C. D. Deshmukh | |
|---|---|
 Deshmukh atPalam Airport in 1952 | |
| 10th Vice Chancellor of University of Delhi | |
| In office 1962 - 1967 | |
| Preceded by | N.K. Sidhant |
| Succeeded by | B.N. Ganguly |
| Chairman ofUniversity Grants Commission | |
| In office 1956 - 1961 | |
| Preceded by | Pt. H.N. Kunzru |
| Succeeded by | Dr. V.S. Krishna |
| 4th Minister of Finance | |
| In office 29 May 1950[1]- 24 July 1956[2][3] | |
| Prime Minister | Jawaharlal Nehru |
| Preceded by | John Mathai |
| Succeeded by | T. T. Krishnamachari |
| Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha | |
| In office 1952 - 1957 | |
| Preceded by | position established |
| Succeeded by | Rajaram Balkrishna Raut |
| Constituency | Kolaba |
| 3rd Governor of Reserve Bank of India | |
| In office 11 August 1943 - 30 June 1949[4] | |
| Preceded by | SirJames Braid Taylor |
| Succeeded by | SirBenegal Rama Rau |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1896-01-14)14 January 1896 |
| Died | 2 October 1982(1982-10-02) (aged 86) |
| Nationality | British Indian(1896–1947) Indian(1947–1982) |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 1 (daughter) |
| Alma mater | University of Cambridge |
| Awards | Padma Vibushan (1975) Ramon Magsaysay Award (1959) Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire (1937) |
| Signature |  |
Sir Chintaman Dwarakanath DeshmukhCIEICS (14 January 1896 – 2 October 1982) was an Indian civil servant and the first Indian[5] to be appointed the Governor of theReserve Bank of India in 1943 by theBritish Raj authorities. He subsequently served as theFinance Minister in theUnion Cabinet (1950–1956). It was during this time that he also became a founding member of the Governing Body of NCAER, the National Council of Applied Economic Research in New Delhi, India's first independent economic policy institute established in 1956 at the behest of Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. After resignation from Union Cabinet he worked as Chairman ofUGC (1956–1961). He served as Vice-Chancellor ofUniversity of Delhi (1962–67). He was also President ofIndian Statistical Institute from 1945 to 1964, Honorary Chairman ofNational Book Trust (1957–60).
He foundedIndia International Center in 1959 and served as Lifetime President of it. He was also chairman ofIndian Institute of Public Administration.[citation needed]
Chintaman Deshmukh was born to Dwarakanath Raje-Deshmukh, a lawyer and Bhagirathibai Raje-Deshmukh (née Sule-Mahagaonkar family) on 14 January 1896 in Nategaon, nearFort Raigad, Maharashtra in aChandraseniya Kayastha Prabhu family and communtiy which descended from migrant soldiers and administrators from Jammu & Kashmir via Mandavgad, Madhya Pradesh in the 14th century.[6][7][8] He was schooled at Roha and Tala and at theElphinstone High School, Bombay.[9] In 1912, Deshmukh passed theMatriculation Examination of theUniversity of Bombay with record marks and secured the firstJagannath Shankarseth Scholarship in Sanskrit.[10] In 1915 he went to England and graduated with a degree inNatural Sciences Tripos fromJesus College, Cambridge in 1917. He was awarded the Frank Smart Prize in Botany and was also president of the Majlis Society. In 1918 he sat for, and stood first in theIndian Civil Service Examination, then held only in London.[11][12]
Deshmukh returned to India in 1920 and worked in theCentral Provinces and Berar where he went on to hold several posts including as undersecretary to the government,Deputy Commissioner and Settlement Officer and as secretary to the Secretary-General at theSecond Round Table Conference of 1931, later becoming secretary to the finance andpublic works department.[13][14] He also served briefly asJoint Secretary to Government of India in the departments of education and health and wasCustodian of Enemy Property.[15]
Deshmukh joined the Reserve Bank of India in 1939 and served successively as its Secretary to the Board, Deputy Governor and the Governor.[16] He was appointed Governor of the Reserve Bank of India in August 1943 and is one of the eight Deputy Governors of the Bank who have gone on to become its Governor.[17][18] As Governor, Deshmukh helped establish the Industrial Finance Corporation and focused on the promotion of rural credit.[19] Deshmukh's tenure saw the RBI begin a Research and Statistics department, the demonetisation of bank notes of₹ 500 and above, the ceasing of the RBI's role as thecentral banks of Burma andState Bank of Pakistan and the enactment of the Banking Companies Act, 1949 that laid down the framework for regulation ofIndia's banking sector.[20] The RBI was nationalised on 1 January 1949 through the RBI Act, 1948.[21]Deshmukh opposed this proposal for nationalisation but agreed to continue as the chairman of the board of directors presiding over the transition of the bank from a private to a nationalised institution.[22][23][24] In July 1949Benegal Rama Rau succeeded Deshmukh as the Governor of the RBI.[20]
Deshmukh was a member of a five-member delegation representing India at theBretton Woods Conference that established theInternational Monetary Fund (IMF) andInternational Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD).[25] On the issue ofquotas, Deshmukh suggested that India walk out of the conference since the original hierarchy would have excluded India from being automatically represented through an executive director at the IMF.[26] The delegation also succeeded in bringing the issues of poverty and development into the agenda of the IBRD.[27] It is said thatJohn Maynard Keynes was so impressed by the "dignity, ability and reasonableness" of Deshmukh that he recommended Deshmukh head the IMF as its first managing director a suggestion that was however rejected by the United States.[28][27][29][30]
He was a member of the Board of Governors of both of these institutions from 1946 to 1956. In 1950, he was elected Chairman of the Joint Annual Meeting of the Boards of Governors of these institutions at its Paris Conference.[31]
