Aditya Nath Jha

Early life and education Jha was son of Ganganath Jha and brother of Amarnath Jha who had been the Vice Chancellor of the Allahabad University, and then the Chairman of the Bihar Civil Service Commission.

He was educated at Allahabad University and Jesus College, Oxford. He served as Vice Chancellor of the Sanskrit University, Benares. He wrote a book on Indian philosophy titled ‘'Bharatiya Darshanon ka Samanvay. He was an avid tennis player both in India and at Oxford University, where he was an ICS probationer. He joined as an Indian Civil Service (ICS) officer in 1936.

He served as Assistant Magistrate and Collector before transferring to the Indian Political Service in 1939. At the time of Independence, he was serving as secretary to the Resident for the Eastern Princely States.

There is a story about Jha’s (who was very tall but grossly overweight even in his youth) appearance before the interview board of the ICS. He was asked whether, because of his enormous bulk, it would be difficult for him to do horse riding, which was compulsory for ICS trainees. Jha, with his characteristic wit, asked if the interview board was worried about his ability to ride the horse or about the poor horse! Members of the board burst into laughter. Naturally, Jha was apprehensive about the result, but when they were announced, he was at the top of the merit list.

Tenure as Director, National Academy of Administration He was selected as the Director of Academy by former Home Secretary of India, Shri B. N. Jha. He contributed multiple books on philosophy and literature to the library (the famous Gandhi Smriti Library) at academy.

Aditya Nath Jha used to take only a few special classes with the probationers, and his lectures, on any subject — be it public administration or any other subject of general interest — were simply delightful to hear. One learnt a lot from his lectures and wished he could take more classes. One day, a fellow probationer asked him why he was not taking more classes, as he knew such a lot on a variety of subjects. Jha replied with his usual wit that he was the captain of the ship of the training academy, and if the captain of the ship was seen to be working vigorously when the ship was afloat on the high seas, obviously an impression would be created that the ship was in danger!

External links and books

pp. 30–31 Without Fear or Favour-An autobiography, Joginder Singh, Fusion Books, 2005. pp. 30–31 an excerpt from the book From Powerless Village to Union Power Secretary, an autobiography by P. Abraham, Concept Pub. Co., 2009 pp. 30–31 Without Fear or Favour-An autobiography, Joginder Singh, Fusion Books, 2005