Dr. Syed Nasir Hussain, MP (RS) Biography
Political activist from his student days, Dr. Syed Nasir Hussain believes in progressive, plural and liberal values. He is a strong advocate of democratization of polity and society.
A professional social scientist, Dr. Hussain was born in 1970 to working middle class parents, Shri Syed Hafeez and Smt. Akhtarunnisa, residents of Ballari. He is the third child and has three sisters and one brother.
Dr. Hussain completed his primary and high school in Ballari from St. Joseph’s and St. John’s High School. He did pre-university from Vijay Nagar College, Hospet and then went to Mysuru to pursue Bachelor’s in Arts from St. Philomena’s College. He completed his Master’s in Political Science with distinction and rank from the University of Mysore. Briefly, Dr. Hussain also taught Political Science at Government College in Devdurga, Raichur District. His penchant for higher studies took him to Delhi where he joined the prestigious M.Phil-PhD Program at the School of International Studies in Jawaharlal Nehru University. He was awarded a Doctorate in the year 2003 for his thesis “Geo-Political Significance of Central Asian Republics- an Indian Perspective”.
Dr. Syed Nasir Hussain demonstrated leadership qualities right from his early student days. His passion coupled with organizational skills brought him to the forefront of student politics. He has the distinction of being elected and representing the student bodies for eight times in various institutions. He was elected Class Representative twice and later the President of St. Philomena’s College Students Union, Mysore. He also held two terms as General Secretary of the Mysore City Students Action Committee. Continuing his passion for student activism and inherent leadership skills, Dr.Hussain became the only Kannadiga till date to get consecutively elected as the Secretary, Vice President and the President of the revered Jawaharlal Nehru University students Union,New Delhi.
Dr. Nasir Hussain’s political activism and his views on various political issues catapulted him on to the national scene of the youth movement of India very soon. He was appointed the first Chief Election Authority and later the National Secretary of Indian Youth Congress from 2001-2003. During UPA’s two terms from 2004 -2014, Dr. Hussain served as the Vice Chairman of the advisory committeesof two important labor boards in the Government of India which included Child Labor board and Tobacco Labors welfare board and a member of Cine Worker’s Welfare fund. He was also appointed as the Chairman of two sub committees in the Ministry of Labor, Government of India.Hiscommittees actively recommended revisions of the various existing schemes and laws to improve the standard of living of the labor in the country.
An activist wedded to the ideals of Indian National Congress,Dr. Hussain has been closely working with the party leadership on various critical political issues of national and regional importance. He has been called upon by the party for advise and resolution of issues including youth, students and disaster resilience time and again. He is often assigned important tasks by the AICC including running the election control rooms for several state elections like Delhi, Maharashtra, Telangana and General Elections of 2014 and 2019. Since All India Congress Committee appointed Dr. Hussain as the National Media Panelist in 2014 and Spokesperson in 2018, he has participated in more than 1200 debates on various English, Hindi, Urdu and Kannada TV channels. He has been active in vernacular and English print media as well.
Dr. Hussain travels extensively across the country and regularly visits the districtsof Karnataka in general and Hyderabad-Karnataka region in particular. He strives tirelessly to connect to the roots of the country and helps raise the issues of the rural masses including that of students, farmers and deprived sections of the society and bring them to the forefront of the mainstream political debates. An active face in party activities in Karnataka State, Dr. Hussain is a member of KPCC. He was also part of the 2018 Election Manifesto Committee.
Dr. Syed Nasir Hussain was elected to the Rajya Sabha on 23rd March 2018 from Karnataka.He was nominated to the Parliament’s standing committee on water resources and the consultative committee of Ministry of Minority Affairs. Laterhe became a member of the standing committee on Information Technology and of Computer Distribution committee of the Parliament. Dr. Hussain is also the member of the Karnataka Wakf Board and Hajj Committee.
Academically, Dr Hussain is a very keen observer of geo-politics, globalization, foreign policy, progressive development, social justice, and contemporary politics. He is a strong critic of fundamentalism and communal politics. Dr. Hussain’s hobbies include cricket, books, theatre and films.
Dr. Hussain is married to Mehnaz Ansari, the South Asia Head of US Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) and are proud parents to two sons, Syed Hashir Hussain and Syed Tahir Hussain.
Dr. Syed Nasir Hussain has extensively travelled in almost entire India and also visited USA,UAE, Singapore and Malaysia.