Dr. Jagannath Mishra is an Indian politician and a former Chief Minister of Bihar.^[1]

Early life[link]

Jagannath Mishra was born in 1937 in Bihar. He was a professor Economics and had done PhD in the same field. He is the younger brother of Former Union Cabinet Railway Minister Late Lalit Narayan Mishra .

Career[link]

In an era of turbulence and uncertainty in the Bihar Politics in 80s which witnessed many odds and evens in the entire political history of the state, he succeeded Senior Congress leader and the then Chief Minister of Bihar Late Satyendra Narayan Sinha (known as "Chhote Saheb"), Then Jagannath Mishra was chosen to lead Bihar as the C.M. for the third time.Earlier during his second tenure as the Chief Minister, his government in the state was dismissed by the ruling Janata Party that came to power at the Center.

He also served as Union Minister of Agriculture in Central Cabinet of congress govt. In 1998 he was expelled from Congress as he was critical of then Congress President Sita Ram Kesri’s style of functioning, had floated his own outfit Bihar Jana Congress (BJC). His expulsion came just two weeks prior to Sonia Gandhi became President of Congress Party.He later joined JD-U government of Bihar to resign just before Loksabha elections 2009. Currently his son is a minister in the Bihar Cabinet. Due to his political hold in Bihar he has survived even after being expelled from the Congress Party.

Corruption allegations[link]

Jagannath Mishra has been charged of corruption in fodder scam, once claimed as the most infamous scam in India. Jagannath Mishra, who served his first stint as the chief minister of Bihar in the mid-1970s, was the earliest chief minister to be accused of knowing involvement in the scam.^[2]

On June 23, 1997, the CBI filed chargesheets against Laloo Yadav, Jagannath Mishra and 54 other co-accused.^[3] Jagannath Mishra had been permitted bail in June 1997, and avoided judicial remand when Laloo was first detained in July 1997. However, he was taken into custody on 16 September of the same year. He was freed on bail on 13 October but then remanded again, at the same time as Laloo, on October 28, 1998, when he was kept at the same guest house as Laloo, and later shifted to Beur jail along with him.^[4][5] Mishra was freed on bail on December 18,^[4] but then rearrested in a different fodder scam case on 7 June 2000.^[6]

Personal life[link]

Jagannath Mishra is married and lives in Patna with his wife.His son Nitish Mishra is also a politician currently serving as cabinet minister in the Bihar state government. His nephew Rajiv Mishra <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rajiv_Mishra> is a well known Media/Broadcast professional and founder President of Assosiation of Radio Broadcasters of India (AROI) the Industry representative body of all FM Radio stations of India. Recently, he had founded Association of Regional Television Broadcasters of India (ARTBI) the industry representative body of all Regional TV Broadcasters of India. Rajiv is currently working as CEO of Lok Sabha TV.

See also[link]

• List of politicians in India charged with corruption

References[link]

Book "Dr. Jagannath Mishra" by Khurshid Anwar Arfi Published in 1993, Arif Publications (Patna, Bihar, India)

Jagdish Sharma (Hindi: जगदीश शर्मा) (born on 1 October 1950, in Korra Distt., Jehanabad, Bihar, India) is an Indian Politician. He is a member of the Janata Dal (United) political party. His wife Shanti Sharma is also the MLA of JDU from Bihar.^[1]

Political career[link]

Jagdish Sharma's Political career began as a student leader during the JP Movement in 1974 and the then Bihar Janata Party President & stalwart leader Late Satyendra Narain Sinha placed him as an assembly election candidate on a Janata Party ticket.As a student leader, he actively participated in the movement for restoration of democratic freedom.^[1]

See also[link]

• Janata Dal (United)
• Politics of Bihar
• List of members of the 15th Lok Sabha of India

References[link]

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Lalu Prasad Yadav
Lalu Prasad Yadav at a political rally in January 2007, at Kesariya, Bihar, India.
Ex Minister of Railways Government of India MP-Lok Sabha
In office 24 May 2004 to 22 May 2009
Preceded by	Nitish Kumar
Succeeded by	Mamata Banerjee
Constituency	Saran
Personal details
Born	(1948-06-11) 11 June 1948 (age 64)[1] Gopalganj, Bihar[2])
Political party	RJD
Spouse(s)	Rabri Devi
Residence	10, Circular Road, Patna 25, Tuglak Road, New Delhi-11
Religion	Hindu
Website	rashtriyajanatadal.com
As of September 25, 2006 Source: [Lok Sabha members' biodata [3]]

Lalu Prasad Yadav (Devanāgarī: लालू प्रसाद यादव) is an Indian politician from Bihar. He was the Minister of Railways from 2004 to 2009 in the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, and the President of the Rashtriya Janata Dal political party. He is a Member of Parliament in the 15th Lok Sabha from the Saran constituency in Bihar.

