Sir Moropant Vishvanath Joshi (October 1861 – 1962) was a leading barrister, social reformer and politician from Amravati,

Central Provinces and Berar The Central Provinces and Berar was a province of British India and later the Dominion of India which existed from 1903 to 1950. It was formed by the merger of the Central Provinces with the province of Berar, which was territory leased by the B ...

. Joshi was born in an eminent

Chitpavan Brahmin The Chitpavan Brahmin or Konkanastha Brahmin is a Hindu Maharashtrian Brahmin community inhabiting Konkan, the coastal region of the state of Maharashtra. Initially working as messengers and spies in the late seventeenth century, the community ...

family, the son of Vishvanath Raghunath Joshi. A Moderate leader, he joined the

Indian Liberal Party The Liberal Party of India was a political organization espousing liberalism in the politics of India. History and organization The Liberal party was formed in 1910, and British intellectuals and British officials were often participating members ...

when the

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 Em ...

came under the leadership of

Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...

. Joshi was a member of the

Central Provinces Legislative Council Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...

. When diarchy was introduced by the

Government of India Act 1919 The Government of India Act 1919 (9 & 10 Geo. 5 c. 101) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was passed to expand participation of Indians in the government of India. The Act embodied the reforms recommended in the report of ...

, Joshi was made the home member in the governor's executive council. He was knighted in the

1923 Birthday Honours The King's Birthday Honours 1923 were appointments in many of the Commonwealth realms of King George V to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The appointments were made to celebrate the off ...

, and appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire (KCIE) in the 1926 New Year Honours. In 1925, the tenure of Moropant Joshi as home member from the Central Province was about to end. The governor of the province, Sir Montagu Butler offered

Seth Govind Das Seth Govind Das (16 October 1896 – 18 June 1974) was an Indian independence activist and parliamentarian. He belonged to the Maheshwari merchant family of Raja Gokuldas of Jabalpur. The family began as the banking firm of Sevaram Khushalc ...

the post, but he refused the offer and Mr

S. B. Tambe Shripad Balwant Tambe was a pledger from Amravati in Berar division of Central Provinces. He was a member of the Swaraj Party and President of the Central Provinces Legislative Council. He was appointed member of the Government of Central Prov ...

from the Berar region was appointed. Joshi was the chairman of the committee of ten, to which the Hindu Child Marriage Bill was referred and was passed as

Child Marriage Restraint Act The Child Marriage Restraint Act, 1929, passed on 28 September 1929, in the Imperial Legislative Council of India, fixed the age of marriage for girls at 14 years and boys at 18 years. In 1949, after India's independence, it was amended to 15 for ...

of 1929 on 28 September 1929. His daughter Sarwasati (b. 3 June 1929) married Sir Chintamanrao Dhundirajrao Patwardhan "Appa Sahib", Raja of

Sangli Sangli () is a city and the district headquarters of Sangli District in the state of Maharashtra, in western India. It is known as the Turmeric City of Maharashtra due to its production and trade of the spice. Sangli is situated on the banks o ...

, . Joshi retired in 1933 and died aged 101 in 1962.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Joshi, Moropant Vishvanath People from Amravati Knights Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire Indian Knights Bachelor Indian knights 1861 births 1962 deaths Indian centenarians History of Vidarbha