Ram Govind Chaudhary (born 9 July 1946) is one of the prominent socialist leaders of

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 ...

who has served as the Leader of the Opposition in the

Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly The Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly (Hindi: ''Uttar Pradesh Vidhan Sabha'') is the lower house of the bicameral legislature of Uttar Pradesh. There are 403 seats in the house filled by direct election using a single-member first-past-the-p ...

from 2017 to 2022. He was in charge of Basic Education and Child Nutrition and Development Ministries in previous

Samajwadi Party The Samajwadi Party ( SP; translation: ''Socialist Party'', founded 4 October 1992) is a Socialism, socialist political party in India, headquartered in New Delhi but mainly based in Uttar Pradesh, with significant presence in other states as w ...

Government of

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...

led by

Akhilesh Yadav Akhilesh is a given name. Notable people with the name include: * Akhilesh Das (1961–2017), educationist, professor, Indian politician and philanthropist * Akhilesh K. Gaharwar (born 1982), Indian academic and Professor at Texas A&M University * ...

. He is

Member of 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. S ...

from the Bansdih assembly seat,

Ballia Ballia is a city with a municipal board in the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Uttar Pradesh. The eastern boundary of the city lies at the junction of two major rivers, the Ganges River, Ganges and the Ghaghara River, Gh ...

. He had closely worked with

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 le ...

and

Chandra Shekhar Chandra Shekhar ( 17 April 1927 – 9 August 2015) was an Indian politician who served as the 8th Prime Minister of India, between 10 November 1990 and 21 June 1991. He headed a minority government of a breakaway faction of the Janata Dal with ...

. He is one of the close associates of

president

Mulayam Singh Yadav Mulayam Singh Yadav (22 November 1939 – 10 October 2022) was an Indian politician, a socialist figure and the founder of the Samajwadi Party. In the course of his political career spanning more than six decades, he served for three terms as ...

Early life and education

Chaudhary was born on 9 July 1946 in Gosaipur,

to Dwarika Choudhary. In 1974, he got

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

degree from

Gorakhpur University DDU Gorakhpur University (simply known as University of Gorakhpur) is located in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh. The University of Gorakhpur is a teaching and residential-cum-affiliating University. It is about . from the d ...

, and in 1982, he received a degree in

LLB 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 China, People's Republic ...

from

Lucknow University The University of Lucknow (informally known as Lucknow University, and LU) is a public state university based in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. Founded in 1920, the University of Lucknow is one of the oldest government owned institutions of higher edu ...

Political career

Chaudhary has been MLA for eight terms. 1977 to 1992 he represented Chilkahar constituency in

. Since 2002, he represented Bansdih (Assembly constituency) in

as a member of

. He was also Minister of Horticulture and Food Processing in

cabinet (1990-91) and Minister of Child Development and Nutrition, Basic Education in

cabinet (2003-07) and

cabinet (2012-17). Since March 2017, he serves as Leader of opposition in

Seventeenth Legislative Assembly of Uttar Pradesh The Seventeenth Legislative Assembly of Uttar Pradesh (Seventeenth Vidhan Sabha of Uttar Pradesh) was constituted on 19 March 2017 as a result of Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly election, 2017 held between 11 February to 8 March 2017. The L ...

, as a leader of

Posts held

* 1977-1980 ** Member,

7th Legislative Assembly of Uttar Pradesh The Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly (Hindi: ''Uttar Pradesh Vidhan Sabha'') is the lower house of the bicameral legislature of Uttar Pradesh. There are 403 seats in the house filled by direct election using a single-member first-past-the-p ...

(First Term) **Member, Estimate Committee *1980-1985 ** Member,

8th Legislative Assembly of Uttar Pradesh The Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly (Hindi: ''Uttar Pradesh Vidhan Sabha'') is the lower house of the bicameral legislature of Uttar Pradesh. There are 403 seats in the house filled by direct election using a single-member first-past-the ...

(Second Term) *1985-1989 **Member,

9th Legislative Assembly of Uttar Pradesh The Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly (Hindi: ''Uttar Pradesh Vidhan Sabha'') is the lower house of the bicameral legislature of Uttar Pradesh. There are 403 seats in the house filled by direct election using a single-member first-past-the-p ...

(Third Term) **Whip, Janata Party Legislature Party ** Member, Joint Committee on Welfare of Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribes and Denotified Tribes *1989-1991 **Member,

10th Legislative Assembly of Uttar Pradesh The Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly (Hindi: ''Uttar Pradesh Vidhan Sabha'') is the lower house of the bicameral legislature of Uttar Pradesh. There are 403 seats in the house filled by direct election using a single-member first-past-the-p ...

(Fourth Term) ** Minister, Horticulture and Food Processing (

Cabinet) **Member, Joint Committee on Welfare of Scheduled Castes Scheduled Tribes and Denotified Tribes **Member, Question & Reference Committee *1991-1992 **Member,

11th Legislative Assembly of Uttar Pradesh 11 (eleven) is the natural number following 10 and preceding 12. It is the first repdigit. In English, it is the smallest positive integer whose name has three syllables. Name "Eleven" derives from the Old English ', which is first attested i ...

(Fifth Term) *2002-2007 **Member,

14th Legislative Assembly of Uttar Pradesh The Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly (Hindi: ''Uttar Pradesh Vidhan Sabha'') is the lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral legislature of Uttar Pradesh. There are 403 seats in the house filled by direct election using a single-member fi ...

(Sixth Term) **Minister, Child Development and Nutrition (

Cabinet) **Member, Joint Committee on Public Undertakings and Corporations *2012-2017 **Member,

16th Legislative Assembly of Uttar Pradesh The Sixteenth Legislative Assembly of Uttar Pradesh (a.k.a. Sixteenth Vidhan Sabha of Uttar Pradesh) was constituted on 15 March 2012 as a result of 2012 Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly election held between 8 Feb to 3 March 2012. The Sixtee ...

(Seventh Term) **Minister, Child Development and Nutrition, Basic Education, Social Welfare and Panchayati Raj (

Cabinet) *2017-2022 **Member,

17th Legislative Assembly of Uttar Pradesh The Seventeenth Legislative Assembly of Uttar Pradesh (Seventeenth Vidhan Sabha of Uttar Pradesh) was constituted on 19 March 2017 as a result of Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly election, 2017 held between 11 February to 8 March 2017. The L ...

(Eighth Term) **Leader of Opposition in

Legislative Assembly of Uttar Pradesh A legislature is an assembly with the authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country or city. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial powers of government. Laws enacted by legislatures are usually known as p ...

Personal life

He is married to Kalawati Devi. They have a son.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chaudhary, Ram Govind Living people Samajwadi Party politicians Uttar Pradesh MLAs 2017–2022 1953 births Leaders of the Opposition in the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly University of Lucknow alumni Deen Dayal Upadhyay Gorakhpur University alumni Samajwadi Janata Party politicians Janata Dal politicians Jharkhand Party politicians