Shrikant Jichkar (

Marathi Marathi may refer to: *Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India *Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people *Palaiosouda, also known as Marathi, a small island in Greece See also * * ...

: श्रीकांत जिचकार) (14 September 1954 – 2 June 2004) was an Indian central civil servant and

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

. He obtained 20 university degrees, and was elected the youngest MLA in the country at the age of 26.

Biography

He was born to a

Maratha The Marathi people (Marathi: मराठी लोक) or Marathis are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group who are indigenous to Maharashtra in western India. They natively speak Marathi, an Indo-Aryan language. Maharashtra was formed as a M ...

family. His first degrees were in medicine (

MBBS Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery ( la, Medicinae Baccalaureus, Baccalaureus Chirurgiae; abbreviated most commonly MBBS), is the primary medical degree awarded by medical schools in countries that follow the tradition of the United King ...

and MD from

Nagpur Nagpur (pronunciation: Help:IPA/Marathi, aːɡpuːɾ is the third largest city and the winter capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the 13th largest city in India by population and according to an Oxford's Economics report, Nag ...

), following which he read a

Bachelor of Laws 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 ...

Master of Laws A Master of Laws (M.L. or LL.M.; Latin: ' or ') is an advanced postgraduate academic degree, pursued by those either holding an undergraduate academic law degree, a professional law degree, or an undergraduate degree in a related subject. In mos ...

in international law,

Master of Business Administration A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...

, Doctor of Business Management,

Bachelor of Journalism The Bachelor of Journalism (B.J.) degree is a degree awarded at some universities to students who have studied journalism in a three or four year undergraduate program. In the United States, some schools that do not award the B.J. degree instead c ...

Doctor of Literature Doctor of Letters (D.Litt., Litt.D., Latin: ' or ') is a terminal degree in the humanities that, depending on the country, is a higher doctorate after the Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree or equivalent to a higher doctorate, such as the Doctor ...

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

, along with ten

Masters of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

degrees 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 ...

sociology Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of Empirical ...

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 ...

history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...

English literature English literature is literature written in the English language from United Kingdom, its crown dependencies, the Republic of Ireland, the United States, and the countries of the former British Empire. ''The Encyclopaedia Britannica'' defines E ...

philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

, ancient Indian history, culture & archaeology, and

Psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries betwe ...

. Most of his degrees were with First Merit, and he obtained several

gold medals A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have bee ...

for his degrees. Between 1973 and 1990 he wrote 42 university examinations, every summer and every winter. In 1978, he stood for the

Indian Civil Service The Indian Civil Service (ICS), officially known as the Imperial Civil Service, was the higher civil service of the British Empire in India during British rule in the period between 1858 and 1947. Its members ruled over more than 300 million ...

examination conducted by

Union Public Service Commission The Union Public Service Commission (ISO: ), commonly abbreviated as UPSC, is India's premier central recruitment agency for recruitment of all the Group 'A' officers under Government of India. It is responsible for appointments to and exami ...

, following which he was selected as a central civil servant under the

Indian Police Service The Indian Police Service ( IPS) is a civil service under the All India Services. It replaced the Indian Imperial Police in 1948, a year after India became independent from the British Raj. Along with the Indian Administrative Service (IAS ...

cadre. He later resigned from the cadre and stood for the civil service exam to become a central civil servant under the

Indian Administrative Services The Indian Administrative Service (IAS) is the administrative arm of the All India Services of Government of India. Considered the premier civil service of India, the IAS is one of the three arms of the All India Services along with the Indian ...

cadre in 1980. Four months after joining, he resigned once more to contest his first general election, where he was elected to the

Maharashtra Legislative Assembly The Maharashtra Vidhan Sabha or the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly is the lower house of the legislature of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is situated in the Nariman Point area of South Mumbai in the capital Mumbai. Presently, 288 memb ...

, becoming the youngest MLA in the country at the age of 26. He later became a minister, at one point holding 14 portfolios. He was a member of the

(1980–85),

Maharashtra Legislative Council The Maharashtra Vidhan Parishad or Maharashtra Legislative Council is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of Maharashtra states and territories of India, state in western India. Location The seat of the Vidhan Parishad is situated at ...

(1986–92) and served as Minister of State, Government of

Maharashtra Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a states and union territories of India, state in the western India, western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the List of states and union te ...

. He was a member of

Rajya Sabha The Rajya Sabha, constitutionally the Council of States, is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of India. , it has a maximum membership of 245, of which 233 are elected by the legislatures of the states and union territories using si ...

, India (1992–98). He founded the Sàndipani school at

in 1992. He unsuccessfully contested in the 1998 loksabha election from Bhandara-Gondiya (Lok Sabha constituency) and 2004 loksabha election from

Ramtek (Lok Sabha constituency) Ramtek Lok Sabha constituency is one of the 48 Lok Sabha (parliamentary) constituencies in the state of Maharashtra in western India. The constituency did not exist during the Indian general elections of 1951-52 for the 1st Lok Sabha. It was ...

, and lost by a small margin of votes. He died when a truck collided with his car on 2 June 2004 near

Kondhali Kondhali is a village in Nagpur District, Nagpur Division, Maharashtra, India, about halfway between Talegaon and Nagpur on NH-6. It is 42 km from Nagpur, 17 km from Katol. Demographics As per 2011 census population of Kondhali i ...

, approximately 60 kilometers from Nagpur. He was accompanied by a relative of his, Shriram Dhawad, who sustained multiple injuries from the accident.

Philanthropy

He established Sāndipani School, Nagpur in 1993 under the Shrikant Jichkar Foundation. He also contributed to the education and health of unprivileged children through his trust. After his death, his children continue his philanthropic ventures under the banner of Zero Gravity Foundation.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jichkar, Shrikant 1954 births 2004 deaths Road incident deaths in India Indian National Congress politicians Rajya Sabha members from Maharashtra Maharashtra MLAs 1980–1985 Politicians from Nagpur Indian amateur radio operators Rashtrasant Tukadoji Maharaj Nagpur University alumni Marathi politicians Accidental deaths in India