Tarlochan Singh

Tarlochan Singh is a former member of the Rajya Sabha from Haryana, who served from 2004 to 2010, and a former chairman of the National Commission for Minorities. He was named for the Padma Bhushan in 2021 in the field of public affairs, from Haryana ^[1].

A refugee boy

Singh was born on 28 July 1933 in Dhudial village, Chakwal district, now in Pakistan ^[2]. In 1947 he came to Patiala as a refugee with his penniless parents, and worked as a child to pay for his schooling ^[2]. He took an MA in economics at Mahendra College, Patiala, and joined the Punjab government as a public relations officer in 1957 ^[2]. As PRO of the Bhakra Nangal project he escorted many visiting heads of state, and Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru ^[2].

Museums and tourism

As head of Punjab’s new department of culture, tourism and archaeology in 1980 he set up several museums, including the Shaheed Bhagat Singh museum at Khatkar Kalan, the Maharaja Ranjit Singh museum at Ram Bagh, Amritsar, and the Sikh war museum at Ferozeshah ^[2]. As head of the Delhi Tourism Development Corporation he built Delhi Haat and the Hauz Khas tourist complex, and started the Mango Festival, the Garden Festival and the Qutub festival ^[2]. He was also tourism adviser to the Government of India ^[2].

Public offices

He was press secretary to President Giani Zail Singh in the years after Operation Bluestar ^[2]. For 20 years he was a vice-president of the Indian Olympic Association ^[2]. He became vice-chairman of the National Commission for Minorities in 2000 and chairman in 2003, served on the National Human Rights Commission, organised inter-faith meetings, and was part of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s delegation on the bus journey to Lahore ^[2]. He has written five books ^[2].