Saifuddin Soz


Saifuddin Soz is an Indian professor and a long-time Member of the Parliament of India. Soz hails from the Indian Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
He had been India's Minister of Water Resources in India's 14th Lok Sabha and Minister of Environment and Forests in the 1990s.
In January 2006, he was nominated to the Congress Working Committee, the executive committee of the Indian National Congress.

Early life

Soz was born in Sopore, a township in the northern Kashmir Valley. He worked his way to completing a master's degree in economics from the University of Kashmir, where he later held the position of registrar.
From there, Soz moved to the Jammu and Kashmir State Board of School Education, a government department responsible for administration of schools. Soz sought voluntary retirement from government service to enter politics in 1983. At that time, he was Secretary of the BOSE.

Career

In 1983, Lok Sabha election, Soz contested and won the Baramulla seat as a candidate of the ruling Jammu and Kashmir National Conference party.
At the time, the JKNC was headed by Farooq Abdullah. Soz went on to win three more Lok Sabha elections as a member of the JKNC. He also represented the JKNC and the state of Jammu and Kashmir in the Rajya Sabha in the mid-'90s.
In 1997-98, he became India's Minister of Environment and Forests in the cabinet of Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral. During 1998-99, Soz served in the same capacity under Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda. At the time, the JKNC was part of the United Front government ruling India.
In 1999, Soz was expelled from the JKNC for voting against the government of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee. Soz was a JKNC member of parliament and defied his party's leadership. His vote brought the BJP government down which led the then Prime Minister to tender his resignation.
In 2003, Soz joined the Congress party and was elected to the Rajya Sabha. In January 2006, he was inducted into the ministry of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as Minister of Water Resources, a position he held until early 2009. Soz was appointed President of the Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee in February 2008.
He was also one of the front runners for the post of Vice-President of India in the 2007 Vice-Presidential election.

Personal life

Soz is married to Mumtazunnisa. He has two sons and one daughter. His son Salman Anees Soz is Deputy Chairman, All India Professionals Congress, Indian National Congress.