He entered politics during his student days at Patna University, and he was elected a member of the Lok Sabha in 1977 as a Janata party candidate. At the age of 29 he was one of its youngest members of Parliament.^[4]

He is famous for his charismatic leadership and mass appeal,^[5][6] and has been criticized for caste-based politics.^[6] and the corruption cases against him.^[7]

Yadav served as the Chief Minister of Bihar from 1990 till 1997, when he resigned following escalating corruption charges in the Fodder Scam. From 1997 to 2005, with brief interruptions, his wife Rabri Devi was the Chief Minister. Her political opponents often accused her as having served as his "surrogate."^[8] His tenure as Chief Minister of the state has been criticized for lawlessness and has been termed as the Jungle Raj.^[9]

Biography[link]

Lalu Prasad Yadav was born in Gopalganjj district of Bihar. His father's name is Shri Yadav Kundan Rai and his mother's name is Shrimati Marchiya Devi^[4]. He holds a degree in Bachelor of Laws(LLB) and a master's in Political science from B. N. College,under Patna University. He turned down Patna University's Honorary Doctorate in 2004.^[10] Lalu Prasad Yadav has done his schooling from 1st standard to 7th standard, at Bihar Military Police No-5 middle school. Yadav married Rabri Devi on June 1, 1973.^[4] They have seven daughters and two sons.^[11]

Lalu Prasad Yadav served as the Chief Minister of Bihar two times, first for a term of five years from 10 March 1990 to 3 April 1995 and then for a term of three years from 4 April 1995 to 25 July 1997. Lalu Prasad Yadav also served as the Railway Minister of India from 2004 to 2009. He is member of Parliament of India for Saran(Chhapra) and National President of Rashtriya janata Dal (RJD).

Political career[link]

Lalu Prasad Yadav entered politics as General Secretary of the Patna University Students' Union in 1970. He led the student movement inspired by Jai Prakash Narayan, Raj Narain, Karpoori Thakur and Satyendra Narayan Sinha. The former Chief Minister of Bihar and the then President of Bihar State^[12] Janata Party, Satyendra Narayan Sinha supported him as a candidate for the Lok Sabha and campaigned for him.^[13][14] He was elected as a member of the 9th Lok Sabha on a Janata Party ticket at the age 29, becoming one of the youngest members of the Indian Parliament at the time.

In a span of 10 years, Yadav became a formidable force in Bihar State Politics. During the Indian general elections in 1989 and state assembly elections, he successfully led the National Front coalition in Bihar. It was, therefore, no surprise that he was elected the Chief Minister leaving behind Ram Sundar Das, a former chief minister from the same party, when it came to power in the 1990 Assembly elections. The World Bank lauded his party for its work in the 1990s on the economic front.^[15]

A report was published by the BBC news in 1996 according to which the police unearthed a Rs. 950 crore (US$ 267 Million), Fodder Scam in Bihar, which allegedly involved Yadav and the State's leading bureaucrats and politicians, albeit the probe itself was ordered by him. He claimed it to be an Opposition conspiracy to stop his political growth.^[16] The fodder scam forced Yadav to resign from the office of Chief Minister and he made his wife, Rabri Devi, his successor as the state's Chief Minister.^[17] In May 2012, Lalu Prasad Yadav envisaged Hamid Ansari, currently the Vice-President, as a presidential candidate. ^[18]

Rashtriya Janata Dal[link]

RJD Flag

Yadav formed the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) in 1997, after breaking away from the Janata Dal. According to Limca Book of Records, he is the longest serving president of an Indian Political Party.^[19] He remained in power in Bihar for more than one and a half decades. In November 2005 elections, his party, the RJD, could win just 54 seats, which put his party in third place, after the Janata Dal United (JDU) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Nitish Kumar led coalition, consisting of JD(U) and BJP, came to power. In the 2010 elections, RJD tally was reduced to just 22 seats whereas the ruling alliance claimed a record 206 out of the 243 Assembly seats.^[20]

Tenure as a Union Minister[link]

Yadav was elected to the 14th Lok Sabha from Chhapra and Madhepura seats of Bihar. He was able to defeat the high profile BJP leader Rajiv Pratap Rudy from Chhapra and the JD(U) president Sharad Yadav from Madhepura. He became the railway minister in the UPA Government. Later, he gave up the Madhepura seat.

