Jagjivan Ram

Jagjivan Ram (5 April 1908 – 6 July 1986),^[1] known popularly as Babuji, was an Indian independence activist and politician from Bihar. He was instrumental in the foundation of the All India Depressed Classes League, an organisation dedicated to attaining equality for untouchables, in 1935 and was elected to Bihar Legislative Assembly in 1937, after which he organised the rural labour movement.

In 1946, he became the youngest minister in

Jagjivan Ram was born at Chandwa liability in Arrah in Bihar into the CHAMAR caste of Indian Caste System.^[4] He had an elder brother, Sant Lal, and three sisters. His father Sobhi Ram was with the British Indian Army, posted at Peshawar, but later resigned due to some differences, and bought farming land in his native village Chandwa and settled there. He also became a Mahant of the Shiv Narayani sect, and being skilled in calligraphy, illustrated many books for the sect that were distributed locally.^[5][6]

Young Jagjivan attended a local school in January 1914. Upon the premature death of his father, Jagjivan and his mother Vasanti Devi were left in a harsh economic situation. He joined Aggrawal Middle School in

Jagjivan Ram passed his matriculation in the first division and joined the Banaras Hindu University (BHU) in 1927, where he was awarded the Birla scholarship, and passed his Inter Science Examination. While at BHU, he organised the scheduled castes to protest against social discrimination.^[8] As a Dalit student, he was denied basic services like meals in his hostel and haircuts by local barbers. A Dalit barber would arrive occasionally to trim his hair. Eventually, Jagjivan left BHU and continued his education at Calcutta University. In 2007, the BHU set up a Babu Jagjivan Ram Chair in its faculty of social sciences to study caste discrimination and economic backwardness.^[9][10]

He received a B. Sc. degree from the University of Calcutta in 1931, where again he organised conferences to draw attention toward issues of discrimination, and also participated in the anti-untouchability movement started by Mahatma Gandhi.^[8]

Early career

In 1935, he contributed to the establishment of the All-India Depressed Classes League, an organisation dedicated to attaining equality for untouchables. He was also drawn into the Indian National Congress. In the same year he voted in favor of a resolution presented in the 1935 session of the Hindu Mahasabha demanding that temples and drinking water wells be opened up to Dalits;^[14] and in the early 1940s was imprisoned twice for his active participation in the Satyagraha and the Quit India Movements. He was among the principal leaders who publicly denounced India's participation in the World War II between the European nations and for which he was imprisoned in 1940.^[15]

Role in the Constitution

In the Constituent Assembly^[16] he advocated for the rights of Dalits and argued for affirmative action based on caste in elected bodies and government services.^{[citation needed]}

Parliamentary career

In 1946, he became the youngest minister in Jawaharlal Nehru's provisional government and also the subsequent First Indian Cabinet, as a Labour Minister, where he is credited for laying the foundation for several labour welfare policies in India.^[17] He was a part of the prestigious high-profile Indian delegation that attended the

He remained a member of Parliament right from the first election in 1952 till his death in 1986, after over forty years as a parliamentarian. He was elected from Sasaram parliament constituency in Bihar. His uninterrupted representation in the Parliament from 1936 to 1986 is a world record.

Positions held

Politics and government

• Member of the Central Legislature for over 30 years consecutively.^[16]
• He holds the record for being the longest-serving cabinet minister in India.^[16]
• Union Minister of Labour, 1946–1952.^[16]
• Union Minister for Communications, 1952–1956.^[16]
• Union Minister for Transport and Railways, 1956–1962.^[16]
• Union Minister for Transport and Communications, 1962–1963.^[16]
• Union Minister for Labour, Employment and Rehabilitation, 1966–1967.^[16]
• Union Minister for Food and Agriculture, 1967–1970.^[16]
• Union Minister of Defence, 1970–1974, 1977–1979.^[16]
• Union Minister of Agriculture and Irrigation, 1974–1977.^[16]
• President of Indian National Congress
• Founding Member, Congress for Democracy party (aligned with Janata Party), 1977.^[30]
• Deputy Prime Minister of India, 24 January 1979 – 28 July 1979.^[31]
• Founder,
  Congress (J).^[32]

