Sir Manubhai Nandshankar Mehta CSI (22 July 1868 – 14 October 1946) was the dewan of

Baroda state Baroda State was a state in present-day Gujarat, ruled by the Gaekwad dynasty of the Maratha Confederacy from its formation in 1721 until its accession to the newly formed Dominion of India in 1949. With the city of Baroda (Vadodara) as its c ...

from 9 May 1916 to 1927. From 1927 to 1934, he was the prime minister of Bikaner state.

Life

He was born on 22 July 1868 to Nandshankar Mehta. He was educated at Elphinstone College in Bombay. He was Professor of Logic and

Philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...

and a lecturer in law at Baroda College in 1891-1899. He was the private secretary to HH Maharaja Gaekwad of Baroda state from 1899 to 1906 and revenue minister and first councillor from 1914 to 1916. He was also dewan of Baroda state from 9 May 1916 to 1927. Then Maharaja Ganga Singh of Bikaner state brought Manu Bhai Mehta from the Baroda state and made him the first prime minister and chief councillor of the Bikaner state in 1927. He worked there until 1934 and, until 1940, continued as councillor of Bikaner. He fixed the retirement age at 58 years for the employees of the Bikaner state from 55 years. He was a delegate on behalf of the Indian States to the three Round Table Conferences in London. Mehta acted as a substitute in the absence of the Maharaja Ganga Singh of Bikaner. Similarly, he attended the World Hygiene Conference in 1933 and was in the Indian States' delegation to the Joint Parliamentary Committee in 1933. He was appointed home minister of Gwalior state in 1937. He was considered one of the major architects of Baroda's reforms. He led an effort to proselytize constitutional, democratic reforms throughout princely India through the organ of the Chamber of Princes beginning in the 1920s. This was called as "Mehta strategy" by Copland. By the late 1940s, virtually all major states had adopted some measure of reform including Bikaner, Kotah, Jaipur,

Alwar Alwar (Pronunciation: Help:IPA/Hindi and Urdu, �lʋəɾ is a city located in India's National Capital Region (India), National Capital Region and the administrative headquarters of Alwar district, Alwar District in the state of Rajasthan. ...

, Dholpur and Gwalior. Mehta died on 14 October 1946. He was the father of

Hansa Mehta Hansa Jivraj Mehta (3 July 1897 – 4 April 1995) was a reformist, social activist, educator, independence activist, feminist and writer from India. Early life Hansa Mehta was born in a Nagar Brahmin family on 3 July 1897. She was a daughter ...

References

External links

Princely States of India A-J

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mehta, Manubhai People from Gujarat 1868 births 1946 deaths University of Mumbai alumni Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda alumni Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda faculty History of Vadodara Diwans of Baroda Indian Knights Bachelor History of Bikaner Companions of the Order of the Star of India Knights Bachelor Administrators in the princely states of India Gujarati people