Balasaheb Desai (Daulatrao Shripatrao Desai; 10 March 1910 – 24 April 1983) was a politician and social worker from

Maharashtra Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to th ...

, India, who held important positions in the

state government as home minister, education minister and cultural minister during the initial formation of the Maharashtra state.
-
- He was instrumental in establishing

Shivaji University Shivaji University, established in 1962, is a state university located at Kolhapur, Maharashtra, India. The university, with a campus spread over , is named in honour of Chatrapati Shivaji. It was inaugurated on 18 November 1962 by Dr. Radh ...

Kolhapur Kolhapur () is a city on the banks of the Panchganga River in the southern part of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Kolhapur is one of the most significant cities in South Maharashtra and has been a hub of historical, religious, and cultural a ...

in 1962.

Career

Desai started his law practice in Patan,

Karad Karad is a city in Satara district of Indian States and territories of India, state of Maharashtra. It is located 302 km (180.19 miles) from Mumbai, 74 km from Sangli and 162 km from Pune. It lies at the confluence of Koyna R ...

, Satara district. In 1940, he campaigned for election to the district local board and was elected president. In 1952, he was elected as the

member of the legislative assembly A Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) is a representative elected to sit in a legislative assembly. The term most commonly refers to members of the legislature of a federated state or an autonomous region, but is also used for several nation ...

(MLA) from Patan and was re-elected in 1957. In the same year, he became a state cabinet minister. He was the main minister in the bilingual state government of

Bombay state Bombay State was a large Indian state created in 1950 from the erstwhile Bombay Province, with other regions being added to it in the succeeding years. Bombay Province (in British India roughly equating to the present-day Indian state of Mah ...

as well as Maharashtra's government. He played a leading role in the Samyukta Maharashtra Movement and dealt firmly with any outbreaks of violence during its activities in Bombay. In 1960, Desai was education minister of Maharashtra state. He insured that children of the poor, those whose incomes were not more than Rs.1200 per annum, received an education through Economically Backward Classes (E.B.C.) facilities. In 1962, he became agriculture minister and in the same year he was asked to take on the responsibility of being the home minister. In the history of Maharashtra government, Desai is seen as one of strongest home ministers to date. He took steps to make the Home and Police Department strong and reliable. He handled many critical situations during his term as home minister including the outbreak of violence by members of the Samyukta Maharashtra Movement in Bombay (now Mumbai). On 11 December 1967, a disastrous earthquake took place in Patan. His tireless work to help the people of Maharashtra recover from the disaster was widely appreciated. He came to be known as a true leader of the poor. The journalist Pralhad Keshav Atre called him "''Loknete''". He was elected MLA for his constituency three times and secured a place in the cabinet of the Maharashtra government. He was speaker of

Maharashtra Vidhan Sabha The Maharashtra Legislative Assembly (ISO: ''Mahārāṣṭra Vidhāna Sabhā'') is the lower house of the bicameral legislature of Maharashtra state in western India. It consists of 288 members directly elected from single-seat constituencie ...

from 4 July 1977 to 14 March 1978. In 1978–79 he was president of Maharashtra Assembly.

Co-operative movement

Desai established a sugar factory called Loknete Balasaheb Desai Sahakari Sakhar Karkhana in Patan. This sugar mill was started as a

co-operative A cooperative (also known as co-operative, coöperative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democr ...

to provide stability and the opportunity for growth for farmers in the region. Desai worked closely with leading co-operative leaders in Maharashtra such as

Yashwantrao Chavan Yashwantrao Balwantrao Chavan (Marathi pronunciation: əʃʋənt̪ɾaːʋ t͡səʋʱaːɳ 12 March 1913 – 25 November 1984) was an Indian freedom fighter and politician who served as 8th Minister of Finance from 1970 to 1971 and 1971 to 19 ...

, Vasantdada Patil and Gulabrao Patil.

Shivaji University, Kolhapur

Desai was an educational minister in the first cabinet of the Maharashtra government in 1960. He was instrumental in establishing Shivaji University in Kolhapur in 1962. He also established Balasaheb Desai College of Arts and Science in 1969 at Patan.

References

External links

स्व.लोकनेते बाळासाहेब देसाई.
(in Marathi)
Balasaheb Desai College

"DESAI, Daulatrao Shripatrao, alias Balasaheb"
''India Who's Who 1969'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Desai, Balasaheb 1910 births 1983 deaths Bombay State politicians Maharashtra MLAs 1960–1962 Maharashtra MLAs 1972–1978 Marathi politicians Politicians from Kolhapur Maharashtra politicians Shivaji University people Speakers of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Bombay State MLAs 1957–1960 Bombay State MLAs 1952–1957