Jainti Dass Saggar

Jainti Dass Saggar (6 September 1898 – 14 November 1954) was an Indian-born doctor in Dundee, Scotland, who in 1936 became the first non-white local authority councillor in Scotland. He served 18 years as a Labour Party councillor and was one of Dundee's longest-serving council members.

Early life and family Jainti Saggar was born on 6 September 1898 in the village of Deharru in Ludhiana district, Punjab, British India. He was the second son and the fourth of six children of Hindu parents, Ram Saran Dass Saggar (1870–1943), a merchant, and his wife, Sardhi Devi Uppal. Saggar studied at Ram Parshad Sood and Lahore Medical College.

In 1931, Saggar married Jean (also referred to as Jane) Quinn, the daughter of a bailie and town councillor of Dundee. He was active in campaigning for improved public health and played a key role in modernising Maryfield Hospital with new equipment.

Saggar sought to improve health and welfare more broadly by campaigning for provision of school meals, cheap bus fares for the elderly, opening a psychiatric clinic, and arguing for the provision of communal canteens to support poor members of the community.

Saggar served as chairman of the public libraries committee and was a member of the committee of the local branch of the Nursery Schools Association of Great Britain.

Politics In 1936, Saggar was elected as a Labour Party councillor in Dundee, making him the first non-white local authority councillor in Scotland.

Saggar was one of the longest-serving members of Dundee Town Council.

Death and legacy After a morning of seeing patients, Saggar collapsed and died of an intracerebral haemorrhage on 14 November 1954 at Dundee Royal Infirmary. He had at one time supported the building of houses on this same site. In 1974, a public library was opened in memory of him and his brother.