Sangeeta Gupta (born 25 May 1958), a retired Chief Commissioner of Income Tax, is an Indian abstract artist, poet and filmmaker. She is the first woman who qualified Civil Services from her district in Uttar Pradesh, India. She is an officer of 1984 batch IRS. Her artistic journey so far consists of 35 solo exhibitions of paintings, 25 published books including fourteen anthologies of poems in Hindi and six in English. From her collection of poems, 10 books are translated into German, Greek, Mandarin, English, Bangla, Dogri, Tamil and Urdu. She has also directed, scripted and shot 30 documentary films, 6 of which are in the collection of the US Library of Congress. Song of the Cosmos is her creative biography.
A film, Life beyond Tax, has been made about her life by Tax India.[1]
Sangeeta Gupta born at Gorakhpur, U.P. in 1958 spent her childhood in Tamkuhi road a small town, part of Kushinagar district, Uttar Pradesh. She completed her schooling from Carmel School, Gorakhpur, graduation and Post-graduation from Banaras Hindu University and Law from Delhi University, India[2]
Career
Sangeeta Gupta started her career as a Junior Research Fellow at Advance Study Centre for Nepal, Department of Political Science, Banaras Hindu University in 1979 after completing her post graduation from the same university. She joined as a Lecturer of Political Science in a Government Degree College affiliated to Gorakhpur University in 1980 and continued to teach Political science to the under graduates students there till 1984. She then qualified Civil Services examination and then joined as Indian Revenue Service Officer (1984 batch). She is the first woman from her district, who qualified Civil Services.
She served as Income Tax Officer from 1986 to 1988 June at Allahabad. Thereafter, she served as ACIT; ADIT & DCIT in West Bengal till the year 1996. She then went on deputation to Delhi Jal Board as Director Revenue and served there till 31 March 1999. She was promoted as JCIT and also worked as Director IT in CBDT, Minister of Finance, was promoted as CIT in the year 2003 and since then has worked in various capacity. Sangeeta Gupta joined as Principal Commissioner of Income Tax, Jammu & Kashmir in July 2015. Before coming to Jammu she was PCIT at Delhi. She rose to the apex level as Chief Commissioner of Income Tax, Delhi on account of her dedication and hard work. She accepted many challenging assignments, which she accomplished to the satisfaction of the hierarchy.
She has also worked as Advisor (Finance and Administration) to Lalit Kala Akademi, National Akademi of Visual Arts (July 2019 to January 2020). She is a member of the Finance committee of Jawaharlal Nehru University since November 2018.
She was awarded gold medal in 1986 by National Academy of Direct Taxes, Nagpur for being the best probationer of her batch and the best bureaucrat of the year award of Make in India Excellence award conferred by Indo Global Business Council, Delhi.
She has done her town, district and state proud by her achievements in her career. She retired as Chief Commissioner of Income Tax, Delhi in May 2018.
Professional Achievements
During her short stint in the State in Jammu & Kashmir as Principal Commissioner of Income Tax the department produced remarkable results. Four new income tax offices at moffusil stations were opened at Katra, Samba, Baramulla and Rajouri and were made operational. Her tremendous efforts for widening and deepening of tax base at all levels finally bore fruits and resulted in addition of substantial new tax payers.
Apart from a successful bureaucrat during her career, Sangeeta Gupta is known for her love for poetry and Abstract Art.
For her, abstract art is a means to reach the non-objective experiences that help shape the inner life. It is a witness to the fact that man's spiritual needs do not disappear even in times engulfed by gross materialism. She strives to express the poetic vision in her works. Keeping in view her strong passion for painting and writing, one may think, what about her professional achievements as a Revenue officer. But the fact is that she has earned distinctions in different fields like art, literature, film making and civil services.[3]
Social pursuits
In the year 1995 she held her first solo exhibition at Birla Academy of Art & Culture, Kolkata, which was inaugurated by none other than Mother Teresa.[4] The entire sale proceeds of this show were donated to CRY for building up an educational centre for poor children in sub urban part of Kolkata. She has held 35 solo exhibitions all over India including Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Lucknow, Chandigarh and overseas in London, Berlin, Munich, Lahore Belfast (Northern Ireland), Thessaloniki (Greece) and Toronto (Canada).
