Contribution of Yashawantrao Chavan in the development of Maharashtra
Dr. Shubhangi Rathi
Associate
Professor,Head of political Science Dept.
Smt.
P.K. Kotecha Mahila College, Bhusawal
This Year is celebrated Yashawantrao Chavan’s (12
March 1913 – 25 November 1984) birth century in Maharashtra. He was responsible
for many development initiatives in the Maharashtra. He is best defined as the Architect of Modern
Maharashtra and first Chief Minister of Maharashtra after
the division of Bombay State and the fifth Deputy Prime Minister of India. He
was a strong Congress leader, Cooperative leader, social activist and writer.
He was popularly known as Leader of Common People. He advocated socialist
democracy in his speeches and articles and was instrumental in establishing
co-operatives in Maharashtra for the betterment of the farmers.
Aims of this paper are to know the Yashawantrao
Chavan’s contribution and role in developing the state of Maharashtra. In a career spanning 40
years, Yashwantrao’s valuable contribution was guiding the politics of
Maharashtra in the right direction in a balanced and non-discriminative manner.
He has always been described as a sponge for knowledge, highly creative,
cultured and intellectual leader and a disciplined statesman who dealt with
everyone including the opposition respectfully.
Early Life:
Yashawantrao Chavan was born
in Devrashtre village in Satara district in 1913. His mother Vithabai who
nurtured and groomed him. His mother gave him valuable
lessons in Self-dependency and patriotism. Yashwantrao’s
father Balwantrao died of Plague. After completing primary education at
Devarashtre, he went to Karad for further education. He passed vernacular final
examination from Karad’s Kendra School and got admission in Tilak High School
in Karad. He was decided to participate in the freedom struggle. In the pre-independence period, during his school days at Karad,
he was imprisoned for 18 months for hoisting the tricolour. He was worked as a
reporter of ‘Dynanprakash’ for a year and a half. He was participated in the
Civil Disobedience Movement. He was Passed matriculation examination and took
admission in Rajaram College, Kolhapur. He came under the influence of M.N. Roy’s views.
So he
became founding member of the Socialist Party in Maharashtra. He was graduated
in History and Political Science from University of Bombay and took admission
in the Law College, Pune. After completing his education in law, on 2nd
June 1942, he was married with Venutai More of Phaltan. He was at the forefront in
Satara during the Quit India movement. He spent another two years in prison for
these efforts.
Political Life:
Yashawantrao Chavan was known that political influence is affecting the way other people look at policy
issues. Ideas, information, and analysis are important sources of political
persuasion and power. He influenced how we look at the nation– how we see
political issues, what problems are considered important, how political debates
are framed, and which policies are considered justified. His role &
contribution in union & state politics is befitted to development of
Maharashtra definitely. He was played an
important role in politics. Such as
·
In 1946, he was first elected as Member of Legislative Assembly
of the Bombay State from the South Satara constituency.
·
In the same year he was appointed as
parliamentary secretary to the Home Minister of Bombay State. In the next
government of Morarji Desai he was appointed as Minister of Civil Supplies,
Social Welfare and Forests.
·
In 1953 he was a signatory to the Nagpur Pact that assured
equitable development of all regions of what is now the state of Maharashtra.
In 1957, Yashwantrao Chavan was elected from the Karad constituency. This time he was elected as Leader
of Congress Legislative Party and became Chief Minister of the bilingual Bombay
state.
·
From 1957 to 1960 he also served on the All India Congress
Working Committee.
·
He
was one of the architects in the formation of Marathi speaking state of
Maharashtra, although he never joined the Samyukta Maharashtra Samiti(United
Maharashtra Movement). On 1 May 1960, Yashwantrao Chavan became the first Chief
Minister of Maharashtra.
·
Chavan's
vision for Maharashtra for the development envisaged the equal development of
both the industrial and agricultural sectors across all the regions of the
state. He sought to realize this vision through the co-operative movement. Legislation
regarding democratic decentralized bodies and the Agricultural Land Ceiling Act
were passed during his tenure as Chief Minister.
·
In 1962, after the resignation of Krishna Menon as
Defense Minister in 1962 in the wake of India-China Border Conflict, he was
given that portfolio by Prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru.
·
He
handled the delicate post-war situation firmly and took several decisions to
empower the armed forces and negotiated, along with Pandit Nehru, with China to
end the hostilities.
·
In 1965, he also
held the Defense portfolio in the Lal Bahadur Shastri Government during the
Indo-Pakistan War of September 1965. In the next general election 1967, Chavan
was elected unopposed as Member of Parliament from the Nashik parliamentary
constituency.
·
On 14 November 1966, he was appointed Home Minister of India
by Prime minister, Indira Gandhi.
·
On
26 June 1970, she appointed him the Finance Minister of India and the Foreign
Minister on 11 October 1974. In June 1975, an Internal State of Emergency was
declared in India by the Indira Gandhi Government. This period saw a severe
crackdown on leaders and parties opposed to Mrs. Gandhi's rule. Yashwantrao
remained in her Government during this period.
·
In the subsequent general elections 1977, the Congress was
routed with the party leader and Prime minister, Indira Gandhi herself losing
her parliamentary seat.
·
Therefore
in the new Parliament, Chavan was elected the Congress Party Parliamentary
leader. As Congress now the biggest opposition party, he became the Leader of
opposition.
