Karan Singh, Sadr-i-Riyasat of Jammu and Kashmir

Karan Singh (born, 9 March 1931 in Cannes, France) is an Indian politician, philanthropist and poet. He belongs to Dogra dynasty and son of Maharaja Hari Singh. He was a member of India's Upper House of Parliament, the Rajya Sabha representing the National Capital Territory of Delhi. He is a senior member of the Indian National Congress Party who served successively as President (Sadr-i-Riyasat) and Governor of Jammu and Kashmir. Singh is the son of the last ruler of the erstwhile princely state of Jammu and Kashmir, Maharaja Hari Singh. In the 26th amendment to the Constitution of India promulgated in 1971, the Government of India, of which Karan Singh was a Union cabinet minister, abolished all official symbols of princely India, including titles, privileges, and remuneration (privy purses). During the conclusion of the Cold War, he was India's ambassador to the USA. Singh received the Padma Vibhushan in 2005. He was proposed for candidacy in the July 2017 Indian presidential election by Bhim Singh. A man of letters, he has authored over twenty books, including Prophet of Indian Nationalism; Population, Poverty and the Future of India; Humanity at the Crossroads; Essays on Hinduism and India and the World. His recent boook is An Examined Life: Essays and Reflections by Karan Singh; edited by Raghav Verma (HarperCollins, 2019).