Dev Dyal Kushwaha was an Indian politician, who served as first agriculture minister for the state of

Jharkhand Jharkhand (; ) is a States and union territories of India, state in East India, eastern India. The state shares its border with the states of West Bengal to the east, Chhattisgarh to the west, Uttar Pradesh to the northwest, Bihar to the north ...

, after its formation. He was appointed as Minister for Agriculture in first Jharkhand government, which was led by Babu Lal Marandi. Kushwaha was a leader of

Bhartiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; , ) is a political party in India and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. BJP emerged out from Syama Prasad Mukherjee's Bharatiya Jana Sangh. Since 2014, ...

, who represented Hazaribagh Sadar Assembly constituency as Member of Legislative Assembly for three times. Before joining active politics he was associated with

pedagogy Pedagogy (), most commonly understood as the approach to teaching, is the theory and practice of learning, and how this process influences, and is influenced by, the social, political, and psychological development of learners. Pedagogy, taken ...

. Kushwaha won the assembly elections of 1990, 1995 and 2000 from Hazaribagh Assembly constituency. Besides, Babu Lal Marandi's cabinet, he also served as a minister in

Arjun Munda Arjun Munda (born 3 May 1968; ) is an Indian politician. He is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party, a former Chief Minister of the Indian state of Jharkhand and the former Minister of Tribal Affairs and Minister of Agriculture and Farmers' ...

's cabinet. In 2005 Jharkhand Assembly elections, he was defeated by

Saurabh Narain Singh Saurabh Narain Singh (born 21 January 1975), present Maharaja Bahadur of Ramgarh (Ramgarh Raj) since 17 October 2008, (Laxmi Niwas Palace, Padma, District Hazaribagh, Jharkhand, India) is a member of the 2nd & 3rd Vidhan Sabha of Jharkhand re ...

— the grandson of

Kamakhya Narain Singh Maharaja Kamakhya Narain Singh Bahadur (10 August 1916 – 7 May 1970) of Ramgarh, Jharkhand was the Maharaja Bahadur of Ramgarh Raj and later a politician. He belonged to the Rathore clan of Rajput. Early life and family He was educat ...

Biography

Born on 2 January 1936, Kushwaha was educated at Mahesara Middle School and later moved to Hazaribagh for his higher education. He was a member of

Koeri The Koeri (spelt as Koiry or Koiri), also referred to as Kushwaha and more recently self-described as Maurya in several parts of northern India are an Indian non-elite caste, found largely in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, whose traditional oc ...

caste. In 1955, he started working as a teacher and after some years, in 1969, he contested local bodies elections from Mahesara Panchayat. He was elected as Sarpanch (chief of rural local government) in 1972 and 1978. In 1980, he assumed the membership of

. Soon after joining BJP, he contested the legislative assembly elections in 1985, but was defeated. However, Kushwaha was able to win 1990 Assembly elections from Hazaribagh Assembly constituency as a candidate of BJP later. He followed this victory with two consecutive victories in assembly elections from same constituency in 1995 and 2000. He served as agriculture minister first and thereafter, he was also allotted Food and Civil Supplies and Building Construction department. Kushwaha shared good relationship with other BJP leaders like

Kailashpati Mishra Kailashpati Mishra (5 October 1923 – 3 November 2012) was an Indian politician. He was a leader of Jana Sangh, and later Bharatiya Janta Party. He was the Finance Minister from 1977 to 1979. He was Governor of Gujarat from May 2003 to July 2 ...

and

Atal Bihari Vajpayee Atal Bihari Vajpayee (25 December 1924 – 16 August 2018) was an Indian poet, writer and statesman who served as the prime minister of India, first for a term of 13 days in 1996, then for a period of 13 months from 1998 ...

. He was arrested and imprisoned several times for being a part of Vananchal Movement, a movement demanding separate state. Later, due to his dispute with Hazaribagh Member of Parliament,

Yashwant Sinha Yashwant Sinha (, born 6 November 1937) is an Indian politician and retired Indian Administrative Service officer. He served as the Minister of Finance from 1990 until 1991 under Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar and again from March 1998 to July ...

, he defected from BJP along with another politician Loknath Mahto. They both joined

All Jharkhand Students Union All Jharkhand Students Union or AJSU Party is a state political party of Jharkhand state, India. The party was founded on 22 June 1986, modelled after All Assam Students Union. AJSU was born out jharkhand separate statehood movement and portray ...

. During his tenure as Food and Civil Supplies minister in 2003, a food crisis erupted in Jharkhand, due to lack of coordination between Bihar State Food Corporation and

Food Corporation of India The Food Corporation of India (FCI) is a public sector company. It is under the ownership of Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, formed by the enactment of Food Corporation Act, 1964 by the Parliament of India. Its t ...

. Since, Jharkhand was formed few years back bifurcating the state of Bihar, a separate State Food Corporation of Jharkhand was not existing and lack of coordination with Bihar State Food Corporation had created severe food shortage in the state. Kushwaha took steps to counter the situation. He also took steps to sort out the debt trap situation faced by

cooperative bank Cooperative banking is retail and commercial banking organized on a cooperative basis. Cooperative banking institutions take deposits and lend money in most parts of the world. Cooperative banking, as discussed here, includes retail banking carr ...

s of the state. Besides, he ensured that the formation of

Land Development Bank A land development bank , abbreviated LDB, is a special kind of development bank in India. It is a quasi-commercial type that provides services such as accepting deposits, making business loans, and offering basic investment products. The main ...

shouldn't take place in Jharkhand, until the cooperative banks of state attain a healthy balance sheet. As agriculture minister, Kushwaha was also involved in a dispute with officials of agriculture department over a contractual appointment in

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and Grant (money), grants to the governments of Least developed countries, low- and Developing country, middle-income countries for the purposes of economic development ...

-sponsored Agricultural Technology Management Agency (ATMA) scheme. Kushwaha was also an enthusiastic supporter of the rights of peasants and labourers and he participated in several farmers' right movements. His inclusion into Arjun Munda's cabinet in 2004 was criticised by opposition leaders on the ground that a non bailable warrant was pending against him at the time of his appointment to the office. Kushwaha died in 2018, at a hospital in

Ranchi Ranchi (; ) is the capital city and also the largest district by population of the Indian state of Jharkhand. Ranchi was the centre of the Jharkhand movement, which called for a separate state for the tribal regions of South Bihar, northern ...

. He was suffering from breathing problem and was being diagnosed therein. His funeral was attended by several politicians of the Jharkhand, which includes, Bhubneshwar Prasad Mehta and Yashwant Sinha. In his lifetime, Kushwaha was an active member of Jharkhand unit of Kushwaha Mahasabha— an organisation working for socio-political rights of

Kushwaha Kushwaha (sometimes Kushvaha), is a community of the Indo-Gangetic Plain that has traditionally been involved in agriculture, including beekeeping. The term has been used to represent different sub-castes of the Kachhis, Kachhvahas, Koeris ...

caste.

References

Notes Citations {{Reflist Bharatiya Janata Party politicians from Jharkhand 1936 births Bihar MLAs 1995–2000 Bihar MLAs 1990–1995 Jharkhand MLAs 2000–2005 People from Jharkhand 2018 deaths People from Hazaribagh district State cabinet ministers of Jharkhand All Jharkhand Students Union politicians

Biography

See also

References