Shri Asoka Mehta

MEHTA, SHRI ASOKA, Cong., (Maharashtra-Bhandara—1967):  s. of Shri Ranjitram Mehta; b. at Bhavnagar, October 24, 1911; ed. at Wilson College and University School of Economics, Bombay; Unmarried; Social and political worker; interrupted studies to plunge into national movement; joined the Civil Disobedience Campaign, arrested and sentenced to 2.1/2 years’ imprisonment in 1932; Founder-Member of the Congress Socialist Party and Member, National Executive of the Party, 1934—48; sentenced to 1.1/2 years’ imprisonment following individual satyagraha, 1940; arrested in August, 1942 “Quit India” movement, and detained for 3 years; Member,—(i) Socialist Party, 1948—52, (ii) Praja Socialist Party, 1953— 63; served as General Secretary, P.S.P., 1950— 53 and as its Chairman from June, 1959 to June, 1963; represented the Party at the Asian Socialist Conference and the Congress of the Socialist International; Trustee, Bombay Port Trust, 1947-48; founded,the Hind Mazdoor Sabha in 1949 and was its First General Secretary; Member,—(i) Fair Wages Committee, 1949, (ii) Profit Sharing Committee, 1950, (iii) Working Party on Cotton Textile Industry, 1952, (iv) Central Wage Board for the Cotton Textile Industry, 1959, (v) Konkan Shipping Enquiry Committee, 1960, (vi) Committee on Emotional Integration, 1962, and (vii) Committee on Co-ordination of Physical Education, 1953; Chairman,—(i) Food-grains Enquiry Committee, 1957, (ii) Evaluation Team on Labour and Social Service Camps, 1963and (iii) Powerloom Enquiry Committee, 1963; Now President, National Council of Applied Economic Research; Vice-President,— (i) Institute of Applied Manpower Research, (ii) Indian Council of World Affairs, and (iii) Indian Council for Africa; Chairman— (i) National Planning. Council, (ii) Reviewing Committee of the Khadi and Village Industries Commission, (iii) Executive Council of the Indian Institute of Public Administration, (iv) Indian Council for the Future, and (v) Central Institute for Training & Research in Public Co-operation; Member,— (i) National Defence Council, (ii) Central Citizens’ Council, (iii) Asia Pacific Division Board of the Council on World Tensions, S.E. Asia Division National Advisory Committee— Centre for the Study of Developing Societies; Recipient of several Honorary Doctorates in Law and Literature; Member, “First Lok Sabha, 1954— 57 and Second Lok Sabha. 1957—62 and acted as Deputy Leader of P.S.P. in Parliament; represented India at the U.N. General Assembly, September—December, 1963; Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission from December, 1963; Leader of the Planning Commission Delegation to U.S.S.R., May, 1965 and June-July, 1966 and to U.SA. in April-May, 1966; Appointed Union Minister of Planning, January, 1966 and took over additional portfolio of the Department of Social Welfare, February, 1966; Re-appointed as Union Minister of Planning Petroleum & Chemicals and Social Welfare, March, 1967; at present Minister of Petroleum & Chemicals and Social Welfare.

Books published:  Indian Shipping (1940); Communal Triangle in India (1942); Great Rebellion (1946); Who Owns India? (1950); Democratic Socialism (1951); The Political Mind of India, (1952); Socialism and Peasantry (1953); Politics of Planned Economy (1953); and Studies in Socialism (1956).

Travels abroad:  Europe, U.S.A., U.S.S.R., Australia and Japan.

Permanent address:  5, Dadysett Road, Babulnath, Bombay—7, Maharashtra.