Raghuvansh Prasad Singh (6 June 1946 – 13 September 2020) was an Indian socialist politician. In the

Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, constitutionally the House of the People, is the lower house of India's bicameral Parliament, with the upper house being the Rajya Sabha. Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by an adult universal suffrage and a first-p ...

, he represented the Vaishali constituency of

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 ...

and was the national vice president of the Rashtriya Janata Dal political party. He was one of the senior most politicians in India as a people's representative in the legislature for four decades from 1977. He started his political career when he was elected as an MLA and was subsequently made the Energy minister of Bihar in the Karpoori Thakur ministry. He had represented Belsand constituency five times in the Bihar vidhan sabha. He was made the member of Bihar legislative council in a 1991 post. He became the chairman of Bihar legislative council. He has represented Vaishali constituency from Bihar in Lok Sabha consecutively for five terms and has been in the Union cabinet for three terms. He was the Union Cabinet Minister for Rural Development in UPA-I of Manmohan Singh's government and is credited with conceptualization and implementation of NREGA (National rural employment guarantee act). Singh died from complications from

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...

during the

COVID-19 pandemic in India The COVID-19 pandemic in India is a part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). As of , according to Indian government figures, India has the second-highest n ...

All India Institutes of Medical Sciences The All India Institutes of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) is a group of autonomous government public medical universities of higher education under the jurisdiction of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare , Government of India. These institutes h ...

in New Delhi on 13 September 2020, at age 74. In his final days, Singh wrote an emotional letter to

Lalu Prasad Yadav Lalu Prasad Yadav (born 11 June 1948) is an Indian politician and president of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD). He is a former Chief Minister of Bihar (1990-1997), a former Railway Minister of India (2004-2009), and a former Member of Parlia ...

mentioning the humiliation meted out to him in his last days.

Early life and education

Singh was born in a

Rajput Rajput (from Sanskrit ''raja-putra'' 'son of a king') is a large multi-component cluster of castes, kin bodies, and local groups, sharing social status and ideology of genealogical descent originating from the Indian subcontinent. The term Ra ...

family of Bihar. He was born to Ramvriksh Singh in the year 1946. He was a Professor and Ph.D. in mathematics and an expert in rural and agricultural landscape in India.

Political history

* Secretary, Samyukta Socialist Party (S.S.P.),

Sitamarhi district Sitamarhi is one of the districts in the Mithila region of the Indian state of Bihar, India. Dumra is the administrative headquarters of this district. The district is a part of the Tirhut Division and is located along the border of Nepal. H ...

(1973–77) * Member, Bihar Legislative Assembly (1977–90) * Minister of State (Independent charge), Power, Government of Bihar (1977–79) * President, Lok Dal, Sitamarhi district (1980–85) * Deputy Speaker, Bihar Legislative Assembly (1990) * Deputy Leader, Bihar Legislative Council (1991–94) * Member, Bihar Legislative Council (1991–95) * Chairman, Bihar Legislative Council (1994–95) * Minister, Energy, Relief, Rehabilitation and Department of Official Languages, Government of Bihar (1995–96) * Elected to 11th Lok Sabha (1996) * Union Minister of State, Animal Husbandry and Dairying (Independent Charge) (1996–97) * Union Minister of State, Food and Consumer Affairs (Independent Charge) (1997–98) * Re-elected to 12th Lok Sabha (2nd term) (1998) * Re-elected to 13th Lok Sabha (3rd term) (1999) * Leader, Rashtriya Janata Dal Parliamentary Party, Lok Sabha (1999–2000) * Re-elected to 14th Lok Sabha (4th term) (2004) * Union Cabinet Minister, Rural Development (2004–09) * Vice President, Parliamentary Forum on Water Conservation & Management * Re-elected to 15th Lok Sabha (5th term) (2009)

Family

Singh married Kiran Singh and has 2 sons and 1 daughter.

Social and Cultural Activities

He was associated with the socialist, Teachers' and Farmers' movements as well as activities related to nation building. Special Interests His special interests included social service, the struggle against exploitation, legal aid to the farmers, the labourers and the oppressed, as well as promotion of education and educational reforms. Sports, clubs, favourite pastimes and recreation He was interested in Yoga, exercise and music. Among the countries he visited were

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

U.K. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

Mauritius Mauritius ( ; french: Maurice, link=no ; mfe, label= Mauritian Creole, Moris ), officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about off the southeast coast of the African continent, east of Madagascar. It ...

and

U.S.A. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

Other Information

He was imprisoned during the socialist movement, Lok Nayak

Jayaprakash Narayan Jayaprakash Narayan (; 11 October 1902 – 8 October 1979), popularly referred to as JP or ''Lok Nayak'' ( Hindi for "People's leader"), was an Indian independence activist, theorist, socialist and political leader. He is remembered for l ...

movement and involved in several political agitations.

References

Notes

External links

Official biographical sketch in Parliament of India website
* , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Singh, Raghuvansh Prasad 1946 births 2020 deaths India MPs 1996–1997 India MPs 1998–1999 India MPs 1999–2004 India MPs 2004–2009 India MPs 2009–2014 Bihari politicians Chairs of the Bihar Legislative Council Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in India Deputy Speakers of the Bihar Legislative Assembly Janata Dal politicians Lok Sabha members from Bihar Members of the Bihar Legislative Assembly Members of the Bihar Legislative Council People from Vaishali district Rashtriya Janata Dal politicians Samyukta Socialist Party politicians State cabinet ministers of Bihar Union ministers of state of India United Progressive Alliance candidates in the 2014 Indian general election Janata Dal (Secular) politicians Lok Dal politicians