Following Partition, the division ofincome tax revenue and jute export duty between the Union government and the states of India had to be decided based on the changed geographical realities. The Government of India appointed Deshmukh to resolve this matter pending the establishment of aFinance Commission. The Deshmukh Award, which was effected in 1950, factored in population in deciding the division of revenue and recommendedgrants in aid for various states and remained in force until April 1952.[32][33][34][35]
Deshmukh was one of five members of the Planning Commission when it was constituted in 1950 by a cabinet resolution.[36][37] Deshmukh succeededJohn Mathai as theUnion Finance Minister in 1950 after Mathai resigned in protest over the transfer of certain powers to the Planning Commission.[38] As Finance Minister, Deshmukh continued to remain a member of the Planning Commission.[39] His successors as Finance Minister were also made members of the Commission thus establishing a convention of the Finance Minister being an ex officio member of the Commission.[36] Deshmukh's term as Finance Minister covered the period of the First Five Year Plan. He employed deficit financing as a key tool in bringing about planned investment but inflation and revenue deficits became major challenges during this period.[40] Deshmukh was also chairman of a panel of economists that recommended the proposed Second Five Year Plan with its capital intensive model of development. He envisioned a significant role for the village and cottage industries in curbing unemployment and inflation caused by deficit financing and got the Congress Working Committee to approve the draft plan.[41][42][43]
Deshmukh's first budget of 1951-52 proposed an overall rise in taxes.[44] The following year he presented an interim budget for 1952-53 and a full budget in the first electedParliament of India to which he was elected from theKolaba constituency of Bombay State.[45][46][47] In 1952 Deshmukh invitedPaul Appleby to study Indian administration and Appleby's reports led to the establishment of the Organisation and Management Organisation in the Government of India and the establishment of theIndian Institute of Public Administration of which Deshmukh later became vice president and chairman.[48][49] In 1955, theState Bank of India was formed through the nationalisation and amalgamation of theImperial Bank with several smaller banks. This was undertaken on the recommendation of the All-India Rural Credit Survey Committee although Deshmukh had been opposed to plans for nationalising the bank when he was the RBI Governor.[50][51] The nationalisation of insurance companies and the formation of theLife Insurance Corporation of India was accomplished by him through the Life Insurance Corporation of India Act, 1956.[52][53] He resigned over the proposal of the Government of India to move a bill in Parliament bifurcatingBombay State intoGujarat andMaharashtra while designating theCity of Bombay aUnion Territory.[54][55] Deshmukh's tenure - during which he delivered six budgets and an interim budget[56] - is noted for the effective management of the Indian economy and its steady growth which saw the economy recover from the impacts of the events of the 1940s.[57][58]
Shortly after his resignation from the Cabinet, Deshmukh was appointed Chairman of India'sUniversity Grants Commission in 1956, a post he held until 1961.[59][60][61] Deshmukh, who was the first chairman of the commission after it became a statutory body, played a key role in the development of university libraries during his tenure.[62][63] He was also the founding chairman of theNational Book Trust which was inaugurated in 1957 with the aim of making available books priced moderately to the general public and libraries.[64] From 1962 - 1967, Deshmukh served as the tenth Vice Chancellor of theUniversity of Delhi. He invited theFord Foundation to survey and finance the upgradation of the Delhi University Library through a grant ofUS$ 1 million.[65]
Deshmukh contested theIndian presidential election of 1969 as a candidate of theSwatantra Party and theJana Sangh and won the third-highest number of first preference votes.[66][67][68][69]
Deshmukh married Rosina Arthur Wilcox in 1920 with whom he had a daughter, Primrose.[15] After Rosina's death in 1949, Deshmukh marriedDurgabai in 1953 and they were married until her death in 1981.Chintaman and I is her memoir published in 1980.[70]
In 1974, he published his autobiographyThe Course of My Life.[71]
Deshmukh died inHyderabad on 2 October 1982.[72]
Deshmukh was appointed aCompanion of the Order of the Indian Empire in 1937, and conferred aknighthood in 1944.[73][74]
He was awarded an honoraryDoctor of Science by theUniversity of Calcutta in 1957 and an honoraryDoctor of Literature by thePanjab University in 1959.[75][76]
In 1959, Deshmukh was a co-recipient (along with Jose Aguilar of thePhilippines[77]) of theRamon Magsaysay Award for distinguished Government Service.Jesus College, Cambridge, Deshmukh's alma mater, elected him its Honorary Fellow in 1952 in recognition of his distinguished contribution in the areas of Indian and international finance and administration.
In 1975, Sir Chintaman and Durgabai Deshmukh were awarded thePadma Vibhushan.[78]
TheReserve Bank of India organises the annual lecture series called 'Chintaman Deshmukh Memorial Lectures', since 1984.[79] TheNational Council of Applied Economic Research also conducts the annual C.D. Deshmukh Memorial Lecture since 2013.[80][81][82]
TheThane Municipal Corporation established the Chintamanrao Deshmukh Institute for Administrative Careers in 1987, to prepare the youth to enter the civil services.[83] A road in the Tilakwadi area of the city ofBelgaum has been named as 'C. D. Deshmukh Road'. TheIndia International Centre in New Delhi has an auditorium named after Deshmukh.[84][85]
In 2004, a commemorative postage stamp was released in his honour.[86]
TheNational Insurance Academy organises the annual seminar called "CD Deshmukh Memorial Seminar" since the last 22 years.
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