Jaya Prakash Narayana (born 14 January 1956), is an Indian

liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

politician and activist. He is the founder and president of

Lok Satta Party Lok Satta is a classical liberal political party in India, founded by Nagabhairava Jaya Prakash Narayana, a former I.A.S. officer and renowned activist from Andhra Pradesh. Since 1996, the Lok Satta Movement functioned as a non-governmental ...

. He served as a

Member of the Legislative Assembly A member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) is a representative elected by the voters of a constituency to a legislative assembly. Most often, the term refers to a subnational assembly such as that of a state, province, or territory of a country. ...

from

Kukatpally Kukatpally is a suburb located in north western part of Hyderabad in the Indian state of Telangana. It is the headquarters of Balanagar mandal in Malkajgiri revenue division of Medchal-Malkajgiri district. It was a municipality prior to its me ...

constituency of

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the ...

in India. In May 2014, he contested from

Malkajgiri Malkajgiri also known as Mallikarjuna Giri (Anicent Name) is a suburb of Hyderabad, Telangana, India. It is located in Medchal–Malkajgiri district and also Sub-District in Medchal District is the headquarters of Malkajgiri mandal in Malkajgi ...

as a

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

and lost. A former Indian public administrator and physician by education, he is the founder and General Secretary of Foundation for Democratic Reforms(NGO), an independent public-policy think-tank and research-resource centre. Narayana is also a political reformer and columnist. He is well known for his role in electoral reforms and the Right to Information (RTI) act. He has also written columns in Indian newspapers, such as ''

Times of India ''The Times of India'', also known by its abbreviation ''TOI'', is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by The Times Group. It is the third-largest newspaper in India by circulation and largest se ...

'', ''

The Economic Times ''The Economic Times'' is an Indian English-language business-focused daily newspaper. It is owned by The Times Group. ''The Economic Times'' began publication in 1961. As of 2012, it is the world's second-most widely read English-language bu ...

'', '' Financial Express'', ''

The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It began as a weekly in 1878 and became a daily in 1889. It is one of the Indian newspapers of record and the secon ...

'' and ''

Eenadu ''Eenadu'' () is the largest circulated Telugu-language daily newspaper of India sold mostly in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

Early life

Jayaprakash Narayan was born on 14 January 1956, in Naghbir, Maharashtra into a Telugu speaking family, and was raised in Godavarru Village from the age of 3, near

Vijayawada Vijayawada, formerly known as Bezawada, is the second largest city in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh and is a part of the state's Capital Region. It is the administrative headquarters of the NTR district. Its metropolitan region comprises N ...

, and pursued his education in Telugu Medium. Then after the age of 7, he along with his parents moved to another village, Vemanda near Indupally, Krishna District. He joined

Andhra Loyola College Andhra Loyola College (ALC or locally "Loyola College") is a private, Catholic higher education institution run by the Andhra Province of the Society of Jesus in Andhra Pradesh, India. It was founded by the Jesuits in 9 December 1953. History ...

in 1969 for his intermediate education. He obtained his medical degree from

Guntur Medical College Guntur Institute of Medical Sciences/Guntur Medical College is a medical college in Guntur, India. It offers graduate (master's) and undergraduate (bachelor's) courses in Medical Sciences. The college is affiliated to the NTR University of Hea ...

Civil service

Narayana joined public administration after making it to I.A.S. in 1980 standing All India Rank 4. He worked on agriculture, irrigation, technology, and youth rehabilitation projects in various capacities and in various districts of

and

Telangana Telangana (; , ) is a state in India situated on the south-central stretch of the Indian peninsula on the high Deccan Plateau. It is the eleventh-largest state and the twelfth-most populated state in India with a geographical area of and 3 ...

. Some of his achievements during his 16-year-long career in government include: * As Joint Collector, he created full and permanent employment for 8,000 youth from displaced families of the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant. * As Collector of East Godavari District, he spearheaded the reconstruction of drainage and irrigation network in

Krishna Krishna (; sa, कृष्ण ) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the eighth avatar of Vishnu and also as the Supreme god in his own right. He is the god of protection, compassion, tenderness, and love; and is one ...

