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{{Short description|Indian politician}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2018}}
{{Use Indian English|date=July 2018}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Ambika Soni
| image = Ambika Soni.jpg
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1942|11|13|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[Lahore]], [[Punjab Province (British India)|Punjab]], [[British India]] (now in [[Pakistan]])
| death_date =
| death_place =
| residence = [[New Delhi]]
| party = [[Indian National Congress]]
| spouse = Uday C. Soni
| children = 1
| alma_mater = [[Indraprastha College]], [[University of Delhi]] [[University of Havana]] [[Alliance Francaise]] [[Welham Girls School]]
| office1 = [[Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha]] from [[Punjab, India]]
| term1 = March 1976 - March 1982 January 2000 - June 2004 July 2004 - July 2022
| office2 = [[Minister of Information and Broadcasting]] [[Government of India]]
| term_start2 = 22 May 2009
| term_end2 = 27 October 2012
| predecessor2 = [[Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi]]
| successor2 = [[Manish Tewari]]
| primeminister2 = [[Manmohan Singh]]
| office3 = [[Ministry of Tourism (India)|Minister of Tourism]] and [[Ministry of Culture (India)|Culture]] [[Government of India]]
| term_start3 = 29 January 2006
| term_end3 = 22 May 2009
| predecessor3 = [[Renuka Chowdhury]]
| successor3 = [[Kumari Selja]]
| primeminister3 = [[Manmohan Singh]]
| office4 = President of [[All India Mahila Congress]]
| term_start4 = 1998
| term_end4 = 1999
| office5 = President of [[Indian Youth Congress]]
| term_start5 = 1975
| term_end5 = 1977
| office6 = General Secretary of [[All India Congress Committee]]
| term_start6 = 1999
| term_end6 = 2020
| office7 = Member of [[Congress Working Committee]]
| term_start7 = 1999
| term_end7 =
}}
'''Ambika Soni''' (born 13 November 1942) is an Indian politician belonging to [[Indian National Congress]]. She had served as [[Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (India)|Minister of Information and Broadcasting]]. She is a [[Member of Parliament]] representing the state of [[Punjab (India)|Punjab]] in the [[Rajya Sabha]].

==Early life and education==
Born in Lahore in undivided [[British India|Punjab]] to Nakul Sen Wadhwa, an [[Indian Civil Service]] officer and [[List of Governors of Goa|Lt. Governor of Goa]] in 1942<ref name=":0" />. Ambika studied at [[Welham Girls School]], Dehradun and did her M.A. (Hons.) from [[Indraprastha College]], [[Delhi University]], followed by Diploma Superiore en Langue Francaise from [[Alliance Francaise]], Bangkok and Post-Graduate Diploma in Spanish Art and Literature from [[University of Havana]], [[Cuba]]. She got married in 1961 to Uday Soni, an [[Indian Foreign Service]] officer.

==Political career==

==== As Member of [[Indian National Congress]] ====
Ambika Soni began her political career in 1969 when she was co-opted into the [[Indian National Congress|Congress]] Party by [[Indira Gandhi]] at the time of the Party split in 1969. Soni was an old family friend of Gandhi from the time when her father was posted as [[District collector]] of [[Amritsar]] during the [[Partition of India]] and worked very closely with [[Jawaharlal Nehru]]<ref>{{Cite web |date=2009-05-29 |title=By invitation only |url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/india/by-invitation-only/story-uCttxkiscxI79Efd7wxQjO.html |access-date=2022-05-03 |website=Hindustan Times |language=en}}</ref>. In 1975 she was elected as the president of the [[Indian Youth Congress]] and worked closely with [[Sanjay Gandhi]]<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date=2009-12-11 |title=An affair to remember |url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/delhi/an-affair-to-remember/story-QZcPH8YoNhkqrd9ytCBKYM.html |access-date=2022-05-03 |website=Hindustan Times |language=en}}</ref>. In 1998, she became the president of [[All India Mahila Congress]]. From 1999 - 2006 she was General Secretary of [[All India Congress Committee]].

