Balbir Singh Seechewal - Misplaced Pages

Indian environmentalist (born 1962)

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Balbir Singh Seechewal


Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha
Incumbent
Assumed office 4 July 2022
Preceded by	Balwinder Singh Bhunder
Constituency	Punjab, India

Personal details
Born	(1962-02-02) 2 February 1962 (age 62) Seechewal, Jalandhar district, Punjab, India
Political party	Aam Aadmi Party
Occupation	River conservationist

Balbir Singh Seechewal (born 2 February 1962) is a Nirmala Sikh who spearheaded an anti-river pollution campaign in Punjab, India. By combining his assiduously cultivated self-help philosophy with the environmental essence of the Gurbani, he has resurrected the 110-mile long (180 km) long Kali Bein rivulet. He received Indian civilian award Padmashri in 2017. He is also known as Eco Baba.

In his latest project in early 2009, taking up the cudgels to save Buddha Nullah, Seechewal has initiated a campaign for generating awareness amongst different sections of the society to solve the problem of desilting the water body following the failure of the Punjab Pollution Control Board's (PPCB) and industries in complying with the High Court's orders in this regard.

He cleaned and restored Kali Bein river, a 160 km long tributary of Beas in Doaba region of Punjab. Seechewal says that when he started the water-cleaning project of Kali Bein in 2007, it was a challenging task. But, as people became aware of its importance, they joined in cleaning the rivulet, which had become a dried-up drain and had been reduced to a garbage dump with its historic and religious significance long forgotten.

He is a Rajya Sabha member from Punjab. Aam Aadmi Party has selected him for his contributions on environment.

Life

He was born in a Sikh, agricultural family in Seechewal in Jalandhar district in Punjab, India to Chanan Singh and Chanan Kaur. He studied at DAV College, Nakodar. He put on saffron robes in 1981 after dropping out of college.

He was twice a sarpanch of Seechewal.

Awards and honors

Balbir Singh Seechewal (left) receiving Padma Shri award from the President of India Pranab Mukherjee (right) on 30 March 2017.

Hero of Environment by Time magazine

References

Singh, Madhur (24 September 2008). "Balbir Singh Seechewal – Heroes of the Environment 2008". Time. Retrieved 8 April 2017.
"Punjab's green crusader: Punjab's green crusader Balbir Singh Seechewal gets Padma Shri | Chandigarh News". The Times of India. 26 January 2017. Retrieved 8 April 2017.
Poulomi Das (11 April 2016). "Meet Sant Balbir Singh Seechewal, the baba who single-handedly cleaned a 160-km long river in Punjab | Business Insider India". Businessinsider.in. Retrieved 8 April 2017.
"Seechewal model for clean Ganga". Tribuneindia.com. 31 January 2016. Retrieved 8 April 2017.
"Balbir Singh Seechewal, Vikramjit Singh Sahney are AAP nominees for Rajya Sabha polls". Tribuneindia News Service. Retrieved 28 May 2022.
"Balbir Singh Seechewal, Vikramjit Singh Sahney to be AAP candidates for Rajya Sabha from Punjab". 28 May 2022. Archived from the original on 31 May 2022. Retrieved 31 May 2022.
"Environmentalist Baba Seechewal gets Padma Shri". The Indian Express. 26 January 2017. Retrieved 8 April 2017.
"'Eco Baba' Seechewal wins Padma Shri". Hindustan Times. 28 January 2017. Retrieved 8 April 2017.