, Prakasam and

Godavari The Godavari (IAST: ''Godāvarī'' �od̪aːʋəɾiː is India's second longest river after the Ganga river and drains into the third largest basin in India, covering about 10% of India's total geographical area. Its source is in Trimbakeshwa ...

deltas A river delta is a landform shaped like a triangle, created by deposition of sediment that is carried by a river and enters slower-moving or stagnant water. This occurs where a river enters an ocean, sea, estuary, lake, reservoir, or (more rarel ...

. * As Collector of Prakasam district, he successfully mobilized farmers on a large scale to take up irrigation schemes to bring a record two lakh acres under irrigation. * He strengthened the credit cooperatives by making them independent of government control. * Served as a Secretary to both Governor Krishna Kant and the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh N.T. Rama Rao. He also has several major policy initiatives to his credit. * Empowerment of parents in schools. * Speedy justice through rural courts. * Economic reforms and restructuring of AP. * Development of the Infocity

HITEC City The Hyderabad Information Technology and Engineering Consultancy City, abbreviated as HITEC City, is an Indian information technology, engineering, health informatics, and bioinformatics, financial business district located in Hyderabad, Tela ...

(Hyderabad Information Technology Engineering Consultancy City) in Hyderabad to facilitate the growth of the software industry. * Empowerment of local governments and stakeholders. * The much-acclaimed law for self-reliant cooperatives (1995).

Social reforms

Narayana's experience in the government convinced him that the faulty governance process is the biggest hurdle in India’s path of progress and Indians achieving greater success. What India needs today is a fundamental change in the rules of the game and not a periodic change of players. In order to translate his vision into practical reality, he resigned from the I.A.S in 1996 so that he could work on the grassroots movement for

good governance Good governance is the process of measuring how public institutions conduct public affairs and manage public resources and guarantee the realization of human rights in a manner essentially free of abuse and corruption and with due regard for th ...

. Narayan talked about the efficacy of reforms in the governance and

Economy of Andhra Pradesh The GSDP at constant (2011–12) Prices for the year 2018-19 (Advance Estimates) is estimated at 850,000 crores as against 490,134 crores for 2015-16 (First Revised Estimates) indicating a growth of 11.61%. Per Capita Income at current prices i ...

among several other issues on various platforms in educational and political institutes. He emphasizes that

democracy Democracy (From grc, δημοκρατία, dēmokratía, ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which people, the people have the authority to deliberate and decide legislation ("direct democracy"), or to choo ...

is for the people, of the people and by the people.

Political and administrative reforms

Narayana has served on the following panels: * the

National Advisory Council The National Advisory Council (NAC) of India was a unconstitutional body set up by the first United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government to advise the Prime Minister of India Manmohan Singh. Sonia Gandhi served as its chairperson for much of ...

(NAC) for the implementation of the National Common Minimum Programme (CMP), July 2004 through August 2006 * Vigilance Advisory Council, constituted by the Central Vigilance Commission, November 2004 * Second Administrative Reforms Commission constituted by the Government of India in September 2005 * National Rural Health Mission of India Task Force, 2005 to 2007.

Foundation For Democratic Reforms

Narayana is the founder member of Foundation for Democratic Reforms (FDR) and currently serves as its general secretary. FDR is one of India's leading think-tanks and research-resource centers for formulating and promoting fundamental reforms in political, electoral and governance spheres and in critical areas of state policy.

India's Future Foundation

Narayana is Adviser of India's Future Foundation, A free market educational foundation that promotes ideas those inspire by Swatantra party and its founders such as individual liberty, a market economy, limited government. He has spoken at multiple events of Indias Future Foundation on economic development and wealth creation and good governance.

Youth Parliament Program

Narayana is Adviser of Youth Parliament Program (YPP), Youth Parliament is an ideal platform for socially conscious youth to express their Views, Ideas and to act as a change agent in National building process.