In August, 2013, her 26th solo exhibition dedicated to Uttarakhand was inaugurated by the former President of India Dr. A P J Abdul Kalam.[5] The fund of Rs.20 lakh raised through the sale proceeds of her paintings has been used for creating a Fine Art Education Grant for the fine arts students of Uttarakhand.
She is promoting Art and Culture through Prithvi Fine Art & Culture Centre, a charitable society of Delhi. As part of a cultural exchange programme of Prithvi, she was instrumental in organising an exhibition of 18 Greek artists at Lalit Kala Academi, Delhi (2014) and in 2015 a group of seven artists of India were represented in an exhibition at EMS Museum Gallery Thessaloniki (Greece) as part of a Cultural Exchange project.
Her paintings are in the permanent collection of the Bharat Bhavan Museum, Bhopal, Museum of Sacred Art (MOSA) Belgium and Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art, Thessaloniki (Greece). Her works have been represented at the India Art Fair, New Delhi in 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018 and 2019. As part of Indian Delegation she held a solo exhibition of paintings at Shenzhen, China, 11th International Cultural and Industrial fair 2015.
Apart from winning all India awards for drawing and painting her works occupy space on the walls of the country's most prestigious residences and offices including those of the President and Prime Minister as well as Governors of Karnataka and Jammu and Kashmir. Also, she dabbles in several other fields like photography and she has taken part in national exhibitions of photography in 1999 and 2001, New Delhi.
Contributions
She has to her credit 25 published books, 10 of her poetry books are translated in several languages. She is a bilingual poet and has fourteen anthologies of poems in Hindi and six in English to her credit.[6]
Her books of poems are translated in many languages, in Greek, Mandarin, English, German, Bangla, Dogri and Urdu.
Sangeeta Gupta's collection of poems Iss Par Uss Par, has been translated in Bangla and Pratinaad, has also been translated in Bangla, English and German. Weaves of Time, a collection of English poems was published in 2013 by Partridge, a Penguin company, which is translated in Greek and Mandarin Sparsh Ke Gulmohar (collection of Hindi poems published by Rajkamal Prakashan 2015) also translated in Dogri.[19][20][21]
"Ladakh: Knowing the unknown" published by Full Circle 2015 launched at Jaipur Literature Festival 2015, Nehru Centre London and in Thessaloniki, Greece. EKAM a book of poems and photographs published in 2017, launched at Jaipur Literature Festival 2017.
In 2020, Weaves of Time and Song of Silence, both books are translated and published in Mandarin.
Books in the collection of Library of Congress, US:
Echoing grove : poems & paintings / Sangeeta Gupta ; translation, Keshav Malik. Published by National Publishing House, New Delhi, 2005.
Visions illuminations / Keshav Malik ; paintings by Sangeeta Gupta. Published by Kumar Gallery, New Delhi, 2008.
Ladakh: knowing the unknown' / Sangeeta Gupta. Published by Full Circle, New Delhi, 2015
Sparsh ke gulmohar : poems by Sangeeta Gupta. Published by Rājakamala Prakāśana, New Delhi, 2015.
Ekam / Sangeeta Gupta. Published by Prithvi Fine Art & Cultural Centre, New Delhi, 2017
Jammu : shades of time / Sangeeta Gupta. Published by Prithvi Fine Art & Cultural Centre, New Delhi, 2019.
Kashmir : spirit of solace / Sangeeta Gupta. Published by Prithvi Fine Art & Cultural Centre, New Delhi, 2019.
Ends are beginnings / Sangeeta Gupta.Published by Prithvi Fine Art & Cultural Centre, New Delhi, 2020.
Song of silence : a poet's inner journey / Sangeeta Gupta ; translation, Dr. Barathi Srinivasan. Published by Prithvi Fine Art & Cultural Centre, New Delhi, 2020
Rise from your ashes / Sangeeta Gupta. Published by Prithvi Fine Art & Cultural Centre, New Delhi, 2021.
