D. Devaraj Urs
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (February 2022) |
20 March 1972 – 31 October 1973
1952–1957
1962–1967
1978 – 6 June 1982
Devaraj Devaraj Urs
Early life
Wodeyar royal family.
Urs was married to 11-year-old Chikkammanni (or Chikka Ammani), a girl from his own community and from a suitable family, in a match arranged by their parents when he was almost 15. The marriage proved to be harmonious and conventional. They had three daughters – Chandra Prabha, Nagrathna and Bharathi. Urs had his primary and high school education at the Urs Boarding School in Mysore, which had been set up by the Maharaja of Mysore expressly to provide suitable education to the sons of the Arasu community, to equip them for higher responsibilities in their adulthood. After passing school, Urs studied at the Central College in Bengaluru and took a BSc Degree. PoliticsAfter completing his education, Urs returned to Kallahalli and engaged himself in agriculture, overseeing the extensive lands owned by his family. However, his innate leadership quality did not permit him to stay in the village and brought him to politics. Urs entered politics in 1952 by contesting the first elections held in the country after it attained independence. At this time, the Maharaja was still the head of state in Arasu community was entrenched in the countryside due to centuries of ties with village communities. Urs easily won a seat to the state legislature and served as a member of the legislative assembly for ten years (two successive terms). An Indian National Congress party leader from Mysore, Urs was a member of the intra-party "Syndicate" of powerful regional leaders. However, he was never as antagonistic towards Prime Minister Indira Gandhi as other leaders of the Syndicate, such as K. Kamaraj . When push came to shove, he chose to abandon the Syndicate and go with Indira Gandhi.
Urs had practically retired from politics when the first Congress split took place in 1969, and the Syndicate formed the Congress (Urs) briefly when he became its president. But in the 1980 Lok Sabha elections, his party won just one seat in Karnataka. Most MLAs in his camp deserted him to re-join Congress(I) and Gundu Rao became Chief Minister in January 1980. Urs then formed the Karnataka Kranti Ranga in 1982, a few months before his death.[4]
Chief Minister of KarnatakaDates in powerDuring the Fifth Assembly of Karnataka State, D. Devaraj Urs was the Congress (S) when he was expelled from Congress(I) following differences with Indira Gandhi.[5] When Mrs Gandhi swept to power in Delhi in January 1980, most of the MLAs backing him re-joined Congress(I). Devaraj Urs was ousted and succeeded by R. Gundu Rao as CM in January 1980.[3]
Tenure
Devaraj Urs' tenure is particularly remembered for his reforms that targeted the depressed classes of Karnataka, namely the other backward castes.[citation needed ]
In response to the prime minister's declaration that poverty was her first priority ("Garibi Hatao!") and her Twenty-Point Programme, Urs formed a state cabinet dominated by technocrats and academics. His priority was Lingayat and Vokkaliga castes over local politics. He was helped in his endeavours by his colleagues Huchamasti Gowda, B Subbayya Shetty and others from his cabinet.
Other schemes included the building of shelters for migrant workers; the forgiveness of rural debt; and, in a populist masterstroke, a plan to have an electric bulb in every house. When Electronics City proposed the concept of developing the electronic city in the early 1970s it was met with skepticism but Devaraj Urs supported him and approved the project. This initial seed investment by the Karnataka State Government in 1976 laid the foundation for Electronics City.
In 1979, however, he exited Congress (I). He had quarrelled with Indira Gandhi, and was appearing before the Congress (Urs) was routed. Urs subsequently joined the Janata Party, and his protégé Ramakrishna Hegde recaptured power in Karnataka from the Congress in 1984. The Congress (Urs) itself became Congress (S) in 1983.
Legacy
Urs espoused the causes of poor and ushered in a "silent social revolution" in Karnataka. He was the voice of the poor and stood for the cause of the downtrodden in society. Urs was elected continuously from Hunasuru as an MLA for 28 years, from 1952 to 1980 and is one of the longest serving Chief Ministers of Karnataka. Among the contributions of the late Chief Minister was the stress laid on the education of the people belonging to the backward classes and establishment of the backwards and minorities hostels for the students hailing from those sections of society. Absorbing 16,000 unemployed graduates in the stipendiary scheme whose services were confirmed later, abolition of carrying bonded labour , renaming Mysuru as Karnataka in 1973 were some landmark decisions taken by him.
D. Devaraj Urs was one of the greatest social reformers the State had seen. The land reforms spearheaded by him, in which the tiller of the land became the owner, was exemplary. It reduced the chasm between the rich and the poor, doing away with social inequality. Mysore district had the highest incidents of bonded labour in India during that time and the decision of the Urs Government to abolish it was remarkable. Urs must be remembered for his achievements in weaning away poor people from the clutches of the rich moneylenders. The deeds of the late Chief Minister in the irrigation sector too had helped the farmer community tremendously. The Kali project, one of them, was executed amidst opposition from several quarters.[citation needed] His measures brought several changes but his land reforms brought poverty to many families who were solely dependent on their small land holdings. NotesReferences
Further reading
| ||||||||||
