Prof. Madhu Dandavate | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission | |
| In office 1 August 1996 – 21 March 1998 | |
| Preceded by | Pranab Mukherjee |
| Succeeded by | Jaswant Singh |
| In office 7 July 1990 – 10 December 1990 | |
| Preceded by | Ramakrishna Hegde |
| Succeeded by | Mohan Dharia |
| Minister of Finance | |
| In office 2 December 1989 – 10 November 1990 | |
| Prime Minister | V. P. Singh |
| Preceded by | Shankarrao Chavan |
| Succeeded by | Yashwant Sinha |
| Minister of Railways | |
| In office 1977–1979 | |
| Prime Minister | Morarji Desai |
| Preceded by | Kamalapati Tripathi |
| Succeeded by | Kamalapati Tripathi |
| Member of Parliament,Lok Sabha | |
| In office 1971–1991 | |
| Preceded by | Nath Pai |
| Succeeded by | Sudhir Sawant |
| Constituency | Rajapur,Maharashtra |
| Member ofMaharashtra Legislative Council | |
| In office 1970–1971 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1924-01-21)21 January 1924 |
| Died | 12 November 2005(2005-11-12) (aged 81) Mumbai, Maharashtra, India |
| Nationality | • British India (1924-1947)•  India (1947-2005) |
| Political party | Janata Dal |
| Other political affiliations | •Janata Party[1] •Praja Socialist Party[2] |
| Spouse | |
| Children | Uday Dandavate (Son) |
| Source:[2] | |
Madhu Dandavate (21 January 1924 – 12 November 2005) was an Indianphysicist andsocialistpolitician, who served asMinister of Railways in theMorarji Desai ministry, and asMinister of Finance in theV P Singh ministry.[3][4][5]
Born inAhmednagar,Bombay Presidency, Dandavate studied and was employed as a physicist inBombay, before participating in theQuit India Movement in 1942.[3][6] After independence, he served as aMember of Parliament fromRajapur inMaharashtra from 1971 to 1991.[3][7] As an opposition politician, Dandavate was jailed duringthe Emergency.[8] Serving as Railway Minister from 1977 to 1979, he initiated a number of improvements, most notably providing more comfortable cushioned seats to second-class passengers, a measure that "helped hundreds of millions of people". Later in the late 1980s, he served as Finance Minister.[4][3][9]
A prominent socialist politician and opposition leader, Dandavate was respected for his integrity, knowledge, simplicity andpragmatism, with historianRamachandra Guha placing him among the few ministers who "shall be remembered for having carried out programmes that radically reshaped the lives of their people".[4][3][7][9]
Madhu Dandavate was born in aMarathiDeshastha Brahmin family[10] inAhmednagar on 21 January 1924, the son of Ramachandra Dandavate.[6][7] After completing hisM.Sc. inPhysics fromRoyal Institute of Science, Bombay, he headed the Physics department at Siddhartha College of Arts and Sciences, Bombay.[3]
Dandavate entered politics as anindependence activist, participating in theQuit India Movement in 1942. He was the leader of aSatyagraha campaign inGoa in 1955 against Portuguese imperialism.[6][3]
He was a member ofPraja Socialist Party, and since 1948 served as chairman of its Maharashtra unit. Later, he also served as the party's joint secretary.[citation needed] He was an active leader of the Land Liberation Movement, 1969.[citation needed]
During 1970–71, Dandavate was a member of theMaharashtra Legislative Council.[7] From 1971 to 1990, he was aMember of Parliament, elected to theLok Sabha for five consecutive terms fromRajapur inKonkan,Maharashtra.[6] He was one of the prominent opposition leaders duringIndira Gandhi andRajiv Gandhi's tenures asPrime Ministers.[3]
Dandavate was arrested duringthe Emergency in 1975, spending time inBangalore Central Jail.[11][12][13][8]
After the end of the Emergency and the1977 elections, Dandavate served as theMinister of Railways in theMorarji Desai ministry. He initiated a number of improvements inthe country's rail infrastructure. These included the computerization of railway reservations, which reduced corruption among booking clerks and uncertainty among passengers; sanctioning the first phase of theKonkan Railway in 1978–79, with a line fromApta toRoha; and the repair or replacement of 5000kilometres of worn-outtracks. Most notably, he introduced cushioned berths for passengers of second-class sleeper coaches, replacing the existing wooden berths, to provide for a more comfortable journey. While initially implemented in the major trunk lines, all trains had these padded berths in their second-class compartments by the end of the 1980s.[14][3][4]
As a parliamentarian, one of his major interventions during the enactment of theAnti-Defection Law in 1985 was the incorporation of a safety clause to allowdissent.[7]
Dandavate later served as theFinance Minister inthe cabinet of V. P. Singh.[5] His parliamentary career ended after his loss toMajor Sudhir Sawant of theCongress in1991, and he slowly receded from national politics.[7]
He was also theDeputy Chairman of the Planning Commission in 1990, and again from 1996 to 1998.
After a protracted period of suffering fromcancer, Dandavate died at theJaslok Hospital inMumbai on 12 November 2005, at the age of 81.[5] As per his wishes, his body was donated to the city'sJ. J. Hospital.[7]
Madhu Dandavate was married toPramila Dandavate, who was also prominently involved in the socialist movement in India, in 1953.[3][8] She was a member of the7th Lok Sabha after being elected in the1980 general election from theMumbai North Central constituency.[15] During their 18-month detention during the Emergency, with Madhu lodged in Bangalore Central Jail and Pramila inYerawada Jail inPune, the couple wrote each other 200 letters, discussing issues like music, books, philosophy and love.[3][8]
Pramila died on 31 December 2001 after aheart attack.[16] The couple had one son, Uday, who studied at theNational Institute of Design, and owns a design research consulting company inSan Francisco,US. In 2014, Uday Dandavate joined theAam Aadmi Party.[17]
A prominent socialist politician and opposition leader, Dandavate was known for his incisive speeches laced with wit and humour, often raising issues of public importance duringZero Hour in Parliament.[7] He was also hailed for his integrity and humility.[3][4]
InIndia After Gandhi, historianRamachandra Guha highlights Dandavate's pragmatism, stating that "his socialism eschewed rhetoric against the rich in favour of policies for the poor. As he [Dandavate] put it, 'what I want to do is not degrade the first class but elevate the second class'."[9] Noting his role in the introduction of cushioned seats in trains, Guha writes that "those two inches offoam" have probably "brought more succour to more people than any other initiative by an Indian politician". Guha thus places him among the few ministers who "shall be remembered for having carried out programmes that radically reshaped the lives of their people".[4]
Dandavate authored a number of books. His speeches and lectures have also been published.
| Preceded by | Minister of Railways 1977–1979 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Finance Minister of India 1989–1990 | Succeeded by |
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| National | |
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