En dino : Hindi poems and paintings / by Sangeeta Gupta. Published by Prithvi Fine Art & Cultural Centre, New Delhi, 2021.
Nadi ko naav me bhar : Hindi poems and photographs / by Sangeeta Gupta. Published by Prithvi Fine Art & Cultural Centre, New Delhi, 2021.
Documentary film maker
She has also directed, scripted and shot thirty documentary films. Her films have been screened at various venues overseas and in India. The list of films produced by her over the years are as follows:
Keshav Malik: A look back, a documentary film (2012)[22][23]
Keshav Malik: The truth of art, a documentary film (2013)[24][23]
Keshav Malik: Root, branch bloom, a documentary film (2013)[25][23]
MahaKumbh: Astha ka mahaparv, a documentary film (hindi) (2013)[26][23]
2013: Her two documentaries, Keshav Malik – Root, Branch, Bloom[58][59] (approx. 30 Minutes) and Keshav Malik - The Truth of Art[53][54][55][60] (approx. 30 Minutes), were screened by India International Centre and Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, Delhi in 2013 and at Alliance Francaise de Delhi in the Spring Festival, 2014. This film was telecast by the TV channel DD Bharati several times in January 2014 and on Lok Sabha TV in April, 2014 several times. This film has been selected and is in the archive of Documentary Edge Campus, a resource centre for documentary films, New Zealand to be used for educational and research purposes.
Her fourth film, Maha Kumbh - Astha Ka Mahaparv,[61] screened at Sanskriti Kendra, Anandgram, New Delhi. A documentary film Weaves of Time, was screened at India Habitat Centre, Delhi in December, 2013.
2014: Her film, Kung Fu Nuns in Mystic Ladakh[62][53][61] was telecast by the TV channel DD Bharati several times in September 2014, also selected and screened at 3rd Delhi International Film Festival 2014.
2015: Greece – Continuum of Consciousness, was screened in Thessaloniki, Greece.
Exhibitions
Solo exhibitions : selected Indian participation
1995: Birla Academy of Art & Culture, Kolkata in aid of CRY[63]
2018: Prithvi Fine Art and Cultural Centre, Delhi[80]
2019: Prithvi Fine Art and Cultural Centre, Delhi[81]
2020: Revolutionizing the native natural indigo technique through "Adiyogi Shiva: A journey in Cosmic Indigo", The Largest Painting ever by Sangeeta Gupta at Prithvi Fine Art and Cultural Centre, Delhi[82][83]
2022: Aadiyogi Shiv: A Journey in cosmic indigo, textile paintings traveling exhibition, exhibited at Bikaner House, Delhi Bihar Museum, Patna, NIFT Delhi, NIFT Patna.[84][85]
Sangeeta Says "In this series of works I have tried to remind people of my country, India to take pride in our heritage. Khadi and Neel are our very own since ages. Our block printing technique is our own age-old way of chhapakala which is now becoming extinct. Machine has made everything so mechanical and impersonal. I just wanted to give some new, abstract idioms to our chhapakala which may be refreshing and contemporary.
I have also painted Sanskrit text on some paintings to quote Aadi Shankaracharya specially his Shivoham stotra and Ardhnarinateshwar stotra.
All this has never been executed by any other artist as far as I know."
