Yashwant Singh Parmar

Yashwant Singh Parmar (4 August 1906 – 2 May 1981) was an Indian politician. He was a leader of the Indian National Congress and the first Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh state. Upon the formation of the constituent assembly of India in 1946, he represented Himachal Pradesh in the constituent assembly. For his key role in the formation of the Himachal Pradesh state, from the 1940s until 1977, Parmar is hailed as the architect, the founder, or the creator of the Himachal Pradesh state. In Hindi, he is widely referred to as 'Himachal Nirmata' (the creator of Himachal').

Personal life

Parmar was born on 4 August 1906 in Chanalag village, in the princely state of Sirmaur. He was the son of a prominent local family, his father being the secretary to the then ruler of Sirmaur. He did all his schooling from Nahan. He attended the Forman Christian College in Lahore, where he obtained a B.A. (Honours) in 1926. He then went to Canning College in Lucknow, where he obtained an LL.B and an MA in 1928. He obtained a PhD from Lucknow University in 1944, on polyandry in the Himalayas. Parmar wrote the book Polyandry in the Himalayas, which was published in 1975. Parmar died on 2 May 1981 at the Snowdon Hospital in Shimla. thumb

Political career For several years in the 1940s, Dr. Y.S. Parmar was active in the Praja Mandal movements in the region that would later become the Himachal Pradesh state.

A major threat to the further development of Himachal Pradesh into a state came early on in the 1950s, in the form of strong efforts from both the centre and the powerful Punjab state to merge this relatively new political entity with Punjab. On the one hand, these efforts were fueled by a concern of the centre to stem the growth of regionalism, particularly language-based regionalism. On the other hand, Punjab desired to include these hilly regions within its territory, wherein it had financed and facilitated, with the help of central funds, the construction of major hydroelectric projects which primarily benefited the plains, including those of Punjab. Himachali political elites of the time feared that this would result in the economic and political subjugation of the hilly regions under Punjabi administration, mirroring the recently ended colonial subjugation of the British.

Other political opponents of Parmar included Dr. Salig Ram and Kr. Inder Singh.

Honours

The Dr. Yashwant Singh Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, established in 1985 in Solan, is named after Dr. Parmar. The Himachal Pradesh University has a Dr. Y.S. Parmar Chair, and an institution named Parmar Peeth, to nurture studies on various aspects of Himachal Pradesh's societies, cultures, languages, and politics. The Government Postgraduate College in Nahan is named after him. The Government Senior Secondary School at Dhaneta, Nadaun, is named after him. In 1988, the Government of India issued a 60 paise postage stamp in honour of Dr. Parmar. A statue bearing his likeness was installed on The Ridge, Shimla, on 4 August 1984. A statue bearing his likeness was installed in village Chanalag (where he was born) in district Sirmaur, Himachal Pradesh, on 15 August 2015. The annual Yashwant Singh Parmar Sahitya Award is named after him. The Department of Agriculture of the Himachal Pradesh government renamed its scheme for fostering the production of vegetables under protected cultivation as 'Dr. Y.S. Parmar Kisan Swarozgar Yojna'.