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Portrait of Ganga Kumar

Patna / Rajgir / New Delhi

GangaKumar

He built what Bihar needed. He recorded what it already had.

Career bureaucrat, author and cultural activist. Ministries and state corporations across construction, statistics, food and rural health. Four volumes on the built heritage of Bihar, and conservation at more than fifty places.

  • Public administration
  • Heritage conservation
  • Literature
  • Public health

Two sides of one boundary

Ganga Kumar has spent his working life on both sides of a boundary that public administration rarely crosses: the machinery that builds a place, and the record of what that place already was.

As an administrator he has led state corporations and run programmes across construction, statistics, food and civil supply, chemicals and fertilisers, rural health and film development, in the Government of India and the Government of Bihar.

As a writer he has surveyed the historical and architectural buildings of Bihar, one commissionary at a time, publishing the results across four volumes. As an activist he has campaigned for their conservation, and for a public that can recognise them.

Ganga Kumar speaking at a Nalanda Literature Festival event in Kolkata
Ganga Kumar standing in an office beside the Indian flag, below two framed portraits

The same conviction runs through all of it. An institution properly built outlives the person who built it, and so does a properly kept building.

Volumes surveying Bihar’s built heritage
4
Places brought into conservation
50+
State and national awards
10+

Writing

A survey of Bihar, building by building

Four volumes record the historical and architectural buildings of the state, one commissionary at a time, until every division of Bihar is covered. The research papers come from a separate posting, and a separate emergency.

Bihar Ke Sanskritik Dharohar · every division in Bihar, in four volumes

I

Bihar Ke Sanskritik Dharohar

  • Patna
  • Gaya

II

Bihar Ke Sanskritik Dharohar

  • Darbhanga

III

Bihar Ke Sanskritik Dharohar

  • Tirhut
  • Saran

IV

Bihar Ke Sanskritik Dharohar

  • Munger
  • Bhagalpur
  • Koshi
  • Purnea
Ganga Kumar, on the left, holding up a newly launched book with three others on stage

Other books

  • Kalpvriksh

    On the cultural importance of Bihar

  • Tackling the Kala-azar Menace in Bihar: An Integrative Perspective

  • Compendium on Guidelines of the Building Sector in Bihar

Lectures

  • Building Vision-2047

  • Heritage of Bihar Vision-2047

Research papers

  • Kala-azar elimination in Bihar: adoption of newer evidence-based strategies

    Middle East Journal of Scientific Research

  • Public health and epidemiology analysis of the AES/JE epidemic in Bihar, 2011

    Middle East Journal of Scientific Research

  • Epidemiological report on the AES/JE outbreak in Bihar, and planning perspectives for its control

    American Journal of Health Research

  • Orientation training of ASHA workers on kala-azar using existing government resources

    Indian Journal of Applied Research

  • A report on sexual dimorphism in sandfly (P. argentipes) larva

    Novus Scientia Journals

  • Syndromic surveillance during mass gathering at the Kalachakra, Bodh Gaya, and planning perspectives for health emergencies

    International Journal of Advanced Research in Biological Sciences

  • Vision for infrastructure in Bihar 100 years after Independence (BUILDCON-2047): a necessity

    International Journal of Advanced Research
The ruins of the Nalanda Mahavihara

Nalanda Mahavihara

The oldest seat of learning, reopened as a conversation.

Public service

Appointments in the Union and State governments

Government of India

  • Deputy Director General

    Ministry of Home Affairs

  • Ex-Deputy Director General

    Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers

  • Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation

  • Ex-Deputy Secretary

    Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment

  • Ex-Deputy Director

    National Rural Health Mission

Government of Bihar

  • Ex-Managing Director

    Bihar State Building Construction Corporation Limited, Patna

  • Ex-Managing Director

    Food and Civil Supplies Corporation

  • Ex-Managing Director

    Bihar State Film Development Corporation

  • Ex-Special Secretary

    Building Construction Department

  • Ex-Additional Chief Executive Officer

    Bihar Foundation

Bihar State Building Construction Corporation Limited

During his tenure as Managing Director, the corporation’s annual outlay rose from ₹13 crore in 2011-12 to ₹4,337 crore in 2014-15. Pending projects were completed, four years of accumulated losses were cleared, and the corporation returned to profit.

It became the first corporation in Bihar to hold ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001 certification.

Annual outlay, 2011-12
₹13 cr
Annual outlay, 2014-15
₹4,337 cr
Corporation in Bihar to hold all three certifications
First

Conservation

Bihar; Ek Virasat

With the support of the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage, Ganga Kumar has created the conditions for conservation at more than fifty places in Bihar.

The work is carried forward through public campaigning rather than institutional channels alone: heritage walks along the Ganges and through Vaishali and Patna City, photo exhibitions of monuments and buildings, and training programmes in conservation and upkeep.

Ganga Kumar addressing the audience from the festival lectern

Cultural and civic engagements

  • Festival Director

    Nalanda Literature Festival

    A festival of language, legacy and literature, held at Rajgir in Bihar.
  • President

    Indian People’s Theatre Association, Bihar

    Creating awareness of heritage, culture and theatre with stakeholders across the state.
  • President

    Surangana

    A cultural organisation in Bihar.
  • Festival Chairman

    Bodhisattva International Film Festival

  • Executive Chairman

    Bodhgaya Biennale

  • Founder

    Grameen Sneh Foundation

    Cancer prevention awareness, health camps, and training in conservation and the upkeep of heritage buildings, across Bihar, Odisha and the Delhi NCR.
  • Elected Director, Governing Body

    Delhi Gymkhana Club

Around the festival

Recognition

Awards and honours

Career honours

  • State and national

    Visvesvaraya Memorial Award

    For outstanding work in the engineering sector in Bihar. One of more than ten awards received.
  • University of Delhi

    Gold Medallist, Postgraduate in Statistics

During the corporation’s turnaround

  1. 2012

    Best Strategic Business Team Player

    Asian Institute of Management, Manila

  2. 2013

    Chairman, Organising Committee

    Indian Building Congress

    The Mid-Term Session, held in Bihar for the first time.

  3. 2014

    Best PSU Award for CSR

    ELETS International

    For financial inclusion work.

    To the corporation

  4. Best PSU Award in Government

    ELETS International

    For its initiatives that year.

    To the corporation

  5. Best Entrepreneurship Company

    Governance Today

    To the corporation

Education

  • M.Phil., University of Delhi

  • Postgraduate in Statistics, University of Delhi

    Gold Medallist

  • NET-qualified in Agricultural Statistics

    For lectureship and assistant professorship

  • Doctoral research in financial sector reforms

  • Visiting faculty at several universities and institutes

Contact

Invitations and enquiries

For speaking invitations, festival and heritage collaborations, or press enquiries, write here.

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Initiatives

Elsewhere

Ganga Kumar

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