Lok Satta Movement

Narayana started the '' Lok Satta Movement'' in 1996 to educate the citizens of India about voting, rights and government. Lok Satta, a non-partisan movement for democratic reforms in India, worked on various activities like election reforms, police reforms, right to information act and voter registration procedures. The movement initially started in

and later spread across the country, including

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' fin ...

and the Vote JUHU campaigns. Lok Satta has emerged as India’s leading civil society initiative for governance reforms and is at the forefront of key initiatives like disclosure of candidate wealth and criminal history details, political funding reform, decriminalization of politics, improvement of electoral registration, comprehensive judicial reforms including local courts and national judicial commission and citizen's charters. Lok Satta movement has also been the driving force in achieving the following governance reforms in recent years, among others: * Substantial reduction in short delivery of petroleum products in all retail outlets (1998 – 2003) * Significant improvements in voter registration (1999 – till date). * Disclosure of candidate details, and the disclosure law (2003). * Political funding reform law of 2003 in the wake of Tehelka expose. * Strengthening the anti-defection provisions (X Schedule changes, 2003). * Limiting the size of Council of Ministers (91st Amendment, 2003). * Right to Information Act, 2005. * National Rural Health Mission (2005). * Gram Nyayalayas Act, 2009. * Support to Lokpal Act, 2011. * Cancellation of 122 licences of 2-G spectrum by Supreme Court, and revision of policy to ensure allocation of all-natural resources through competitive bidding (2012). * 97th Amendment to the Constitution guaranteeing autonomy to cooperatives (2012). * 99th Amendment to the Constitution creating National Judicial Appointments Commission (2015).

Political career

Narayana started the

Lok Satta party Lok Satta is a classical liberal political party in India, founded by Nagabhairava Jaya Prakash Narayana, a former I.A.S. officer and renowned activist from Andhra Pradesh. Since 1996, the Lok Satta Movement functioned as a non-governmental ...

on 2 October 2006 with clean politics, good governance and improvement of India as the main goals. When he launched the party, he stated that this party aimed to enrich the political scenario in India with its true spirit. He felt that it could be considered as an alternative to any other political party, since it aimed to create a true and faithful political picture in

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 ...

without involving illegitimate money, liquor, and caste in elections.

2008 By-elections

In 2008, the

ran in the Assembly by-elections for the first time, and was able to secure second place in two of the four places ( Khiratabad, Terlam) it contested seats.

Andhra Pradesh 13th Assembly

Narayana is one of the vocal leaders in assembly proceedings. Some of the major contributions to Andhra Pradesh 13th assembly are: * proposed the Anti Corruption Bill to amend the State's Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, to curb corruption in the state by including elected members under civil servants. * advanced all party resolution to elect deputy speaker from opposition; * opposed amendment to Andhra Pradesh Societies Act claiming that it is against the right to form unions as per the Constitution; * opposed populist schemes in 2009, 2010 and 2011 Andhra Pradesh Budgets. * pressed the need for gas grid and industrial development; * condemned the demolition of statues on Tankbund; * demanded investigation into land and natural resource allocation scams and provided evidences. According to the sources, he later declared that they would come back with an updated Loksatta 2.0 version that would focus on restructuring and reinforcing federalism, establishing quality universal health care and education to all and liability to taxpayers at local level.

Felicitations

Narayan has been felicitated with several laurels. These include: * Honored with the "Rotary Manav Seva Award 2002" for his crusade against corruption. * Awarded the "Yudhvir Memorial Award 2002" for his outstanding contribution to the cause of good governance. * Awarded the "Dr. Rustam D.Ranji Rotary Award" by Rotary Club of India. * Awarded the "D. Ch. Tirupathi Raju Memorial Award 2004" * Honored with prestigious "Dr. Pinnamaneni Sita Devi Foundation Award". * Honored with the "Bharat Asmita Jana Jagran Shreshta" - in the area of Public Awakening. * Felicitated by the Hyderabad Software Exporters Association, Hyderabad in recognition for his contribution to the growth of IT industry.

Participation in national panels

Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan has served on several national panels. Notable among them are: * National Advisory Council (NAC), 2004- 2006. * Vigilance Advisory Council constituted by the Central Vigilance Commission, 2004 – 2008. * Second Administrative Reforms Commission constituted by the Government of India from 2005 – 2007.

References

External links

*
Lok Satta Party website

Foundation for Democratic Reforms

Youth Parliament Program
{{DEFAULTSORT:Narayana, Jaya Prakash 1956 births Living people Lok Satta Party Lok Satta Party politicians Activists from Andhra Pradesh Indian columnists Indian Administrative Service officers Members of the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly People from Krishna district Writers from Andhra Pradesh Politicians from Hyderabad, India Indian political party founders Indian classical liberals