At the age of 34, the Supreme Court of India appointed him as a Senior Counsel, making him one of the youngest advocates in India to be conferred the honour by the apex court. He has been the Additional Solicitor General of India and is an Associate Tenant as Counsel with the Doughty Street Chambers in London. He is engaged in the advocacy of human rights issues in and out of court.
In 2013, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh appointed him as his Special Envoy "to maintain the momentum of high-level exchanges with Japan" and prepare for the upcoming visit of Japan's Emperor and the Empress to India.
Academia
In 2011, Kumar was the keynote speaker at the 8th Annual Meeting of the Science and Technology Forum at Kyoto, Japan. He was a guest speaker at The Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in 2008. He was a visiting scholar at CSIS, Washington in 2004. In addition to writing a number of scholarly articles on law, economic reforms, elections, democracy and international affairs, Kumar has also authored a book titled Law, Ideas and Ideology in Politics; Perspectives of an Activist in 2003. In 2012, Kumar was the keynote speaker at the Harvard Club, New York City on "The Legal Architecture for consolidating the economic reform process in India" and was also a guest lecturer at MIT. In 2013, he was a speaker at the Aix Le Cercle des economists in Aix-en-Provence, France, and was a distinguished fellow at Trinity College, Dublin in 2016. Kumar's second book, Hope in a Challenged Democracy - an Indian Narrative, was published in 2017.
Membership of committees and key positions held
Kumar was appointed as Member of Standing Committee of Parliament on External Affairs in 2009. He also served as the Chairman of the Select Committee of Rajya Sabha for "The Prevention of Torture Bill", 2010. He was a member of the Standing Committee of Parliament on Defense and a member of the Public Accounts Committee in 2013. In 2014, Kumar was appointed a member of the Co-ordination Committee of the INC in Rajya Sabha and a member of the Parliamentary Affairs Committee of the INC. Kumar has also been a member of the Empowered Sub-Committee of the High Level Committee on Manufacturing and the Standing Committee on Commerce. He has chaired the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Science and Technology, Environment and Forests. In January 2015, Kumar was nominated as a Member of the General Purposes Committee of Rajya Sabha. He was also nominated as a Member of the Consultative Committee for the Ministry of Defence in January 2015. In 2014, Kumar was appointed as a Member of the National Literacy Mission. He was a Member of the Indian Ministerial delegation for the 3rd Indo-US Strategic Dialogue and the 1st Indo-Japan Economic Dialogue held in New Delhi. Kumar was the Founder President of the Indo-French Parliamentary Friendship Group constituted by the Speaker of Lok Sabha in 2003. In November 2017, Kumar was appointed a Distinguished Fellow with the Global Federation of Competitiveness Council.
Kumar was appointed to vet a draft report of Ranjit Sinha, the Director of the CBI, in 2013. Submitted to the Supreme Court of India, this concerned the Indian coal allocation scam and led to opposition claims that the autonomy of the CBI was undermined. They demanded Kumar's resignation from the cabinet, which happened on 10 May 2013. Kumar said that he resigned only to ensure that the functioning of Parliament was not stalled and noted that the Supreme Court had not made any adverse comments against him.
Personal life
He married Madhu on 30 November 1975, with whom he had a son and daughter. Madhu predeceased him.
Publications
Among Kumar's publications are:
Books
Ehsas-O-Izhar: An Anthology of Urdu Poetry
Hope in a Challenged Democracy: An Indian Narrative
Law, Ideas and Ideology in Politics: Perspectives of an Activist
