Hiralal Shastri

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Pandit Hiralal Shastri (24 November 1899 28 December

1974) was an Indian politician and the first chief minister of
Rajasthan state in northern India. He was in office from 7
April 1949 to 5 January 1951. N (2000).[1][2]

Hiralal Shastri

1st Chief Minister of Rajasthan
In office

Contents
1
2
3
4
5

Early life
Foundation of Banasthali Vidyapith
Political career
Honors
References

Early life

7 April 19495 January 1951

Preceded by

Manikya Lal Verma

Succeeded by

C S Venkatachari
Personal details

Born

24 November 1899
Jobner, Jaipur District

Died

28 December 1974 (aged 75)

Political party

Indian National Congress

Spouse(s)

Ratan Shastri

Religion

Hinduism

Hiralal Shastri was born at Jobner in Jaipur District in a

Website
peasant family. He completed his early education in Jobner.
Hiralal passed the degree of Sahitya Shastri in 1920. In 1921,
he stood first in the B.A. examination from Maharaja's College, Jaipur.

www.banasthali.org

He joined Jaipur State Service in 1921 and later became Secretary in the Home and Foreign Departments. He
resigned from the service in 1927.

Foundation of Banasthali Vidyapith

In 1929, Hiralal Shastri selected a remote and backward village Banasthali, 72 km from Jaipur and founded
'Jeevan Kutir' there. Here he trained a group of social workers and endeavoured to implement a programme of
rural reconstruction. On 6 October 1935 Hiralal Shastri and Ratan Shastri founded Banasthali Vidyapith in
memory of their daughter Shantabai.
From early childhood Hiralal Shastri had a burning desire to go to some village and devote his life to the service
of the downtrodden. Though he joined Jaipur State Service in 1921 and had a meteoric rise to become Secretary
in the Home and Foreign Departments, he resigned the same in 1927. While in administrative service he
displayed qualities of hard work, efficiency and fearlessness.
In 1929, in fulfillment of his childhood resolve, Hiralal Shastri selected a remote and backward village
Banasthali, 45 miles from Jaipur and founded 'Jeevan Kutir' there. Here he trained a band of dedicated social
workers and endeavoured to implement a programme of rural reconstruction. These workers later became the
heralds of political awakening in many of the Rajputana States.[3]

Political career

In 1937 he joined Jaipur Rajya Praja Mandal and he was twice elected General Secretary and twice President of
it. In 1939 he led the Praja Mandal's Satyagraha for achievement of civil liberties and suffered a six-months
imprisonment.
In 1947 he was appointed General Secretary of the All India States Peoples Conference. In the same year he
was elected to the Constituent Assembly.
On the installation of representative Government in Jaipur State on 27 March 1948 Hiralal Shastri became the
Prime Minister of the state[4] and when Rajasthan State was formed on 30 March 1949 he became its first Chief
Minister. He took initiatives to integrate the erstwhile princely states into an effective modern administration. He
resigned on 5 January 1951 and later became a member of the Second Lok Sabha. He died on 28 December
1974.[5]

Honors
The Indian Posts and Telegraphs Department issued a commemorative postage stamp in November, 1976 in
honour of Pandit Hiralal Shastri.

References
1. Transition from Feudalism to Democracy, Jaipur: Aalekh Publishers, ISBN 81-87359-06-4, p. 62
2. "Indian Government Webpage - Chief Minister's Photo Gallery".
3. "Banasthali University website-History".
4. Sharma, N (2000). Transition from Feudalism to Democracy, Jaipur: Aalekh Publishers, ISBN 81-87359-06-4, p.55
5. "Banasthali University website-Pt. Hiralal Shastri".

Preceded by
Manikya Lal Verma
title=Chief Minister of Rajasthan

{{{title}}}
19491951

Succeeded by
C S Venkatachari

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hiralal_Shastri&oldid=727383760"

Categories: 1899 births 1974 deaths Chief Ministers of Rajasthan Rajasthani people
Members of Constituent Assembly of India 2nd Lok Sabha members People from Jaipur district
Lok Sabha members from Rajasthan Chief ministers from Indian National Congress
This page was last modified on 28 June 2016, at 16:41.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may
apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia is a registered
trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.