Party Indian National Congress Died 1982, Patna | Name B. Mandal | |
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Similar Morarji Desai , Charan Singh , Gulzarilal Nanda | ||
Bindheshwari Prasad Mandal (1918–1982) was an Indian parliamentarian, social reformer of the country who served as the chairman of the Second Backward Classes Commission (popularly known as the Mandal Commission). B.P. Mandal was a big and rich Zamindar (landlord) from Saharsa in Northern Bihar. The commission's report mobilised a segment of the Indian population known as "Other Backward Classes" (OBCs) and initiated a fierce debate on the policy for underrepresented and underprivileged groups in Indian politics.
Biography
B. P. Mandal came from Yadav community designated as an Other Backward Class (OBC) in India's system promoting positive discrimination.
Mandal was a Member of Parliament in the Lok Sabha for the state of Bihar from 1967 to 1970 and 1977 to 1979.
He was the second OBC Chief Minister of Bihar, governing for 30 days in 1968, a period of intense political instability (his predecessor Satish Prasad Singh was first Chief Minister from OBC but only for three days). In December 1978, Prime Minister Morarji Desai appointed a five-member civil rights commission under the chairmanship of Mandal. The commission's report was completed in 1980 and recommended that a significant proportion of all government and educational places be reserved for applicants from the Other Backward Classes. The commission's report was tabled indefinitely by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. A decade later, Prime Minister V. P. Singh implemented the recommendations of the Mandal Report.
Mandal and his wife, Sita Mandal, were survived by five sons and two daughters. The third son, Maninder Kumar Mandal (popularly known as "Om jee"), and his son Nikhil Mandal are active in national and state politics.He died on April 13, 1982
The Government of India issued a stamp in honour of Mandal in 2001. A college named in his honour, B. P. Mandal Engineering College, was founded in 2007.