Niranjan Nath Wanchoo (also spelt Wanchu) OBE, ICS (1 May 1910 – 20 October 1982) was a senior civil servant and later, Governor of the states of

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

and

Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh (, ; meaning 'central province') is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal, and the largest city is Indore, with Jabalpur, Ujjain, Gwalior, Sagar, and Rewa being the other major cities. Madhya Pradesh is the seco ...

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 ...

. His primary education was in Nowgong,

(1916-July 1920). He was educated at the

Government College, Lahore The Government College University, Lahore (colloquially known as GCU), is a public research university located in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan. Opened as Government College, Lahore, in 1864, it became a university in 2002. Overview In 1864, Go ...

and

King's College, Cambridge King's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, the college lies beside the River Cam and faces out onto King's Parade in the centre of the cit ...

and the

Royal College of Defence Studies The Royal College of Defence Studies (RCDS) instructs the most promising senior officers of the British Armed Forces, His Majesty's Diplomatic Service and Civil Service in national defence and international security matters at the highest lev ...

, UK.

Civil servant

He was selected to 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 p ...

in 1934 and began his career as a Sub-Collector in

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 ...

. Over the course of his career, he served, in among other posts, as Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Defence and Chief Controller of defence production (1948–57), Secretary to

Government of India The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, ...

, Department of Expenditure,

Ministry of Finance A ministry of finance is a part of the government in most countries that is responsible for matters related to the finance. Lists of current ministries of finance Named "Ministry" * Ministry of Finance (Afghanistan) * Ministry of Finance and Ec ...

(1960–61), Chairman of the

Bokaro Steel plant Bokaro Steel Plant (BSL) is located in the Bokaro district of Jharkhand. It is the fourth integrated public sector steel plant in India built with Soviet help. It was incorporated as a limited company in 1964. It was later merged with the state ...

(1965–70) and Secretary to the Government of India, Department of Industrial Development (1968–70). He was also a member of Court of Governors of the Administrative Staff College of India,

Hyderabad Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India ...

. He retired as Chairman, Industrial Customs and Prices Bureau in 1972.

Governor

He served as the Governor of Kerala from 1 April 1973 to 10 October 1977 – with C. Achutha Menon, K. Karunakaran and A. K. Antony as Chief Minister of Kerala, Chief Ministers and then as Governor of Madhya Pradesh from 14 October 1977 to 16 August 1978 with Kailash Chandra Joshi and Virendra Kumar Sakhlecha as Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, Chief Ministers.

Other roles

The Planning Commission (India), Planning Commission appointed him the head of a committee to look into industrial development for the backward areas in India and to recommend fiscal and financial incentives for industries in these areas. The Wanchoo Committee recommended that a few areas be selected and fiscal and financial resources be spent to develop these into growth poles rather than spread out resources thinly but uniformly across all backward areas He was also Chairman of Delhi Urban Art Commission in 1982.http://duac.org/what_organisation.html He died on 20 October 1982.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wanchoo, N. N. Indian civil servants Indian government officials Governors of Kerala 1910 births 1982 deaths Officers of the Order of the British Empire