Ramrao Wamanrao Adik (24 December 1928 – 30 August 2007) was a

Maratha The Marathi people (Marathi: मराठी लोक) or Marathis are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group who are indigenous to Maharashtra in western India. They natively speak Marathi, an Indo-Aryan language. Maharashtra was formed as a ...

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

and a notable

lawyer A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solici ...

from Maharashtra. He was a member of the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British ...

and the

deputy chief minister of Maharashtra The Deputy Chief Minister Of Maharashtra is the deputy head of the executive branch of the Government of Maharashtra and the second highest ranking minister of the Council of Ministers. List of deputy chief ministers See also *List of govern ...

from 1984 to 1987. He died on 30 August 2007 in

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the secon ...

following a brief illness. His younger brother,

Govindrao Adik Govindrao Wamanrao Adik (4 January 1939 – 7 June 2015 ) was an Indian politician. He was a member of the Nationalist Congress Party and served as a Member of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha. He began his political career as a Member of th ...

, was a

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house ...

and a former Cabinet minister.

Early childhood

Born in "Khanapur" village, of Shrirampur Taluka, in Ahmednagar District of Maharashtra on 24 December 1928, Ramrao spent most of his childhood on the sugarcane farm in "Khanapur" helping his father Wamanrao Adik. In a household of five siblings, Ramrao was the eldest and the most ambitious. He obtained his law degree at ILS College Pune in 1955 after which he went on to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

to become a barrister. After returning from England, he practiced

civil law Civil law may refer to: * Civil law (common law), the part of law that concerns private citizens and legal persons * Civil law (legal system), or continental law, a legal system originating in continental Europe and based on Roman law ** Private la ...

in the

Bombay High Court The High Court of Bombay is the high court of the states of Maharashtra and Goa in India, and the union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu. It is seated primarily at Mumbai (formerly known as Bombay), and is one of the ...

, where he quickly rose through the ranks as a

and was elevated to the position of an advocate general. Since then his name became quite famous among political circles of Maharashtra.

Political career

After being appreciated as a skilled lawyer by the then

prime minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...

Indira Gandhi, he was asked to join the

. Ramrao Adik saw this as a good platform to serve the people of Maharashtra. In his pursuit for the welfare of the people of Maharashtra, he had also set up a small organization with a regional mandate for

Marathi Marathi may refer to: *Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India *Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people *Palaiosouda, also known as Marathi, a small island in Greece See also * * ...

speaking people called Maharashtra Hitwardhini, which was later to be taken over by

Bal Thackeray Bal Thackeray (; 23 January 1926 – 17 November 2012), also known as Balasaheb Thackeray, was an Indian politician who founded the Shiv Sena, a right-wing pro-Marathi and Hindu nationalist party active mainly in the state of Maharashtra ...

and become the present day

Shiv Sena Shiv Sena (IAST: ''Śiva Sēnā'') () was a Right-wing politics, right-wing to Far-right politics, far-right Marathi people, Marathi Regionalism (politics), regionalist and Hindu nationalism, Hindu ultranationalist political party in India f ...

. Ramrao Adik also addressed several public rally's in support of

in its initial phases. Ramrao Adik had served as an Advocate General of Maharashtra, a Law Minister, and in a few years he would become the

in 1984. He held several key portfolios, including Finance,

Urban Development Urban means "related to a city". In that sense, the term may refer to: * Urban area, geographical area distinct from rural areas * Urban culture, the culture of towns and cities Urban may also refer to: General * Urban (name), a list of people ...

Housing Housing, or more generally, living spaces, refers to the construction and housing authority, assigned usage of houses or buildings individually or collectively, for the purpose of Shelter (building), shelter. Housing ensures that members of so ...

, Industry, and

Revenue In accounting, revenue is the total amount of income generated by the sale of goods and services related to the primary operations of the business. Commercial revenue may also be referred to as sales or as turnover. Some companies receive rev ...

, in the state cabinet under various chief ministers in the following years. His most successful tenure was in 1991, when he served as a

finance minister A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", ...

and drafted a surplus budget of Rupees 272 Crore/approx US$60 million, for the state of Maharashtra. His name emerges amongst the longest-serving Cabinet ministers in the State of Maharashtra, due to his neutral standpoints and diligent administration. Adik had an interest in the field of education with a university in his name. He preferred to keep himself busy as a lawyer until his last years of life. "''Being a Lawyer is what I love when I am not a politician''" he quoted when asked about his preference of politics over legal practice by a judge of the

. The

president of India The president of India ( IAST: ) is the head of state of the Republic of India. The president is the nominal head of the executive, the first citizen of the country, as well as the commander-in-chief of the Indian Armed Forces. Droupadi Mur ...

Shrimati Shrimati or Shreemati ( sa, श्रीमती, translit=Śrīmatī), abbreviated Smt., is a widely accepted Indian honorific (akin to Ms. in English) used when referring to an adult woman in some Indian languages, including Bengali, Hindi ...

Pratibha Patil Prathibha DeviSingh Patil (born 19 December 1934) is an Indian politician and lawyer who served as the 12th president of India spanning from 2007 to 2012. She is the first woman to become the president of India. A member of the Indian National ...

condoled his death and expressed grief over the loss of a noted

statesman A statesman or stateswoman typically is a politician who has had a long and respected political career at the national or international level. Statesman or Statesmen may also refer to: Newspapers United States * ''The Statesman'' (Oregon), a n ...

on his death. He was also honored with a full court reference by the

for his contribution to the field of law.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Adik, Ramrao 1928 births 2007 deaths Deputy Chief Ministers of Maharashtra Advocates General for Indian states People from Shrirampur Marathi politicians Nationalist Congress Party politicians from Maharashtra Indian National Congress politicians from Maharashtra 20th-century Indian lawyers Indian National Congress (U) politicians