Solo exhibitions : selected international participation
2004: Amrita Shergil Revisited-on the eve of Internationals Women Day, ICCR, New Delhi, show travelled to State Museums at Tashkent, Brishkek and Almaty in Central Asia.[63]
2007: Ati Art Gallery at New Delhi and Bangalore[63]
2007: Fine Arts Academy, New Delhi by Arushi Art Gallery[63]
2008: Annual Show of Kumar Art Gallery (Jan. 2008), New Delhi[63]
2008: A show of four women artists, Alliance France (Nov.2008), New Delhi[63]
2008: Dus Mahavidyas, A show of ten women artists of the world held at Visual Art Gallery, New Delhi, Tao Art Gallery, Mumbai and Time & Space Gallery, Bangalore[100]
Sangeeta's contribution in various fields have been recognised and acknowledged by both government and non government agencies. These awards are testimony of the well deserved accolades.[115]
Certificate for the world record for the largest solo painting in natural dye in the Limca book of records.2021: Longest painting made with natural indigo colour and dye, India Book of Records[116][117][118][119][120][121]
2018: Global achievers award, Nirbhya Jyoti Trust, Delhi.[116]
2018: Indian Iconic Personality award, Vishwashanti Seva charitable Trust.[116]
2018: Raja Ravi Varma Chitrakar Samman, Megh Mandal Sansthan, Mumbai.[116]
2018: Kala Vibhuti Samman, Sai Shinjini, Academy of Fine Arts & Culture, Delhi.[116]
2018: Pratibha Samman 2018, Women of Substance Award- category- Writer and Artist by Namaskar Dunia, Delhi.[116]
2018: Certificate of Recognition, Phenomenal SHE, 2018 by Indian National Bar Association and Alliance Francaise, Delhi.[116]
2018: Naari Gaurav Samman, 2018 by Rajasthani Academy, Delhi.[116]
2018: Kalptaru Award,2018 category- Art and Poetry by Kalptaru Academy, Delhi.[116]
2017: Achievers Award, 2017 by India Eye International Human Rights Observer, Delhi on the occasion of celebration of International Day of the Girl Child.[116]
2017: 8th Rajiv Gandhi Excellence Award, 2017 by Pehchan (An NGO, Nurturing the girl child), Delhi.[116]
2017: Literary Award, 2017 at IIC, New Delhi by Bharat Nirman, Delhi.[116]
2016: Certificate of Merit Awarded by South Central Zone Cultural Center Nagpur, Ministry of Culture, Government of India for painting executed in Ujjain Mahakumbh, 2016.[116]
2016: 7th Rajiv Gandhi Excellence Award, 2016 by Pehchan (An NGO, Nurturing the girl child), Delhi.[116]
2016: The Great Women Achievers Awards - 2016 by The Performer (group of art & culture), Jammu.[116]
Lifetime achievement award from traditional art promotional society, 20192016: Bureaucrat of the year, Make in India Excellence award by IGBC, Delhi.[116]
2016: Kala Drishti Award for exemplary work done in the field of Civil Service & Art.[116]
2015: Delhi Gaurav Award 2015 in Professional category for Art & Culture by Indian Brave Hearts supported by Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment, Government of India.[116]
2015: 6th Rajiv Gandhi Excellence Award, India Habitat Centre, New Delhi by Pehchan (An NGO, Nurturing the girl child).[116]
2015: India Excellence Award for Poetry 2015 by Bharat Nirmaan, Delhi.[116]
2015: Priyadarshini Award 2015 as an International Cultural Entrepreneur by the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Entrepreneur (MSME).[116]
2015: 35thWomen Entrepreneurship Award by Bharat Nirmaan, Delhi.[116]
2015: Global Women Achievers Award by IGBC, Delhi.[116]
2014: Awarded and honored as an Artist by 3rd Delhi International Film Festival.[116]
2014: Poet of the Year award by 3rd Delhi International Film Festival.[116]
2013: 6thNational Women Excellence Award by Yog Confederation of India in collaboration with International Women Excellence Awards Organization.[116]
2013: Women Achievers Award from Indian Council for UN relations on the eve of International Women’s Day.[116]
2013: Vishwa Hindi Pracheta Alankaran by Uttar Pradesh Hindi Saahitya Sammelan & Utkarsh Academy, Kanpur.[116]
2012:Udbhav Shikhar Samman by Udbhav Samajik Sanskritik Aivum Sahityik Sansthan for achievements in the field of art and literature.[116]
2005: 77th annual award for painting in 2005 by AIFACS, New Delhi.[116]
1999: Hindprabha award for Indian Women Achievers by Uttar Pradesh Mahila Manch in 1999.[116]
1998: 69th annual award for drawing in 1998 by AIFACS, New Delhi.[116]
1986: Gold Medal for Best Probationer (1984 Indian Revenue Services).[116]
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