External links

Heroes of the Environment 2008
Nirmal Kuteya Ek Onkar Charitable Trust set up by Seechwal

Rajya Sabha
Preceded byList	Member of Parliament in Rajya Sabha for Punjab 2022 –	Incumbent

Rajya Sabha Members from Punjab

AAP (5)	Ashok Kumar Mittal Harbhajan Singh Raghav Chadha Sandeep Pathak Sanjeev Arora
Congress (1)	Ambika Soni
SAD (1)	Balwinder Singh Bhunder

v t e Rajya Sabha
Presiding officers and parliamentary functionaries	Chairperson List Deputy Chairperson Pro tem Chairperson Panel of Chairperons Leader of the House Leader of the Opposition Chairmen of Parliamentary Committees Whips Secretariat Secretary General Sansad TV
Members	Alphabetical List Nominated Members Current Members Aam Aadmi Party Bharatiya Janata Party
Members by State or Union Territory	Andhra Pradesh Arunachal Pradesh Assam Bihar Chhattisgarh Delhi Goa Gujarat Haryana Himachal Pradesh Jammu and Kashmir Jharkhand Karnataka Kerala Madhya Pradesh Maharashtra Manipur Meghalaya Mizoram Nagaland Odisha Puducherry Punjab Rajasthan Sikkim Tamil Nadu Telangana Tripura Uttar Pradesh Uttarakhand West Bengal
Elections	1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026

v t e Aam Aadmi Party
National posts	Convener: Arvind Kejriwal Secretary: Pankaj Gupta Treasurer: Narain Dass Gupta Joint General Secretary: Ishudan Gadhvi
Political Affairs Committee	Arvind Kejriwal Manish Sisodia Sanjay Singh Gopal Rai Atishi Marlena Durgesh Pathak Imran Hussain Raghav Chadha Rakhi Bidlan
National Executive Committee	Arvind Kejriwal Manish Sisodia Bhagwant Mann Sanjay Singh Raghav Chadha Narain Dass Gupta Sushil Gupta Ishudan Gadhvi Gopal Rai Satyendra Kumar Jain Imran Hussain Rajendra Pal Gautam Rakhi Birla Harpal Singh Cheema Atishi Marlena Singh Dilip Pandey Dinesh Mohaniya Aman Arora Saravjit Kaur Manuke Prof. Baljinder Kaur Venzy Viegas Preeti Sharma Menon and others
Spokespersons	Saurabh Bhardwaj (Chief Spokesperson) Sanjay Singh Pankaj Gupta Dilip Pandey Bhagwant Mann Preeti Sharma Menon Prithvi Reddy Nishikant Mohapatra Raghav Chadha Anjali Rai
State wings	Delhi Gujarat Goa Himachal Pradesh Haryana Jammu and Kashmir Madhya Pradesh Punjab Uttarakhand Uttar Pradesh
Chief ministers	Delhi: Arvind Kejriwal (2013-14) (2015-24) Atishi Marlena (2024-present) Punjab: Bhagwant Mann (2022-present)
Current members of Parliament	Rajya Sabha
Political wings	Chhatra Yuva Sangharsh Samiti

