Shrikant Jichkar

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Dr.Shrikant Jichkar (September 14, 1954 - June 2, 2004) was a well respected and highly qualified Indian politician. He was born in a farmer's family in Aajangaon near Katol in Nagpur district, Maharashtra, India. He has 20 post-graduate University Degrees to his credit. Beginning as a Medical Doctor (MBBS and MD ) he did his Law (LL.B.) with Post-graduation in International Law (LL.M.) and his Masters in Business Administration (DBM and MBA) and in Journalism (B.Journ). He did his Masters in ten subjects. M.A. (Public Administration) ; M.A. (Sociology) ; M.A. (Economics); M.A. (Sanskrit); M.A. (History); M.A.(English Literature); M.A. (Philosophy); M.A. (Political Science) ; M.A. (Ancient Indian History, Culture and Archaeology); M.A (Psychology). He got his D. Litt (Doctor of Letters) in Sanskrit , the highest of any Degree in a University. Most of his Degrees are with First Merit and he has obtained 28 Gold Medals. Between 1972 and 1990 he has written 42 university examinations. Limca Books of Record list him as the most qualified person in India. He held ministers post in almost all departments. A very good painter, professional photographer and a good stage actor, He was an Aahitagni and Agnihotri who established and maintained the three sacred Vedic fires. He performed one of the rarest and ancient Vedic sacrifices known as Agnishtom Soma Yajna and got the title of Dixit and Somayaji.

In 1977, he was elected President of the Nagpur University Student's Council. In 1978 he wrote the IPS (Indian Police Service) examination and got into it, resigned, wrote the prestigious IAS (Indian Administrative Service) examination in 1980 and got into it, resigning in four months to contest his first general election.

He belonged to the political party Indian National Congress. In 1980 he was elected to Maharashtra Legislative Assemble becoming the youngest MLA in the country at 25 and subsequently became a very powerful government minister holding 14 portfolios at a time. After 12 years in the Maharashtra Legislature he was elected to the Indian Parliament in 1992 where he was MP till 1998. In 1999 he lost the election to the Loksabha by a slender margin of 3000 votes in an electorate of 1.4 million voters.

He rose in politics as a student and youth leader. He has worked on several important committees of the State and Central Government , including the Parliamentary Standing committee on Finance; Patents committee; the Planning Board; Resources Mobilization Committee; Taxation Reforms committee , High Power committee on Irrigation and on Transport.

He served as a member of legislative assembly of Maharashtra from 1980 to 1992 and member of Rajya Sabha between 1992 and 1998. He also contested the Lok Sabha election from Ramtek in 2004 but lost to Shiv Sena's Subodh Mohite. He survived cancer.

He had travelled all around the world representing India and leading Indian delegations on several forums including the UNO, the UNESCO etc. He had one of the biggest personal libraries in India with 52,000 books. He travelled all around India speaking on economic topics and giving religious discourses

He was killed in a car accident. His car collided with a bus about 60 kilometres from Nagpur while he was on his way back to Nagpur from his farmhouse in Amravati. He sustained multiple injuries and was rushed to a private nursing home where he succumbed to his wounds.