Shri Bali Ram Bhagat

BHAGAT SHRI BALI RAM, B.A., (Hons.), M.A., (Economics) [Congress (I)—Bihar, Arrah 1984]  s. of late Shri Ham Rup Bhagat; b. at Mehdiganj; Patna city, October 1, 1922; ed. at Patna College and Patna University; m. Smt. Vidya Bhagat, 1944; 1 s. and 1 d.; Agriculturist and Political and Social Worker; Associated with Indian National Congress since 1939; participated in ‘Quit India’ movement and remained underground for two years, 1942-44; was Parliamentary Secretary to Minister of Finance, Government of India, August 1952—January, 1956; Union Deputy Minister of Finance, January, 1956—September, 1963; Minister of Planning, September, 1963—March, 1967; also Minister of State for Finance, September, 1963—March, 1967; Minister for Defence Production, March—November, 1967; Minister of State for External Affairs, November, 1967–February, 1969; Cabinet Minister for Foreign Trade and Supply, February, 1969—June, 1970; and Cabinet Minister for Steel and Heavy Engineering, June, 1970—March, 1971; Founder, All India Student Congress in Nagpur, 1944; Member, Executive Committee of the All India Students Congress, 1945-46; General Secretary, Bihar Pradesh Students’ Congress, 1946-47; Member, All India Congress Committee since 1958; Chairman, Foreign Affairs Department of A.I.C.C. since 1983; President, Indian Council of World Affairs, 1982-84, re-elected in 1984; Member, (i) Provisional Parliament, 1950-52; (ii) First Lok Sabha, 1952-57; (iii) Second Lok Sabha, 1957-62, (iv) Third Lok Sabha, 1962-67; (v) Fourth Lok  Sabha, 1967-70; (vi) Fifth Lok Sabha, 1971-77; Speaker, Lok Sabha, January, 1976-March, 1977; Member, Seventh Lok Sabha, 1980-84; Leader of the Indian Delegation to (i) the Conference of U.N. Economic Commission for Asia and Far East (ECAFE) Bangkok, (ii) the 8th, 9th, 10th and 16th Meetings of the Colombo Plan Conference held respectively at Wellington, 1956, Saigon, 1957, Seattle, 1958 and London, 1964; (iii) The Budapest International Trade Fair, Budapest, 1965; (iv) the Second Ministerial Conference on Asian, Economic Cooperation and the Conference of Plenipotentiaries on the Asian Development Bank, Manila, 1965, (where signed the Charter on behalf of the Government and the People of India); (v) the inaugural session of the Asian Development Bank at Tokyo, 1966; (vi) the U.N. Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), Delhi, 1968; (vii) the first Indo-American Talks at New Delhi, July, 1968; (viii) the first Indo-Soviet Talks at New Delhi, September, 1968; (ix) the U.N. General Assembly at New York, October, 1968; (x) the first Round Table Conference of the Indo-Japan Committees on Economic Development at New Delhi, November, 1968; (xi) Trade Delegation to Kathmandu, November, 1968; and (xii) the first Indo-British Talks at New Delhi, December, 1968; Deputy Leader of Indian Delegation to (i) the Conference of U.N. Economic Commission for Asia and Far East (ECAFE), Tokyo, 1954, and Bangalore, 1955; (ii) the Colombo Plan Conference, Delhi, 1953, Ottawa, 1954 and Singapore, 1955; (iii) the U.N. Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), Geneva, 1964; and (iv) the Commonwealth Prime Ministers’ Conference, London, 1969; Governor, Asian Development Bank, Manila, 1964 and Tokyo, 1965; Alternate Governor, World Bank and International Monetary Fund Conference, Washington 1954 and Delhi, 1958; Chairman. U.N. Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities, 1972 and its Member, 1972-77: Member of the Indian Delegation to (i) the Fortieth Inter-Parliamentary Union Conference, Istanbul, 1951 and Havana, Cuba, 1981, and (ii) the Meeting of the Economic Commission for Asia and Far East (ECAFE), Tokyo, 1955; Visited Mauritius to represent India at Independence Celebrations, March, 1968; Visited Nairobi to discuss problems of the U.K. Immigrants of Indian origin with Kenya Government, March, 1968; Leader, Indian Delegation to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, 1982-1983 held at Geneva, Chairman, U.N. Seminar on the Thirty-Third Anniversary of the Human Rights Commission held at Geneva in 1983; represented the Indian National Congress at Party Congress of Zimbabwe, July, 1984 and Peoples Democratic Party of Afghanistan, January, 1985; Seminar on European Nuclear Disarmament June, 1984.

Favourite pastime and recreation:  Walking, trekking and swimming.

Special interests:  Political organisations; actively interested in the progress of the rural areas and the weaker sections.

Publications:  Edited two underground weeklies in 1942 ‘Quit India’ underground movement,—’Our Struggle’ and ‘Non-Violent Revolution’; started ‘Rushtra Doot’—a progressive Hindi Weekly in 1947 from Patna, started and edited ‘Economic Review’ as Secretary of Economic Research Section of the Bihar Provincial Congress Committee; regular writer on economic, national and international affairs in National newspapers.

Sports and clubs:  Badminton, Swimming and Tennis.

Travels abroad:  All the continents of the world several times.

Permanent address:  55C/A, Shrikrishna Puri, Patna, Bihar.