Chintaman Dwarakanath Deshmukh

Sir Chintāman Dwārakānāth Deshmukh, CIE (14 January, 1896 - October 2, 1982), better known as C. D. Deshmukh, was the first Indiancite web
url = http://www.rbi.org.in/Content/Annual_CDMemorial.aspx
title = Chintaman Deshmukh Memorial Lectures
accessdate = 2006-12-08
publisher = Reserve Bank of India] to be appointed as the Governor of the Reserve Bank of India in 1943 by the British Raj authorities. He subsequently served as the Finance Minister in the Union Cabinet (1950 -1956).

Deshmukh received his education at Jesus College, Cambridge, England in the field of Natural Sciences. He was married to freedom fighter and activist, Durgabai Deshmukh.

Civil service career

Deshmukh joined the Indian Civil Services, and became associated with the Reserve Bank of India since 1939 as its liaison officer to the Government. He then consecutively served as the Bank's Secretary, Deputy Governor (1941 - 43), and Governor (1943 - 50).

Bretton Woods Conference

Deshmukh represented India at the Bretton Woods Conference in July 1 - July 22, 1944. The conference led to the establishment of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD). He was a member of the Board of Governors of both of these institutions for the next ten years. In 1950, at the Paris conference of these institutions, he served as the Chairman of the Joint Annual Meeting.

Post partition

When British India was partitioned into India and Pakistan in 1947, Deshmukh oversaw the post-partition division of the assets and liabilities of the Reserve Bank between India and Pakistan.

The Indian Government nationalized the Reserve Bank on January 1, 1949. Deshmukh saw through the smooth transition of the Bank from a shareholder’s institution to a national institution.

Union Finance Minister

Deshmukh held the office of Union Finance Minister from 1950 until his resignation in protest in 1956.

Resignation

The following is the background of Deshmukh's resignation in protest.

In 1956, the Central Government reorganized the states in India on linguistic basis. The Central Government with Jawaharlal Nehru as the Prime Minister made, however, an exception by newly forming the State of Bombay which comprised the neighbouring overwhelmingly Gujarati and overwhelmingly Marathi regions, the City of Bombay, the nation's prime economic centre, being made the new state's capital.

This exception was done even though the city was a natural part of the overwhelmingly Marathi region and should have logically been made a part of a separate Marathi-speaking state to be called Maharashtra, the overwhelmingly Gujarati region also being organized as a separate Gujarati speaking state to be called Gujarat. The genesis of the exception was that the Gujarati-speaking community wanted to have a stake in the governance of the City of Bombay, and the Central Government under Mr. Nehru's leadership had gone along with the above desire of the influential Gujarati-speaking community.

After the Central Government announced the above scheme, Deshmukh, who belonged to the Marathi-speaking community, resigned from the office of Union Finance Minister to register his protest against the idea of not letting the City of Bombay be a part of a separate Marathi-speaking State of Maharashtra.

After the Marathi-speaking community's long, four-year struggle under the Samyukta Maharashtra Samiti, the Central Government finally partitioned in 1960, the bilingual State of Bombay into the Marathi speaking State of Maharashtra with the City of Bombay as its part, and the Gujarati speaking State of Gujarat [cite news
url = http://hinduonnet.com/fline/fl2209/stories/20050506000508000.htm
title = Prelude to storms
date = 2005-05-06
accessdate = 2008-01-21
publisher = Frontline] . In 1995, the City of Bombay was renamed as Mumbai.)

Awards

In 1937, Deshmukh was appointed a CIE (Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire).

In 1944, the British Government bestowed a knighthood upon Deshmukh.

In 1959, Deshmukh was a co-recipient (along with Jose Aguilar of the Philippines [cite web
url = http://www.rmaf.org.ph/Awardees/name.htm
title = The Ramon Magsaysay Awardees by Name
accessdate = 2006-12-08
publisher = The Ramon Magsaysay Foundation] ) of the Ramon Magsaysay Award for distinguished Government Service. Jesus College, Cambridge, Deshmukh's alma mater, elected him its Honorary Fellow in 1952 in recognition of his distinguished contribution in the areas of Indian and international finance and administration.

In 1975, the Government of India honored Deshmukh with a Padma Vibhushan award.

References

* [http://www.rbi.org.in/Content/Annual_CDMemorial.aspx Chintaman Deshmukh Memorial Lectures]
* List of Magsaysay awardees