• He served as President of
  the Bharat Scouts and Guides from September 1976 to April 1983.^[33]

To propagate his ideologies, the 'Babu Jagjivan Ram National Foundation' has been set up by

Govt. of India in Delhi.^[37]

The training academy for Railway Protection Force officers is named after Jagjivan Ram.[38]

The first indigenously built electric locomotive, a WAM-1 model, was named after him and was recently restored by the Eastern Railway.^[39]

In 2015, the Babu Jagjeevan Ram English Medium Secondary School was established in Mahatma Gandhi Nagar, Yerawada, Pune. As of March 2016, the school serves 125 7th and 8th graders from Yerawada. The school honours Babuji and his advocacy of education and opportunity for all people of lower castes by being the first Pune Municipal Corporation public school to offer education past the 7th grade.^[40]

He also has a hospital named in his honour – Jagjivan Ram Hospital – in the Mumbai Central Area of Mumbai.^{[citation needed]}

References

1. ^ Jagjivan Ram at the Encyclopædia Britannica
2. ^ Swaminathan, M. S. (7 February 2008). "Jagjivan Ram & inclusive agricultural growth". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 10 February 2008.
3. ^ ^{a b} "Prez, PM call for a second green revolution". The Times of India. 6 April 2008. Archived from the original on 24 October 2012. Retrieved 27 August 2009.
4. ^ "INDIEN : In den Staub - DER SPIEGEL 35/1979". Der Spiegel. 26 August 1979.
5. ^ ^{a b} Profile Jagjivan Ram:Early life Archived 9 April 2011 at the Wayback Machine
6. ^
   ISBN 81-7041-496-2
   .
7. ^ "Our Inspiration - BABU JAGJIVAN RAM". Indian Congress. Jagjivan Ram's biography by Indian Congress mentioning their studies.
8. ^
   Govt. of India
   .
9. The Telegraph (Kolkata). 1 November 2007. Archived from the original
   on 3 February 2013. Retrieved 25 August 2009.
10. IT-BHU. August 2007. Archived from the original
    on 9 March 2009. Retrieved 25 August 2009.
11. ^ "Valedictory Centenary Lecture by President of India on Jagjivan Ram Centenary Function". President of India website. 5 April 2008.
12. ^ Past Presidents Archived 5 May 2009 at the Wayback Machine Indian National Congress INC Official website.
13. ^ "Learning the Use of Symbolic Means: Dalits, Ambedkar Statues and the State in Uttar Pradesh". 18 April 2019.
14. ^ "All-India Hindu Maha Sabha, 17th Session Poona, December 1935, Full Text Of Resolutions". INDIAN CULTURE. 1935. p. 4.
15. ^ "Jagjivan Ram an example of development politics". The Hindu. 6 April 2007. Archived from the original on 5 January 2010.
16. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k} "Jagjivan Ram". Constituent Assembly Debates. Centre for Law and Policy Research. Archived from the original on 15 June 2018. Retrieved 15 June 2018.
17. ISBN 978-0521805308
    . Retrieved 12 September 2017.
18. ^ Kamat. "Biography: Anugrah Narayan Sinha". Kamat's archive. Retrieved 25 June 2006.
19. ^ Nehru, Jawaharlal (1984). Selected works of Jawaharlal Nehru, Volume 14, Part 2. Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fund. p. 340.
20. ISBN 9788170229247
    .
21. ^ Haqqi, Anwarul Haque (1986). Indian Democracy at the Crossroads I. New Delhi: Mittal Publications. p. 122.
22. ISBN 978-0521453622
    .
23. ^ "Babu Jagjivan Ram Bhavan to be built". The Hindu. 6 April 2007. Archived from the original on 6 December 2007.
24. ^ "Emergency: Memories of the dark midnight". The Hindu, Business Line. 25 June 2005.
25. ISBN 81-7017-061-3
    .
26. ISBN 9788170229247
    .
27. ISBN 9788170170617
    .
28. ^ "Niece vs aunt in battle for Jagjivan Ram legacy". Indian Express. 20 March 2014.
29. ^ Andersen, Walter K.. India in 1981: Stronger Political Authority and Social Tension, published in Asian Survey, Vol. 22, No. 2, A Survey of Asia in 1981: Part II (Feb. 1982), pp. 119-135
30. ISBN 81-7017-061-3
    .
31. ^ "Babu Jagjivan Ram". Babu Jagjivan Ram National Foundation. Retrieved 4 July 2018.
32. ^ Andersen, Walter K. (1982) India in 1981: Stronger Political Authority and Social Tension, published in Asian Survey, Vol. 22, No. 2, A Survey of Asia in 1981: Part II. pp. 119–135
33. ^ Bharat Scouts and Guides. Bsgindia.org. Retrieved on 6 December 2018.
34. ^ "Confer Bharat Ratna on Jagjivan Ram: Naidu". The Hindu. 6 April 2006. Archived from the original on 5 November 2007.
35. ^ "Tributes paid to Jagjivan Ram". The Hindu. 6 April 2007. Archived from the original on 5 November 2012.
36. ^ "Jagjivan Ram's services recalled". The Hindu. 6 April 2009. Archived from the original on 10 April 2009.
37. ^ "A brief on Babu Jagjivan Ram National Foundation" (PDF). socialjustice.nic.in. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 April 2009.
38. ^ "Ministry of Railways (Railway Board)". www.indianrailways.gov.in. Retrieved 12 February 2019.
39. ^ "Reincarnation of WAM1 20202 Jagjivan Ram". www.irfca.org. Retrieved 12 February 2019.
40. ^ "The Need at iTeach Schools". iteachschools.org. Archived from the original on 15 March 2016.

