Brahm Prakash
13th Minister of Agriculture
In office 30 July 1979 – 14 January 1980
Prime Minister	Charan Singh
Preceded by	Surjit Singh Barnala
Succeeded by	Rao Birendra Singh
Constituency	Nangloi Jat
Member of the Lok Sabha for Outer Delhi
In office 1977–1980
Preceded by	Chaudhry Dalip Singh
Succeeded by	Sajjan Kumar
In office 1967–1971
Preceded by	Vacant
Succeeded by	Chaudhry Dalip Singh
In office 1962–1967
Preceded by	Naval Prabhakar
Succeeded by	Vacant
Member of the Lok Sabha for Delhi Sadar
In office 1957–1962
Preceded by	Constituency Established
Succeeded by	Shiv Charan Gupta
1st Chief Minister of Delhi
In office 17 March 1952 – 12 February 1955
Preceded by	Office Established
Succeeded by	Gurumukh Nihal Singh
Personal details
Born	Chaudhary Brahm Prakash Yadav (1918-06-16)16 June 1918 Kenya, British India
Died	11 August 1993(1993-08-11) (aged 75) Delhi, India
Political party	Indian National Congress, Janata Party
Residence(s)	Delhi, India

Chaudhary Brahm Prakash Yadav (1918–1993) was an Indian politician, the first Chief Minister of Delhi, also known as sher-e-delhi,^[1] and a freedom fighter who played an important role in the individual Satyagraha Movement launched by Mahatma Gandhi in 1940. His ancestors were from Haryana but his father a famous landlord, Chaudhary Bhagwan Das Yadav shifted to shakurpur village of Delhi and later moved to Kenya so Brahm Prakash was born in Nairobi, Kenya itself.^[2]

Career

Indian Independence movement

He was amongst the leaders of the underground activities in Delhi during the Quit India movement. He was imprisoned many times during the freedom struggle.^[3][4]

Post independence

Post-independence, Prakash served as Minister in charge of Planning and Development as well as the first Chief Minister of Delhi at the age of 34 years, the second-youngest Chief Minister in India in 1952–55.^[5][6] His stints in the Parliament twice won him accolades as an able parliamentarian. While he was with Congress Party, he was elected to Lok Sabha from Delhi Sadar constituency in 1957, and from Outer Delhi in 1962 and 1967. He joined Janata Party later, and was elected to Lok Sabha again in 1977 from Outer Delhi. When the party split in 1979, he joined the Charan Singh faction, and became a minister for a few months. He made noteworthy contributions as the Union Cabinet Minister for Food, Agriculture, Irrigation and Cooperatives.^[7]

The cause of depressed sections of the society, rural development and empowerment of the weaker sections were issues, which were very close to the heart of Prakash. He was quick to realise the potential of cooperative societies in mitigating the hardships of the village folks. As early as in 1945, he started organising village and agriculture cooperatives. He was also a proponent of the Panchayati Raj institutions. He organised the National Union of Backward Classes, Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Minorities in 1977 to work for the welfare of these weaker sections.^[8]

Prakash and Dr. Kurien of NDDB promoted the idea of Cooperative Companies to help free the cooperatives from the shackles of Government control through the Registrar of Cooperative Societies. It was a precursor to the present Producer Company model.^[9][10][11]