Yadav banned plastic cups from being used to serve tea at railway stations and ordered that they be replaced by kulhars (earthen cups), to generate more employment in rural areas.^[21] Later, he also said that he had plans to introduce buttermilk^[22] and khādī.^[23] In June 2004, he announced that he would get on the railway himself to inspect its problems and went on to board the Patna railway station at midnight.^[24]

When he took over, the Indian Railways was a loss-making organization. In the 4 years under his leadership, it made a cumulative total profit of Rs. 25,000 crores (US $5.2 billion).

He left passenger fares untouched and found several other profitable sources of revenue for the Railways. He also improved on his first year's performance by stating a profit of 14,000 crores with decreased freight and unchanged passenger fares in 2006. Then, in the 2007 budget, he increased the profit level to 20,000 crores with the introduction of cushion seats in all unreserved compartments. In 2008, profits were 25,000 crores (equals US $6.25 billion @ $1~Rs.40)

Well known schools of management were interested in Yadav's leadership in managing the turnaround (with more or less the same IAS officers & the same workforce who worked under the previous ministers). He went to and addressed over a hundred students from Harvard, Wharton and others in Hindi. He has received invitations from 8 Ivy League schools for lectures.^[25] The turnaround of the Indian Railways is now being studied by the students of the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad.^[26] Prof G. Raghuram, a faculty member, IIM-A, has already conducted a detailed study on the Railways turnaround.^[27]

In August 2008, CNN-IBN alleged that Yadav had misused his position as the Union Railway Minister to help his relatives acquire land.^[28] Earlier Railway ministers and his political opponents Mamata Banerjee & Nitish Kumar have raised doubts over Lalu's achievements.^[29]

In popular culture[link]

Recently, a very popular book "Garibon ke Masiha Evam Jan Nayak - Lalu Prasad Yadav" was launched by renowned author and writer Sri Sanjay Suman .Yadav has a sizable fan following in Bollywood, which includes actors Sunil Shetty and Raza Murad and directors Mahesh Manjrekar and Mahesh Bhatt to name a few. Indian actor turned politician Shatrughan Sinha, who is a political opponent of Yadav, once said, "Had Yadav not been a politician he could have been an actor".^[30] Mahesh Bhatt has gone to the extent of saying that Yadav deserves to become Prime Minister of India.^[31] A Bollywood movie titled Padmashree Laloo Prasad Yadav was released in 2004. Though his name appeared in the title, the movie was not about him, but had characters named Padmashreee, Laloo, Prasad and Yadav, however the politician made a guest appearance in it.

These incidences are viewed by some people as an attempt by the mainstream media to make deliberate fun of Yadav's accent although the movie was not a big hit.

Criticisms and controversies[link]

Corruption allegations[link]

Yadav has been charged in several corruption cases,^[32] the most infamous being the "Fodder Scam" in which about Rs. 950 crores (US $211.85 million) were siphoned off from the animal husbandry department. Laloo Yadav has been an accused in many of the 63-odd cases filed. He has been remanded to custody on multiple occasions because of the number of cases. Over 64 people have been convicted in the case. "Lalu accused in six fodder scam cases". Outlook. April 25, 2005. http://www.outlookindia.com/pti_news.asp?id=294484. Retrieved 2006-05-29. 

"The ride to Ranchi". Frontline. December 2001. http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl1825/18250430.htm. Retrieved 2006-05-29.  Yadav was first sent to "Judicial remand" (Bihar Military Police guest house, Patna) on July 30, 1997, for 134 days.^[33] On October 28, 1998, he was again sent to the same guest house for 73 days. When the Supreme Court of India took exception to his guest house stay, he had also moved to the Beur jail in Patna. He was later remanded for 11 days on April 5, 2000, in a disproportionate assets case. He surrendered along with his wife, Rabri Devi, and was sent to the Beur Jail.^[33] Due to the proceedings in the fodder scam, Yadav was remanded for a day in Beur jail on November 28, 2000.

