Brahm Prakash (politician)

Brahm Prakash
13th Minister of Agriculture
In office
30 July 1979 – 14 January 1980
Prime MinisterCharan Singh
Preceded bySurjit Singh Barnala
Succeeded byRao Birendra Singh
ConstituencyNangloi Jat
Member of the Lok Sabha for Outer Delhi
In office
1977–1980
Preceded byChaudhry Dalip Singh
Succeeded bySajjan Kumar
In office
1967–1971
Preceded byVacant
Succeeded byChaudhry Dalip Singh
In office
1962–1967
Preceded byNaval Prabhakar
Succeeded byVacant
Member of the Lok Sabha for
Delhi Sadar
In office
1957–1962
Preceded byConstituency Established
Succeeded byShiv Charan Gupta
1st Chief Minister of Delhi
In office
17 March 1952 – 12 February 1955
Preceded byOffice Established
Succeeded byGurumukh Nihal Singh
Personal details
Born
Chaudhary Brahm Prakash Yadav

(1918-06-16)16 June 1918
Kenya, British India
Died11 August 1993(1993-08-11) (aged 75)
Delhi, India
Political partyIndian National Congress,
Janata Party
Residence(s)Delhi, India

Brahm Prakash Yadav (1918–1993) was an Indian politician, the first Chief Minister of Delhi and a freedom fighter who played an important role in the individual Satyagraha Movement launched by Mahatma Gandhi in 1940. His ancestors were from Haryana but his father a famous landlord, Chaudhary Bhagwan Das Yadav shifted to shakurpur village of Delhi and later moved to Kenya so Brahm Prakash was born in Nairobi, Kenya itself.[1]

Career

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Indian Independence movement

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He was amongst the leaders of the underground activities in Delhi during the Quit India movement. He was imprisoned many times during the freedom struggle.[2][3]

Post independence

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Post-independence, Prakash served as Minister in charge of Planning and Development as well as the first Chief Minister of Delhi at the age of 34 years, the second-youngest Chief Minister in India in 1952–55.[4][5] His stints in the Parliament twice won him accolades as an able parliamentarian. While he was with Congress Party, he was elected to Lok Sabha from Delhi Sadar constituency in 1957, and from Outer Delhi in 1962 and 1967. He joined Janata Party later, and was elected to Lok Sabha again in 1977 from Outer Delhi. When the party split in 1979, he joined the Charan Singh faction, and became a minister for a few months. He made noteworthy contributions as the Union Cabinet Minister for Food, Agriculture, Irrigation and Cooperatives.[6]

The cause of depressed sections of the society, rural development and empowerment of the weaker sections were issues, which were very close to the heart of Prakash. He was quick to realise the potential of cooperative societies in mitigating the hardships of the village folks. As early as in 1945, he started organising village and agriculture cooperatives. He was also a proponent of the Panchayati Raj institutions. He organised the National Union of Backward Classes, Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Minorities in 1977 to work for the welfare of these weaker sections.[7]

Prakash and Dr. Kurien of NDDB promoted the idea of Cooperative Companies to help free the cooperatives from the shackles of Government control through the Registrar of Cooperative Societies. It was a precursor to the present Producer Company model.[8][9][10]

References

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  1. ^ "Brahm Prakash: Delhi's first CM, ace parliamentarian". 27 September 2013.
  2. ^ New Delhi News : Briefly. The Hindu (17 June 2006). Retrieved on 2018-11-21.
  3. ^ Commemorative Postage Stamp on Chaudhary Brahm Prakash Released. Pib.nic.in. Retrieved on 21 November 2018.
  4. ^ "History of Delhi Legislative Assembly". Legislative Assembly of Delhi website.
  5. ^ "Brahm Prakash: Delhi's first CM, ace parliamentarian". Hindustan Times. 27 September 2013. Archived from the original on 1 March 2014. Retrieved 22 January 2014.
  6. ^ Kamath, M. V. (1996). Milkman from Anand: the story of Verghese Kurien. Konark Publishers. p. 386. ISBN 9788122004137.
  7. ^ Puri, Rajinder (13 June 2007) Quota Quagmire.boloji.com
  8. ^ Misra, Biswa Swarup (2010). Credit Cooperatives in India: Past, Present and Future. Routledge. p. 2.3. ISBN 9781136994036.
  9. ^ State of the Indian farmer, millennium study. New Delhi: Academic Foundation in association with Dept. of Agriculture and cooperation, Ministry of Agriculture, Govt. of India. 2006. p. 90. ISBN 9788171884940.
  10. ^ Sriram, Samar K. Datta, M.S.; Sriram, M. S. (2012). Towards a perspective on flow of credit to small and marginal farmers in India. New Delhi [etc.]: Allied. p. 48. ISBN 9788184247602.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
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Political offices
Preceded by Chief Minister of the Delhi
1952–55
Succeeded by