·
In the general elections of 1980, Congress (I) won a majority
in Parliament and came to power under the leadership of Indira Gandhi.
·
In
this election, Yashwantrao Chavan was only candidate elected from Maharashtra
as a MP on a Congress (S) ticket.
·
In 1981, Yashwantrao returned to Congress (I) and was
appointed the Chairman of the Eight Finance Commission of India in 1982. He
died of a heart attack on 25 November 1984 in Delhi.
Contribution in Development of
Maharashtra:
It can be said that the roots of the
economic, financial and cultural development of the State of Maharashtra can be
found in the immense work done and the critical decisions taken by Yashwantrao
Chavan during his years in charge. Few important examples of the work done by
Yashwantrao Chavan are as follows:
- Initiation of the 3-tier system
of Panchayat Raj (Zilla Parishad, Panchayat Samiti, Gram Panchayat)
- Initiation of the Employment
Guarantee Scheme (EGS) and the Five Year Plans at the State level.
- Propagation of the bunds at
Kolhapur and facilitation of work at the dams of Koyna and Ujni.
- Foundation of 18 sugar
factories and support to the co-operative movement
- Foundation of the Marathwada
(now Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University) and Shivaji
Universities
- Major contribution in the
conceptualization of the foundation of Agro Universities in the State
- Foundation of the Marathi
Sahitya Sanskruti MahaMandal and VishwaKosh Mandal
This shows that the contribution of Yashwantrao Chavan,
the State of Maharashtra stands out in various fields of national importance. Chavan's vision for Maharashtra for the development envisaged the
equal development of both the industrial and agricultural sectors across all
the regions of the state. He sought to realize this vision through the
co-operative movement. Legislation regarding democratic decentralized bodies
and the Agricultural Land Ceiling Act was passed during his tenure as Chief
Minister.
Yashwantrao not entered politics; he
would definitely have made an excellent litterateur. He shared good bonds with
the likes of TarkaTeerth LakshmanShastri Joshi and the
distinguished Sanskrit and Hindu scholar and N. D. Mahanor, the well known
poet. He would regularly attend poem recital concerts. His literary ability is
evident in his books like Krishnakath and Runanubandh
Yashwantrao Chavan took a keen
interest in literature. He established the Marathi Sahitya Mandal and supported
the Marathi Sahitya Sammelan(Conference). He was very closely associated with
many poets, editors and several Marathi and Hindi writers. He initiated
compilation of Marathi Vishwakosh (a Marathi language encyclopedia). For this,
he nominated Lakshman Shastri Joshi as a chairman. He had planned to write his
autobiography in three parts. The first part covers his early years in Satara
district. Since his native place is situated on the banks of Krishna River he
named the first volume as "Krishna Kath". His years as the Chief Minister
of the bilingual Bombay state and later as that of the newly formed Maharashtra
state were spent in Mumbai and so the proposed name for the second volume was
"Sagar Tir". Later in 1962 he was appointed Defence Minister of India
by Nehru.
In 1985,
Yashwantrao Chavan Pratishtan (Memorial) was established in Mumbai. The
objective of setting up the memorial was to "perpetuate his memory by
acknowledging his rich, outstanding and valuable contribution to society and
democratic institution and development process in India's socio-political life
and to undertake activities and programme particularly for the elevation of
common man and promote his cherished ideas nurtured in freedom struggle and
thereby strengthening Socio-economical fiber of India." In 1984, an engineering
college named Yeshwantrao Chavan College of Engineering was established in
Nagpur. In 1989, an Open University named 'Yashwantrao Chavan Maharashtra Open
University' was established at Nasik in Maharashtra
Yashawantrao Chavan also shined in Central Government politics.
His thoughts are very fruitful to take decisions on
various issues like defence, Home, Finance, and External Affairs Minister in
Central Government. He had shown the diplomat, practical skill and an
impression about international knowledge at national and international level. When
he was appointed as External Affairs Minister in 1974. He wrote two books on
“India’s Foreign Policy” and “Foreign Visits”. He delivered speeches in UNO
about Global vision and the role of India. He wrote letters to his wife on it
which is guidelines to next generations. He made the politics on the roots of thoughts,
morality, faith, loyalty, and reliance and sacrifice for the people, for the
society, for the state, and for the nation. Why it is said that his death on
25th November 1984 was the loss of Modern History of Contemporary Maharashtra.
Yashwantrao Balwantrao Chavan contribution towards democratic institution
building and development processes in India`s socio-political life and to
undertake activities and programs particularly for the elevation of the common
man and promote his cherished ideals nurtured in the freedom struggle and
thereby strengthens socio economic and political fiber of India.
References:
1.
Khobrekar, V. G. (ed.): Yeshwantrao Chavan, Selected Speeches
(Marathi) in State Legislature(1946-62) Vol I, Yashwantrao Chavan Pratishtan
Mumbai,1989.
2.
Patil, Viththalrao : Maharashtrache Shilpakar Yashawantrao
Chavan, Maharashtra Rajya Sahitya Ani Sanskriti Mandal, Mumbai, 2002.
3.
http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report_samyukta-maharashtra-movement-united-all-opponents-against-the-congss_1377469
4.
http://www.spokeo.com/Yashwantrao+Chavan+1
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