Dharma Vira OBE, ICS (20 January 1906 – 16 September 2000) was an Indian civil servant and politician who served as the governor of Punjab, Haryana, West Bengal and Karnataka. Vira also served as a Cabinet Secretary of the Government of India.

Dharma Vira
Dharma Vira in January 1966
5th Governor of Mysore
In office
23 October 1970 – 1 February 1972
Chief MinisterVeerendra Patil
Preceded byGopal Swarup Pathak
Succeeded byMohanlal Sukhadia
5th Governor of West Bengal
In office
1 June 1967 – 1 April 1969
Chief MinisterAjoy Mukherjee
Prafulla Chandra Ghosh
Preceded byPadmaja Naidu
Succeeded byDeep Narayan Sinha (acting)
1st Governor of Haryana
In office
1 November 1966 – 14 September 1967
Chief MinisterB. D. Sharma
Birender Singh
Preceded byOffice Established
Succeeded byBirendra Narayan Chakraborty
7th Governor of Punjab
In office
27 June 1966 – 1 June 1967
Chief MinisterRam Kishan
Giani Gurmukh Singh Musafir
Gurnam Singh
Preceded bySardar Ujjal Singh
Succeeded byMehar Singh (Acting)
8th Cabinet Secretary of India
In office
18 November 1964 – 27 June 1966
Prime MinisterLal Bahadur Shastri
Gulzarilal Nanda (Acting)
Indira Gandhi
Preceded byS. S. Khera
Succeeded byD. S. Joshi
Personal details
Born20 January 1906
Bijnor, United Provinces, British India
Died16 September 2000(2000-09-16) (aged 94)
New Delhi, India
SpouseDayavati Ganga
Relationsdaughter in law Ruchi Veera
Parent(s)Raja Jwala Prasad,
Bhagyati Devi
Alma materUniversity of London
Muir Central College
AwardsPadma Vibhushan

Early life

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Dharma Vira was born in Bijnor on 20 January 1906, the son of Raja Jwala Prasad and Bhagyati Devi. He studied at Muir Central College in Allahabad, before going to London to read for the ICS examinations at the School of Oriental Studies (now the School of Oriental and African Studies) between 1929 and 1930. He passed the examinations in October 1930,[1] and returned to India in November.

He married Dayavati Ganga Ram in 1932. He was a resident magistrate in Uttar Pradesh, but from 1941 became more involved in central Indian government affairs.

Career

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He became Deputy Chief Controller of Imports during the Second World War, and was Textile Commissioner for India in 1945. He was appointed an OBE in the 1946 New Year Honours.[2]

After Independence, he worked closely with Jawaharlal Nehru, and was Joint Secretary to the Indian Cabinet in 1947. He then became Principal Private Secretary to Jawaharlal Nehru, 1950–51, and Commercial Adviser to the Indian High Commissioner in London, 1951–3.

In 1954, he was appointed Ambassador to Czechoslovakia, in which capacity he served until 1956. On his return to India he served as Secretary to the Ministry of Rehabilitation until 1962 and was Secretary to the Ministry of Works, Housing and Supply in 1962.

From 1963 to 1964 he was Chief Commissioner of Delhi and then from 1964 to 1966 Cabinet Secretary and Secretary to Union Council of Ministers and became Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission.

He served as Governor of:

and was Chairman of the National Police Commission, 1977–83. Dharam Vira served as the President of the Bharat Scouts and Guides from November 1973 to September 1976.

Awards

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He was awarded the Padma Vibhushan, the second-highest Indian civilian award, by the Government of India in 1999. He died on 16 September 2000.

Preceded by
Governor of Mysore Succeeded by
Preceded by Governor of West Bengal
1967–1969
Succeeded by
Preceded by Presidents of the Bharat Scouts and Guides
1973–1976
Succeeded by

References

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