Hiralal Shastri

Hiralal Shastri Biography

Pandit Hiralal Shastri was a prominent politician from Rajasthan who served as its first Chief Minister. He served as the chief minister during the period, 1949-1951 before he handed over the power to Jai Narayan Vyas. He served as the General Secretary of the All India States Peoples Conference in 1947. As a chief minister he took effective measures to integrate princely states to an effective modern administration under a single roof. He died on 28 December 1974. In his honour, Indian Posts and Telegraphs Department issued a commemorative postage stamp in November, 1976.

Hiralal Shastri was born at Jobner in Jaipur District in 1899. He was born into a peasant family. An excellent student in academics, he completed his B.A. examination from Maharaja's College, Jaipur in 1921 earning first rank. Soon after graduation he entered government service and later became Secretary in the Home and Foreign Departments. However he resigned from the service in 1927 to become active as a social worker. Since young he had a desire to go to a remote village and work for the welfare of the people. For that he chose a remote village Banasthali.

Two years later he founded 'Jeevan Kutir' at a remote village Banasthali, and implemented the program of rural reconstruction. In 1935, he along with his wife Ratan Shastri founded Banasthali Vidyapith in memory of their daughter Shantabai. The organization aimed at women empowerment. He joined Jaipur Rajya Praja Mandal in 1937. He got elected as General Secretary and President twice. He got elected to the Constituent Assembly in 1947. When Jaipur State was formed on 27 March 1948 Hiralal Shastri was appointed as the Prime Minister of the state. He took oath as Chief Minister 30 March 1949, and served for almost two years.

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Updated: June 17, 2016