On November 26, 2001, Yadav was again remanded, in a case related to the fodder scam.^[34] He accused the NDA of creating a conspiracy against him. On October 1, 2004, the Supreme Court of India served a notice to Yadav and his wife, Rabri Devi, on the fodder scam. This was in response to a petition, which alleged that they have been interfering with late in the investigation. Since Laloo Yadav is currently a member of the Union Government at Delhi, the CBI has been accused of dragging its feet on the issue.^[35]

Accusations against the BJP[link]

On August 5, 2004, Yadav claimed that L. K. Advani, a senior BJP leader and the Leader of the Opposition was an accused in a conspiracy to kill Muhammad Ali Jinnah and described him as an 'international absconder'. On September 14, 2004, Lalu asked L. K. Advani to come clean on 'his involvement' in the alleged conspiracy to assassinate the founder of Pakistan, Mohammed Ali Jinnah.^[36]

On September 28, 2004, Lalu alleged Mr. Venkaiah Naidu, the then Union Rural Minister, of having sold 55,000 tonnes of wheat in the name of drought relief distribution in AP. "A CBI probe will be initiated to find the truth" he said.^[37]

Lalu's favour for his brothers-in-law[link]

Although he has maintained a good relationship with the media and they were showing his holy parade in the chief minister's house in patna and the pictures of cows he owned and feed on govt. money just to get sheer publicity from the lower section of the society and the onion bread drama to cheer the lower section without any benefit to them from govt. But when media stopped giving him bed publicity he started crying against media and times he has accused the media of being unfair, going so far as to threaten to sue certain media outlets for defamation.^[38] Although the Media bias,^[39] he and his supporters mainly two brother in laws are notoriously famous in the city for capturing girls and the property of the people in patna and his tenure as the chief minister of bihar is also termed as Jungle Raj (uncivilized kingdom). the most recent being the last Bihar State Assembly Elections he lost all the seats and even his most favourite constituency, one thing is noted that when he won the second and third election in bihar he said that the Jinn (divine Soul) came out of the ballet box and gave him the vote although the mandate of the state was different.^[40]

Positions held[link]

• 1977: Elected to the 6th Lok Sabha at the age of 29.
• 1980–1989: Member of the Bihar Legislative Assembly (two terms).
• 1989: Becomes the leader of Opposition, Bihar Legislative Assembly, Chairman, Pustakalaya Committee, Convenor, Committee on Public Undertakings, Re-elected to the 9th Lok Sabha (2nd term).
• 1990–1995: Member of the Bihar Legislative Council.

Yadav together with Ram Vilas Paswan and Amar Singh at a party rally in Mumbai during the 2009 general elections.

• 1990–1997: Chief Minister of Bihar.
• 1995–1998: Member of the Bihar Legislative Assembly.
• 1996: Lalu's name springs up in a major scam.
• 1997: parts with the Janata Dal and forms the Rashtriya Janata Dal.
• 1998: Re-elected to 12th Lok Sabha (3rd term).
• 1998–1999: Member, General Purposes Committee, Committee on Home Affairs and its Sub Committee on Swatantrata Sainik Samman Pension Scheme, Consultative Committee, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
• 2004: Re-elected to the 14th Lok Sabha (4th term). Appointed Cabinet Minister in the Ministry of Railways. In 2004, he was elected to the Lok Sabha with his party emerging as a key member of the UPA.
• 2009: Re-elected to the 15th Lok Sabha (5th term).

See also[link]

• List of Chief Ministers of Bihar
• List of politicians in India charged with corruption

References and footnotes[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Lalu Prasad Yadav

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Lalu Prasad Yadav

Nitish Mishra is an Indian politician.^[1] He is a Minister of state for disaster management in Bihar in Nitish Kumar's government. He set up the flood management information system. He monitored relief and rescue operations from the front.

He was chosen as a MTV Youth Icon of the Year in 2008.^[2]

Early life[link]

Nitish Mishra was born 9th of july 1973in Bihar to former Bihar CM, Jagannath Mishra.^[3]

He studied Global Political Economy at University of Hull, United Kingdom.

Career[link]

Nitish Mishra started his political career in Bihar. He also served as minister of state for sugarcane in Nitish Kumar's government and was acclaimed for his sugarcane policy.

He was recognised as one of the most promising social entrepreneurs by the Digital Partners, Seattle, a venture capital firm, for his E-Swasthya Project in the Madhubani district of Bihar.He is presently the rural development minister in the Government of Bihar after 2010 polls.^[4]

External links[link]

• Profile on MTV

References[link]