Shankarrao Genuji Kolhe (24 March 1929 – 16 March 2022) was an Indian politician and 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) and a minister in

Government of Maharashtra The Government of Maharashtra is the executive branch of the Indian states of india, state of Maharashtra. The government is led by the List of chief ministers of Maharashtra, chief minister (currently Devendra Fadnavis since 5 December 2024) ...

Early life and education

Kolhe was born Yesgaon village, now in Kopargaon taluka,

Ahmednagar district Ahmednagar district (Marathi pronunciation: �ɦ(ə)məd̪nəɡəɾ, officially Ahilyanagar district, is the largest district of Maharashtra state in western India. The historical city of Ahmednagar is the headquarters of the district. Ahmednagar ...

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 ...

. He attended Pune University to earn a B.Sc in

Agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

. He received a

Ford Foundation The Ford Foundation is an American private foundation with the stated goal of advancing human welfare. Created in 1936 by Edsel Ford and his father Henry Ford, it was originally funded by a $25,000 (about $550,000 in 2023) gift from Edsel Ford. ...

scholarship to receive additional training in the United States and Europe. In 1953, he travelled to

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in the state. The city is the core of the Salt Lake Ci ...

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

as an agricultural education program trainee.

Career

Political career

Kolhe began his political career as a

sarpanch A sarpanch, gram pradhan, mukhiya, or president is a decision-maker, elected by the village-level constitutional body of local self-government called the gram sabha (village government) in India. The sarpanch, together with other elected panchay ...

in 1950 and moved up to the state minister post. He was elected as an independent to the

Maharashtra Legislative Assembly 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 constituenci ...

in 1972. As a state minister he handled revenue (1991), transport (1992) portfolios. He was a perennial political opponent of the Vikhe-Patil family. In 1970s, he led farmers March to Reserve Bank of India, Mumbai to demand a reduction in interest rates on loan to farmers. He served as the vice-chairman of the Shri Saibaba Sansthan Trust, Shirdi from 2004 to 2012. He was on the executive committee of

Rayat Shikshan Sanstha Rayat Shikshan Sanstha is an educational society based in Satara, Maharashtra, India. It operates 34 colleges in Paschim Maharashtra. History In 1882, Jyotirao Phule made a demand for providing free education for all. The social reforms move ...

Cooperative sector work

Kolhe was known for his work in the

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

sector. His work started in 1953 when he formed a

taluka A tehsil (, also known as tahsil, taluk, or taluka () is a local unit of administrative division in India and Pakistan. It is a subdistrict of the area within a district including the designated populated place that serves as its administrative ...

-level cooperative (''Kopargaon Taluka Vikas Mandal'') in Kopargaon to aid farmers. In 1963, he founded the cooperative sugar factory ''Sahakar Maharshi Shankarrao Kolhe Sahakari Sakhar Karkhana Ltd.'' (previously ''The Sanjivani (Takli) Sahakari Sakhar Karkhana Ltd.'') near Sahajanand Nagar, Shingnapur in

Kopargaon Kopargaon is a town and municipality located in the Ahmednagar district of the Indian state of Maharashtra Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It i ...

. He also started the National Heavy Engineering Co-operative Ltd. in Pune, Godavari (Khore) Co-operative Milk Society (1976),

Death

Kolhe died in Nashik on 16 March 2022 at the age of 92.

References

External links

Timeline
in

Marathi Marathi may refer to: *Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India **Marathi people (Uttar Pradesh), the Marathi people in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh *Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Mar ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kolhe, Shankarrao Genuji 1929 births 2022 deaths Indian social workers Indian National Congress politicians from Maharashtra Nationalist Congress Party politicians from Maharashtra People from Ahmednagar district Maharashtra MLAs 1972–1978 Maharashtra MLAs 1978–1980 Maharashtra MLAs 1980–1985 Maharashtra MLAs 1990–1995 Maharashtra MLAs 1995–1999 Maharashtra MLAs 1999–2004