Ajit Kumar Mehta (born 3 February 1932 Fatehpur Bala,

Samastipur district Samastipur is one of the thirty-eight districts of Bihar in India. The district headquarters are located at Samastipur. The district occupies an area of 2904 km² and has a population of 4,261,566. History Samastipur became a district ...

(Bihar)) was member of 6th Lok Sabha from

Samastipur (Lok Sabha constituency) Samastipur Lok Sabha constituency is one of the 40 Lok Sabha (parliamentary) constituencies in Bihar state in eastern India. It is reserved for Scheduled Castes. Vidhan Sabha segments Samastipur Lok Sabha constituency comprises the following si ...

Bihar Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West ...

State,

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. He was elected to 7th, 11th and

12th Lok Sabha This is the list of members of the 12th Lok Sabha, (10 March 1998 – 26 April 1999) after the 1998 Indian general election held during February–March 1998. This was the second consecutive Lok Sabha, like the 11th Lok Sabha elections that d ...

from Samastipur. Before joining active politics, Mehta was an educationist, working as professor at Birla Institute of Technology Mesra. In his early age, he also worked as an

Indian independence activist The Indian independence movement consisted of efforts by individuals and organizations from a wide spectrum of society to obtain political independence from the British, French and Portuguese rule through the use of a many methods. This is a l ...

. Mehta was a member of

socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...

camp during Indian freedom struggle and had remained an active part of Azad Dasta (a rebel group constituted by Jayprakash Narayan) during Quit India movement.

Biography

Mehta was born on 3 February 1932 to Ram Khelawan Mehta in Fatehpur Bala village of

of Bihar in a Koeri family. An alumnus of Science College, Patna, Bihar College of Engineering, Patna and Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra, he worked as a professor and technologist after completing his education. Besides being an engineer, he also worked as a political and social worker. Mehta was inspired by his father Ram Khelawan Mehta, who was freedom fighter and his teacher Palakdhari Singh. He participated in Indian Freedom Struggle in his early childhood, as a result of which arrest warrants were issued against him. He was supported by his elder brother Chandra Bhanu Mehta; both of them were involved in revolutionary activities during the Quit India movement, 1942. During the same time, he came in contact with Karpoori Thakur and assisted the 'Azad Dasta', a rebel group made by socialist leaders during the 1942 Quit India movement. He along with his elder brother helped Vashishta Narayan Singh, a revolutionary, in seeking shelter after his escape from Darbhanga Jail. Until 1949, Mehta remained an active member of

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 E ...

, but later switched to

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of t ...

. He also remained member of Praja Socialist Party and Samyukta Socialist Party after leaving Congress in 1949. Later he became a member of

Janata Party The Janata Party ( JP, lit. ''People's Party'') was a political party that was founded as an amalgam of Indian political parties opposed to the Emergency that was imposed between 1975 and 1977 by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi of the Indian Nati ...

during 1977-79 and 1982. As an Engineer and Technologist he also worked as technical assistant for Gandak Project. Mehta was also engaged in pedagogy as Assistant Professor in B.I.T. Ranchi. He finally retired as Professor from the B.I.T. in 1992.

Political career

Mehta was elected to 6th Lok Sabha in 1978 and during 1979-82, he served as a member of Parliamentary Committee on Papers Laid on the Table. In 1980, he was re-elected to

7th Lok Sabha List of Members of the 7th Lok Sabha, (18 January 1980 – 31 December 1984) elected December 1979 – January 1980. The Lok Sabha (House of the People) is the lower house in the Parliament of India nine sitting members from Rajya Sabha were el ...

for his second term. His political achievements raised him to important position of whip of Janata Party in Lok Sabha. He subsequently became member of various other parliamentary committees like, Committee on Public Undertakings (1982–83), Committee on Estimates (1983–84), Committee on Public Accounts (1996–97), Committee on Human Resource Development (1998–99) and Committee on Petitions. In 1996, he was re-elected to

11th Lok Sabha General elections were held in India in April–May 1996 to elect the members of the 11th Lok Sabha. The result of the election was a hung parliament, which would see three Prime Ministers in two years and force the country back to the polls ...

for his third term. In 1998 Lok Sabha elections, he was again elected to 12th Lok Sabha becoming the Member of Parliament for four terms.

Social and cultural activities

Besides politics, Mehta also participated in many socio-cultural activities. He served as member of planning forum of Birla Institute of Technology and was involved in many projects pertaining to rural development, industrialization in rural areas and upliftment of the downtrodden. Mehta also served as president of Akhil Bharatiya Kushwaha Mahasabha from 1980-86.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mehta, Ajit Kumar 1932 births People from Samastipur district India MPs 1980–1984 India MPs 1977–1979 India MPs 1996–1997 India MPs 1998–1999 Lok Sabha members from Bihar Living people Rashtriya Janata Dal politicians Janata Party (Secular) politicians Janata Party politicians Janata Dal politicians Praja Socialist Party politicians Samyukta Socialist Party politicians Lok Dal politicians Indian independence activists

Biography

Political career

Social and cultural activities

See also

References