==== As [[Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha]] ====
Following is from the [https://rajyasabha.nic.in/rsnew/member_site/Main.aspx official website of Rajya Sabha]

====== First Term (March 1976 - March 1982) ======

====== Second Term (January 2000 - 10 June 2004) ======
{| class="wikitable"
|Jan. 2000 - Feb. 2004 and Aug. 2004 - Jan. 2006
|Member, Committee on Public Undertakings
|-
|Jan. 2000 - Feb. 2004
|Member, Consultative Committee for the Ministry of Civil Aviation
|-
|Feb. 2000 - 2001
|Member, Committee on Defence
|-
|May 2000 - June 2003
|Member, House Committee
|-
|Jan. 2002 - Dec. 2003
|Member, Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture
|-
|Jan. 2003 - Feb. 2004
|Member, Committee on Home Affairs
|}

====== Third Term (July 2004 - July 2010) ======
{| class="wikitable"
|Aug. 2004 - Jan. 2006
|Member, Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture
|-
|Oct. 2004 - Jan. 2006
|Member, Consultative Committee for the Ministry of Environment and Forests
|-
|March 2005 - Jan. 2006
|Member, Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh
|}

====== Fourth Term (July 2010 - July 2016) ======
{| class="wikitable"
|Dec. 2012 - May 2014
|Member, Committee on External Affairs
|-
|Dec. 2012 - May 2014
|Member, Consultative Committee for the Ministry of Defence
|-
|May 2013 - May 2014
|Member, Committee on Public Accounts
|-
|Sept. 2014 - May 2019
|Member, Committee on Defence
|}

====== Fifth Term (July 2016 - July 2022) ======
{| class="wikitable"
|July 2018 - Feb. 2019
|Member, Select Committee of Rajya Sabha on the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains (Amendment) Bill, 2018
|-
|July 2019 onwards
|Member, Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh
|-
|Sept. 2019 onwards
|Member, Committee on Finance
|-
|Oct. 2019 onwards
|Member, Consultative Committee for the Ministry of Culture and Tourism
|}

==== As [[Cabinet Minister (India)|Cabinet Minister]] ====
{| class="wikitable"
!Date
!Office held
!Additional Info
!Reference
|-
|29 January 2006 - 22 May 2009
|[[Ministry of Tourism (India)|Minister of Tourism]] and [[Ministry of Culture (India)|Minister of Culture]]
|[[First Manmohan Singh ministry]]
|
|-
|22 May 2009 - 27 October 2012
|[[Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (India)|Minister of Information and Broadcasting]]
|[[Second Manmohan Singh ministry]]
|<ref>{{Cite web |title=Soni, Wasnik, Sahai resign ahead of reshuffle |url=https://www.freepressjournal.in/india/soni-wasnik-sahai-resign-ahead-of-reshuffle |access-date=2022-05-03 |website=Free Press Journal |language=en}}</ref>
|}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Ambika Soni}}
* [https://www.india.gov.in/my-government/indian-parliament/smt-ambika-soni Profile] at [[National portal of india|National Portal of India]]

{{Cabinet of Manmohan Singh}}
{{Ministers of Information and Broadcasting}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Soni, Ambika}}
[[Category:1942 births]]
[[Category:Indian National Congress politicians from Punjab, India]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Indraprastha College for Women alumni]]
[[Category:Members of the Cabinet of India]]
[[Category:Indian Youth Congress Presidents]]
[[Category:Rajya Sabha members from Punjab, India]]
[[Category:Women in Punjab, India politics]]
[[Category:People from Lahore]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian women politicians]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian politicians]]
[[Category:21st-century Indian women politicians]]
[[Category:21st-century Indian politicians]]
[[Category:Women members of the Cabinet of India]]
[[Category:Ministers for Information and Broadcasting of India]]
[[Category:Women members of the Rajya Sabha]]
[[Category:Indian National Congress (U) politicians]]
[[Category:Culture Ministers of India]]
[[Category:Indian Congress (Socialist) politicians]]

Ambika Soni - Revision history

UpdateBot at 23:21, 3 May 2022