Member of Parliament to Lok Sabha from Chennai Central constituency during the 2004 general elections and 2009 general elections.

He is the son of former Union Minister Murasoli Maran and the grandnephew of former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and former DMK president M. Karunanidhi. He is the younger brother of Indian billionaire Kalanidhi Maran, the founder, chairman and managing director of Sun Group. He is married to Priya, and has a daughter and a son. Maran has wide exposure in the fields of media, television, cable technology, political economy and management on account of his visiting seminar and conference in various countries. Maran has interest in playing golf, cricket and tennis.

Early life

Karunanidhi family tree

Dayanidhi is the second son of ex-minister Murasoli Maran, who had been the Commerce and Industrial minister. He is also the grandnephew of DMK president and ex-chief minister of Tamil Nadu M Karunanidhi. He is the younger brother of Kalanidhi Maran, the founder and managing director of Sun Network. He had his schooling with Don Bosco, Egmore, Chennai. He received initial education in Tamil Nadu and graduated in Economics from Loyola College in Chennai. He also attended the "Owner /President Management Programme" (OPM) from Harvard Business School (USA).[2] Dayanidhi is married to Priya and the pair have a daughter named Divya and a son named Karan.

Tenure as a MP and Union minister

Shri Dayanidhi Maran assumes the charge of Union Minister for Communications and Information Technology in New Delhi on May 26, 2004


He contested from Central Chennai Constituency in Tamil Nadu as a DMK party candidate and been elected twice during the 2004 and 2009 elections as member of parliament. During the 2004 elections, his winning margin was over 134,000 votes and he received 62% of the total votes polled.[2] He was appointed as Union Minister for Communications and Information Technology on 26 May 2004. During his tenure as IT and Telecommunication Minister the call rates of mobiles and landlines were drastically reduced which in-turn influenced the growth of subscriptions.[3] During the tenure, he was instrumental in garnering a large amount of Foreign Direct Investments into Communication and Information Technology Sector. Many multinational telecom companies including Nokia, Motorola, Ericsson, Flextronics and Dell set up units in the country. His ministry introduced "One Rupee One India" plan across the country, which enabled calls across the country at a rate of 1 ₹ per minute. His ministry set and achieved a target of 250 million connections in Dec 2007 to December 2010, against 75 million in May 2004.[1][4][5] He resigned from the post following the family feud due to Dinakaran attack case.

Elections contested

Year Constituency Result Vote percentage Opposition Candidate Opposition Party Opposition vote percentage
2004Chennai CentralWon61.68N. BalagangaAIADMK35.52[6]
2009Chennai CentralWon46.82S.M.K. Mohamad Ali JinnahAIADMK41.34[7]
2014Chennai CentralLost36.4S. R. VijayakumarAIADMK42.21[8]

    See also

    Notes

    1. 1 2 "Detailed Profile: Thiru Dayanidhi Maran". National Informatics Centre. 2005. Retrieved 10 November 2013.
    2. 1 2 "Dayanidhi Maran profile". National Informatics Centre. 13 May 2007. Archived from the original on 25 July 2013. Retrieved 10 November 2013.
    3. ↑ "Why India Inc loves Dayanidhi?". Ibn Live. 13 May 2007. Retrieved 10 November 2013.
    4. ↑ Hiscock 2007, p. 78
    5. ↑ Vaasanthi, pp. 265–6
    6. ↑ "Statistical report on General elections, 2004 to the 14th Lok Sabha" (PDF). Election Commission of India. p. 281. Retrieved 10 November 2013.
    7. ↑ "Statistical report on General elections, 2009 to the 14th Lok Sabha" (PDF). Election Commission of India. p. 124. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 August 2014. Retrieved 10 November 2013.
    8. ↑ "Statistical report on General elections, 2014 to the 16th Lok Sabha". Election Commission of India. 2014. Archived from the original on 29 May 2014. Retrieved 31 May 2014.

    References

    • Outlook (15 Oct 2008), Outlook, volume XLVIII, No. 28, Delhi: Outlook
    • Outlook (22 Dec 2008), Outlook, volume XLVIII, No. 51, Delhi: Outlook
    • Hiscock, Geoff (2007). India's Global Wealth Club: The Stunning Rise of Its Billionaires and Their Secrets of Success. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 9780470822388.
    • Vaasanthi (2008). Cut-outs, Caste and Cines Stars. Penguin Books India. ISBN 9780143063124.
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