v t e Recipients of Padma Shri in Social Work
1950s	Mary Clubwala Jadhav (1955) R. S. Subbalakshmi (1958) Sailabala Das (1959) Lakshman Singh Jangpangi (1959)
1960s	Nanabhai Bhatt (1960) Bina Das (1960) Sophia Wadia (1960) Kamalabai Hospet (1961) Mithuben Petit (1961) N. Ramaswami Ayyar (1962) Mother Teresa (1962) Brij Krishna Chandiwala (1963) Leela Sumant Moolgaokar (1963) Leela Sumant Moolgaokar (1963) Ambujammal (1964) Mona Chandravati Gupta (1965) Lakshmi Mazumdar (1965) Gordhandas Bhagwandas Narottamdas (1965) John Richardson (1965) Manibhai Desai (1968) Bhaurao Gaikwad (1968) Shalini Moghe (1968) Sis Ram Ola (1968) Kalyan Singh Gupta (1969) Mangru Ganu Uikey (1969)
1970s	Indumati Chimanlal Sheth (1970) Maniben Kara (1970) Baba Amte (1971) Robin Banerjee (1971) Lila Ramkumar Bhargava (1971) Savita Behen (1971) Pandurang Dharmaji Jadhav (1971) Yudhvir Singh (1971) Avabai Bomanji Wadia (1971) Badri Prasad Bajoria (1972) Kanta Saroop Krishen (1972) Iyyanki Venkata Ramanayya (1972) Chandraprabha Saikiani (1972) Sarojini Varadappan (1973) Queenie H. C. Captain (1974) L. Kijungluba Ao (1976) Bishambhar Nath Pande (1976) Ismail Ahmed Cachalia (1977) Dhani Prem (1977)
1980s	Kunwar Singh Negi (1981) Bhagat Puran Singh (1981) Claire Vellut (1981) Swami Kalyandev (1982) Shiv Dutt Upadhyaya (1982) M. P. Nachimuthu (1983) Omem Moyong Deori (1984) Zainulabedin Gulamhusain Rangoonwala (1984) Ela Bhatt (1985) Ratnappa Kumbhar (1985) Anutai Wagh (1985) Chandi Prasad Bhatt (1986) Mahasweta Devi (1986) Krishan Dev Dewan (1986) Tushar Kanjilal (1986) Avdhash Kaushal (1986) Narayan Singh Manaklao (1986) Bunker Roy (1986) Begum Zaffar Ali (1987) Jaya Arunachalam (1987) Darshan Singh Vohra (1988) Mithu Alur (1989) Vedaratnam Appakutti (1989) Rajmohini Devi (1989) Krishnammal Jagannathan (1989) Mag Raj Jain (1989) Edward Kutchat (1989)
1990s	Anna Hazare (1990) Renana Jhabvala (1990) Silverine Swer (1990) Silverine Swer (1991) Vimla Dang (1991) T. G. K. Menon (1991) Jagdish Kashibhai Patel (1991) D. Y. Patil (1991) Sundaram Ramakrishnan (1991) Kantilal Hastimal Sancheti (1991) Shanthi Ranganathan (1992) Vidyaben Shah (1992) Leonarda Angela Casiraghi (1998) Antony Padiyara (1998) Shantha Sinha (1998) Kanta Tyagi (1998) Acharya Ramamurti (1999) T. Sailo (1999) Natwar Thakkar (1999)
2000s	Neidonuo Angami (2000) Jagan Nath Kaul (2000) Patricia Mukhim (2000) Janaky Athi Nahappan (2000) Hanumappa Sudarshan (2000) Rabindra Nath Upadhyay (2000) Tulasi Munda (2001) Norma Alvares (2002) Prakash Amte (2002) Kiran Martin (2002) Prema Narendra Purao (2002) Sivananda Rajaram (2002) Verna Elizabeth Watre Ingty (2003) Queenie Rynjah (2004) Hema Bharali (2005) Nana Chudasama (2005) Lalsawma (2005) Theilin Phanbuh (2005) Gladys Staines (2005) Suwalal Bafna (2006) Anil Prakash Joshi (2006) Sudha Murty (2006) Sudha Varghese (2006) Melhupra Vero (2006) Runa Banerjee (2007) S. M. Cyril (2007) M. A. Yusuff Ali (2008) Sheela Borthakur (2008) Karuna Mary Braganza (2008) V. R. Gowrishankar (2008) Kshama Metre (2008) Kutikuppala Surya Rao (2008) Madan Mohan Sabharwal (2008) Vikramjit Singh Sahney (2008) Bilkees Latif (2009) Keepu Tsering Lepcha (2009) C. K. Menon (2009) Joseph H. Pereira (2009) Sunil Kanti Roy (2009) Mitraniketan Viswanathan (2009)
