Devi Das Thakur (9 December 1929 – 3 February 2007) was an Indian politician and a former Governor of Assam.

Early life

Thakur was born in the village of Batroo of

Tehsil A tehsil (, also known as tahsil, taluka, or taluk) is a local unit of administrative division in some countries of South Asia. It is a subdistrict of the area within a district including the designated populated place that serves as its administr ...

Pogal paristan (Ukhral), District Ramban, on 9 December 1929 in a Rajput family. Thakur was most notable for his socio-economic amelioration works for the benefit of the people and land of Paristan, Pogal, and Guglidhaar. During the 1947 tribal invasion, he was a second-year student at Pratap College in Srinagar and trekked about 120 km by foot to reach Batroo. He graduated in

economics Economics () is the social science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and intera ...

with a diploma in

public administration Public Administration (a form of governance) or Public Policy and Administration (an academic discipline) is the implementation of public policy, administration of government establishment (public governance), management of non-profit establ ...

; he became the first and only graduate in Pogal Paristan in 1950. He was appointed a headmaster in Government High School, Pogal, in 1951. During this period, he met Shadi Lal Kotwal, an advocate in Ramban, who persuaded him to take higher education in the field of law. Although his father was economically not in a position to send Thakur for higher studies outside of the state, he sent his son to

Lucknow Lucknow (, ) is the capital and the largest city of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is also the second largest urban agglomeration in Uttar Pradesh. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and division ...

in 1952. Thakur completed his

Bachelor of Law Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...

degree in 1954 at Lucknow University.

Career

He started his law practice in Ramban and became a junior to Janardhan Taing at Ramban. After practicing in Ramban for four years, he moved to Jammu in 1959 and started practicing in the

Jammu and Kashmir High Court The High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh is the common high court for union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. It was established as the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir on 26 March 1928 by the Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir. The s ...

. In March 1973, he was promoted to judge of the High Court. In February 1975, he was inducted as the State Cabinet Minister after resigning as High Court Judge. He remained the Minister for Finance, Planning, Law, Food & Civil Supplies and Transport from 1975 to 1982. As a Minister for Food, Civil Supplies and Transport he tried to bring reform and launch a crusade against "Permit Raj and Dealer Raj". After resigning as a Cabinet Minister, he moved to

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...

and started his practice in Supreme Court as a senior advocate. He served as Deputy Chief Minister of J&K from 1984 to 1986. In April 1990, he was appointed Governor of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. Despite remaining outside his native area for most of his life, he continued to remain associated with the local people of his area. In 1990, while he was Governor of Assam, the state was hit by

ULFA The United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) (Assamese: সংযুক্ত মুক্তি বাহিনী, অসম) is an armed separatist organisation operating in the Northeast Indian state of Assam. It seeks to establish an indep ...

insurgency. Maintaining law and order was a tough and challenging job particularly after 27 November 1990, when President Rule was imposed in Assam. From April 1990 to February 1991, he tried to improve the law and order situation by integrating civil and police administration. He also provided security to the tea cultivators and sent teams of officers at regular intervals into the districts to address civilian concerns. As a Chairman of the Northeast Council, he visited the headquarters of all member states and prepared comprehensive developmental plans after consulting the public representatives and general

intelligentsia The intelligentsia is a status class composed of the university-educated people of a society who engage in the complex mental labours by which they critique, shape, and lead in the politics, policies, and culture of their society; as such, the in ...

for balanced regional development. As a constitutional jurist, he was consulted on some important constitutional matters by the

Government of India The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, c ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thakur, Devi Das 1929 births 2007 deaths Governors of Assam Deputy chief ministers of Jammu and Kashmir Judges of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court Jammu & Kashmir National Conference politicians 20th-century Indian judges