Jiban Ratan Dhar

Jiban Ratan Dhar (April 1889 – 19 January 1963) was an Indian politician. He headed the municipality of Jessore during the Partition of India, represented the Bangaon constituency in the West Bengal Legislative Assembly twice and served as Minister for Jails and Health in the state government.

Youth Dhar was the son of Prasanna Kumar Dhar, a lawyer. He obtained his Bachelor of Medicine degree in Calcutta in 1916. He remained an officer until 1926, reaching the rank of captain.

Independence struggle and Partition During the struggle for Indian independence, Dhar was jailed in 1930, 1941 and 1942. He was a member of the All India Congress Committee 1930–1950. Dhar migrated to India in 1950 and settled in Bangaon.

Minister Dhar won the Bangaon constituency in the West Bengal Legislative Assembly in the 1952 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election, standing as an Indian National Congress. Dhar obtained 7,510 votes (37.34%), defeating the Communist Party of India candidate Ajit Kumar Ganguly, and independent candidate Mosharraf Hossain. He served as Minister for Jails 1952–1957, first as Deputy Minister until 1956 and then as Cabinet Minister.

Dhar lost his seat in the assembly in the 1957 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election. He obtained 35,809 votes (41.83% ), but was defeated by Ajit Kumar Ganguly (CPI) by a margin of around 10,000 votes. He was named Minister of Health in the West Bengal state government of Bidhan Chandra Roy in 1962. In 1964 the government of West Bengal renamed the Bangaon Subdivisional Hospital as the "Bangaon Dr. Jiban Ratan Dhar Subdivisional Hospital" in his memory.