2010s	Anu Aga (2010) J. R. Gangaramani (2010) Deep Joshi (2010) Sudha Kaul (2010) Ayekpam Tomba Meetei (2010) Kurian John Melamparambil (2010) Sudhir M. Parikh (2010) Kranti Shah (2010) Baba Sewa Singh (2010) Mamraj Agrawal (2011) Jockin Arputham (2011) Nomita Chandy (2011) Martha Chen (2011) Azad Moopen (2011) Sheela Patel (2011) Anita Reddy (2011) Kanubhai Hasmukhbhai Tailor (2011) Shamshad Begum (2012) Reeta Devi (2012) P. K. Gopal (2012) G. Muniratnam (2012) Niranjan Pranshankar Pandya (2012) Uma Tuli (2012) S. P. Varma (2012) Phoolbasan Bai Yadav (2012) Binny Yanga (2012) Jharna Dhara Chowdhury (2013) S. K. M. Maeilanandhan (2013) Nileema Mishra (2013) Reema Nanavati (2013) Manju Bharat Ram (2013) Narendra Dabholkar (2014) Mukul Chandra Goswami (2014) Durga Jain (2014) J. L. Kaul (2014) Mathur Savani (2014) Ashok Bhagat (2015) Janak Palta McGilligan (2015) Meetha Lal Mehta (2015) Veerendra Raj Mehta (2015) Bimla Poddar (2015) Madeleine Herman de Blic (2016) Madhu Pandit Dasa (2016) Ajoy Kumar Dutta (2016) Damal Kandalai Srinivasan (2016) Sunitha Krishnan (2016) Sundar Menon (2016) Arunachalam Muruganantham (2016) P. Gopinathan Nair (2016) Sudharak Olwe (2016) Girish Bharadwaj (2017) Appasaheb Dharmadhikari (2017) Bipin Ganatra (2017) Karimul Haque (2017) Anuradha Koirala (2017) Suhas Vitthal Mapuskar (2017) Daripalli Ramaiah (2017) Balbir Singh Seechewal (2017) Damodar Ganesh Bapat (2018) Sitavva Joddati (2018) Subhasini Mistry (2018) Sulagitti Narasamma (2018) Abdullah Bin Othman (2018) Sampat Ramteke (2018) Draupadi Ghimiray (2019) Bulu Imam (2019) Friederike Irina Bruning (2019) Chinna Pillai (2019) Shabbir Sayyad (2019) Jyoti Kumar Sinha (2019) Saalumarada Thimmakka (2019) Jamuna Tudu (2019) Muktaben Pankajkumar Dagli (2019)
2020s	Jagdish Lal Ahuja (2020) Popatrao Baguji Pawar (2020) Usha Chaumar (2020) Lia Diskin (2020) Sangkhumi Bualchhuak (2020 Tulsi Gowda (2020) Harekala Hajabba (2020) Tetsu Nakamura (2020) S. Ramakrishnan (2020) Sayed Mehboob Shah Qadri (2020) Mohammed Sharif (2020) Ramjee Singh (2020) Agus Indra Udayana (2020) Sundaram Verma (2020) Sindhutai Sapkal (2021) Girish Prabhune (2021) Prabhaben Shah (2022) Savaji Bhai Dholakia (2022) Gamit Ramilaben Raysingbhai (2022) Om Prakash Gandhi (2022) K V Rabiya (2022) Srimad Baba Balia (2022) Prem Singh (2022) Baba Iqbal Singh Ji (2022) S Damodaran (2022) Basanti Devi (2022) Bhiku Ramji Idate (2023) Bikram Bahadur Jamatia (2023) Ramkuiwangbe Jeme Newme (2023) Hirabai Lobi (2023) Moolchand Lodha (2023) Gajanan Jagannath Mane (2023) Uma Shankar Pandey (2023) V. P. Appukutta Poduval (2023) Vadivel Gopal and Masi Sadaiyan (2023) Sankurathri Chandra Sekhar (2023) Laxman Singh (2023) Palam Kalyana Sundaram (2023) Karma Wangchu (Posthumous) (2023) Sangthankima (2024) Sano Vamuzo (2024)

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