Thakur Devi Singh (born c. 1922 - died 1989) was a politician from

Himachal Pradesh Himachal Pradesh (; Sanskrit: ''himācāl prādes;'' "Snow-laden Mountain Province") is a States and union territories of India, state in the northern part of India. Situated in the Western Himalayas, it is one of the thirteen Indian Himalayan ...

, India. He was among the early major political figures from the Scheduled Tribes of Himachal Pradesh.

Personal life

Singh belonged to the Lahaul valley in the present-day

Lahaul and Spiti district The Lahaul and Spiti district is a high-altitude district in Himachal Pradesh, north India. This entirely mountainous district consists of two geographically distinct as well as formerly separate political-administrative units, called Lahaul ( ...

of Himachal Pradesh. He was born in Lahaul while Lahaul was still a part of the

Kangra district Kangra district is the most populous district of Himachal Pradesh, India. Dharamshala is the administrative headquarters of the district. History Kangra is known for having one of the oldest serving Royal Dynasty in the world, the Katoch of ...

of the Punjab Province of British India. His father was Seth Tenzin, who owned 500 goats and sheep. He went to Government School Katrain (in the

Kullu valley Kullu Valley is a broad open valley in Himachal Pradesh, India, formed by the Beas River between Manali and Larji. This valley is famous for its temples, beauty and its majestic hills covered with pine and deodar forest and sprawling apple or ...

) for his schooling, where in 1935, he first met Shiv Chand Thakur, also from Lahaul. Thereafter, both went to the Government High School in

Kullu Kullu () is a municipal council town that serves as the administrative headquarters of the Kullu district of the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. It is located on the banks of the Beas River in the Kullu Valley about north of the airport ...

. In 1944, Thakur Devi Singh and Thakur Shiv Chand became the first two graduates ever from Lahaul, when they completed their BA degrees from the

DAV College The D.A.V. College Managing Committee, commonly known as DAVCMC, is a non-governmental educational organisation in India and overseas with over 900 schools, 75 colleges and a university. It is based on the ideals of Dayananda Saraswati and Ar ...

, Lahore. Singh was active in the Indian Independence movement. The two closely collaborated over their careers in helping bring development to Lahaul and Spiti district - the former as a politician and the latter as an officer of the Himachal Administrative Service (H.A.S.).

Career

Thakur Devi Singh Bridge Downstream Chandra Tandi Lahaul Oct22 A7C 03354

In 1948, during the Indo-Pakistan War of 1947-48, Thakur Devi Singh, Thakur Nihal Chand, and Shiv Chand Thakur from Lahaul were instrumental in persuading and facilitating the

Indian army The Indian Army (IA) (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the Land warfare, land-based branch and largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Commander-in-Chief, Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head ...

to route its supplies to

Ladakh Ladakh () is a region administered by India as a union territory and constitutes an eastern portion of the larger Kashmir region that has been the subject of a Kashmir#Kashmir dispute, dispute between India and Pakistan since 1947 and India an ...

- then under attack from Pakistani forces - through Lahaul, via the

Rohtang Rohtang Pass (Rohtang , literally meaning "pile of corpses"Polgreen, Lydia. ''New York Times''. Accessed 31 July 2010.) is a high mountain pass (elevation ) on the eastern end of the Pir Panjal Range of the Himalayas around from Manali in t ...

and Baralacha passes. Thakur Devi Singh and Thakur Shiv Chand Thakur played key roles in the struggle that led to the Lahaul and Spiti district the status of a tribal area in 1952. In the 1960s, Singh served as the Block Development Officer of Lahaul. In this period, he worked with the IAS officer K.S. Bains in introducing disease-free seed potatoes to Lahaul.

Politics

In the 1967

Vidhan Sabha The State Legislative Assembly, also known as the Vidhan Sabha or the Saasana Sabha, is a legislative body in each of the states and certain union territories of India. Members of the legislative assembly are often directly elected to serve fiv ...

elections, Singh had contested and won the MLA seat for the Lahaul and Spiti assembly constituency as an independent candidate. In 1972, he contested this seat on a Lok Raj Party ticket, and lost to Lata Thakur. He won this seat in the 1977 elections on a

Janata Party The Janata Party (JP, ) is an unrecognised political party in India. Navneet Chaturvedi is the current president of the party since November 2021, replacing Jaiprakash Bandhu. The JP was established as an amalgam of Indian political partie ...

ticket, and in 1982 and 1985 on

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party, or simply the Congress, is a political parties in India, political party in India with deep roots in most regions of India. Founded on 28 December 1885, it was the first mo ...

tickets. During the first term of the Janata Party leader

Shanta Kumar Shanta Kumar Sharma (born 12 September 1934) is an Indian politician who was the 3rd Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh and a Union Minister in the Government of India. He is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party. He was elected to the 9th ...

as the Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh (1977-1980), Singh was appointed as a cabinet minister, and came to hold the post of forest minister.

Electoral performance

Memorials

* The district library of the Lahaul and Spiti district in the district headquarters at

Keylong Kyelang (also spelled Keylong) is a town and the administrative centre of the Lahaul and Spiti district in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh, north of Manali via Atal Tunnel and from the Indo-Tibetan border. It is located along the Mana ...

is named 'Thakur Devi Singh Memorial District Library'. * The bridge over the

Chandra River The Chenab River is a major river in India and Pakistan, and is one of the 5 major rivers of the Punjab region. It is formed by the union of two headwaters, the Chandra and Bhaga, which rise in the upper Himalayas in the Lahaul region of Himac ...

at Tandi in Lahaul is named 'Thakur Devi Singh Bridge'.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Singh, Thakur Devi People from Lahaul and Spiti district Janata Party politicians Indian National Congress politicians from Himachal Pradesh Himachal Pradesh MLAs 1967–1972 Himachal Pradesh MLAs 1977–1982 Himachal Pradesh MLAs 1982–1985 Himachal Pradesh MLAs 1985–1990