Further reading and bibliography

• Ram, Jagjivan; Shachi Rani Gurtu (1951). Jagjivan Ram on labour problems. Ram.
• Ram, Jagjivan (1980). Caste challenge in India. Vision Books.
• Sharma, Devendra Prasad (1974). Jagjivan Ram: the man and the times. Indian Book Co.
• Chanchreek, Kanhaiyalal (1975). Jagjivanram: a select bibliography, 1908–1975.
  S. Chand
  .
• Singh, Nau Nihal (1977). Jagjivan Ram: symbol of social change. Sundeep Prakashan.
• Ram, Jagjivan (1977). Four decades of Jagjivan Ram's parliamentary career. S. Chand.
• Ramesh Chandra, Sangh Mittra (2003). Jagjivan Ram And His Times. Commonwealth Publishers.
  ISBN 81-7169-737-2
  .
• Secretariat, Lok Sabha (2005). Babu Jagjivan Ram in parliament: a commemorative volume. Lok Sabha Secretariat.
• Maurya, Dr. Omprakash. Babu Jagjivan Ram. Publications Division,
  Govt. of India
  .
• Dr.U., Subramanian. Babu Jagjivan Ram. Tamilvendanpathippagam.
• "Valedictory Centenary Lecture by President of India on Jagjivan Ram Centenary Function". President of India website. 5 April 2008.
• "PM's Address at Babu Jagjivan Ram Centenary Seminar on Agriculture". ICAR. 7 February 2008.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Jagjivan Ram.

• Babu Jagjivan Ram, Tribute website
• Babu Jagjivan Ram, Info website
• Babu Jagjivan Ram, a Centenary Celebrations Special
• http://cadindia.clpr.org.in/constituent_assembly_members/jagjivan_ram Archived 15 June 2018 at the Wayback Machine

Political offices
Preceded by Bansi Lal	Minister of Defence 1977–1979	Succeeded by Chidambaram Subramaniam
Preceded by Morarji Desai	Deputy Prime Minister of India 1979–1979 Served alongside: Charan Singh	Succeeded by Yashwantrao Chavan
Preceded by Sardar Swaran Singh	Minister of Defence 1970–1974	Succeeded by Sardar Swaran Singh
Honorary titles
Preceded by Dharma Vira	President of the Bharat Scouts and Guides 1976–1983	Succeeded by Shankarrao Chavan