| Panjabrao,
alias Bhausaheb Deshumkh was born at village Papad in the
district of Amravati on December 27, 1898. By the time he
passed away on April 10, 1965, he had laid a firm foundation
for the dissemination of education among the downtrodden
and the dispossessed of the region. He knew that prosperity
would come only when the weapon of knowledge became available
to all. For this purpose he made a small beginning with
the establishment of the Shri Shivaji Education Society
at Amravati in 1932.
The Society began with just one school and one hostel; but
today it has grown into the biggest educational organization
in Central India. It runs 269 educational institutions ranging
from pre-primary to post graduate colleges covering almost
all fields of formal and informal education: Arts, Agriculture,
Biotechnology, Commerce, Computers, Education, Engineering
and Technology, Fine Arts, Horticulture, Law, Medicine,
Microbiology, Physical Education, and a host of related
fields.
Besides working tirelessly for the peasants of Vidarbha,
Dr. Deshmukh also participated in the progress of the nation.
His contributions were recognized when he was selected by
Jawaharlal Nehru to become the first Minister for Agriculture
in the Union Cabinet. He dedicated all his talents and energy
to the formulation and implementation of policies that would
bring prosperity to agriculture and the agriculturist. He
established the 'Bharat Krushak Samaj" and launched
a campaign called 'Food for Millions' in 1955. He brought
in the Japanese method of rice cultivation in 1958 and organized
the World Agriculture Fair in 1959 which was inaugurated
by the then President of the US, Dwight Eisenhower. The
Fair was visited by dignitaries across the world, some of
them being Nikita Khrushchev, the President of the USSR,
Mr. Bulganin, Secretary of the Communist Party of Soviet
Russia, Lord and Lady Mountbatten, and many others.
Dr. Deshmukh started the process for the establishment of
Agriculture Universities all across the country, and gave
fillip to agricultural education, agricultural research
and related extension activities. He wanted to ensure that
the final beneficiary of all this enterprise would be the
ordinary farmer. He opened rural institutes that would train
youngsters in the engineering and technical aspects of farming.
Dr. Deshmukh also made useful contributions as a member
of the Draft committee for the Constitution of the Republic
of India chaired by Dr. B.R.Ambedkar. |