Gulabrao Patil

GULABRAO PATIL
File:Gulabrao Patil.jpg Late-G.R.Patil (1921-1989)
MP-Rajya Sabha India.
In office 1966-1972 & 1972-1978[1]
Constituency	Western Maharashtra- Sangli.
Personal details
Born	16th September 1921 Benadi, Bombay State, India.
Died	21 January 1989(1989-01-21) (aged 67) Pune, Maharashtra India.
Political party	Indian National Congress-INC
Spouse	Smt. Pramiladevi G. Patil
Children	2 sons and 2 daughters
Residence(s)	Sangli, Mumbai, Delhi.
Website	http://www.gpmt.org/index.html
As of December 16, 2007 Source: [2]

Gulabrao Raghunathrao Patil
(Marathi: गुलाबराव रघुनाथराव पाटील - बेनाडिकर )
(16 September 1921- 21 January 1989).

Gulabrao Patil was a member of the Rajya Sabha[3] or upper house of the Parliament of India from 1966-1978, a Member of the Legislative Council of Maharashtra for four year and President of Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee.

Introduction

Gulabrao Patil was a great Social Worker and Politicial Leader from Sangli in state of Maharashtra,India. He was known as Sahakar Probodhankar due to his outstanding work in Maharashtra Cooperative sector and politics. He was a Member of Parliament-MP[4] in Rajya Sabha, or upper house of Parliament, for two terms from 1966-1972 and 1972-1978, a total of 12 years. He was the President of Maharashtra Pradesh Congress-MPCC [5] from 1981-1982 and a Member of the Legislative Council- MLC, Maharashtra Government for four years.

Patil also served as Chairman of Maharashtra State Co-operative Bank in Mumbai[6] form 1980 to 1982 and Secretary of National Co-operative Union of India (NCUI) from 1973-75, located in New Delhi. He travelled worldwide for study of Co-operative Movement and Agriculture on behalf of Indian Government visiting different countries such as USA, England, Korea, Germany.

Background

Born on 16 September 1921 to a reputed Maratha Family in Benadi a small but famous village on the Maharashtra-Karnataka state boundary near Kolhapur. He completed his LLB(Special) from Kolhapur Law college. He started practicing law in Satara city. Then he moved to Sangli city, where he took more interest in regional politics and joined the Indian National Congress at the time of Indian Independence. Though he hadn't taken part directly in the freedom struggle, he was closely related to struggle of Indian Independence. Under the influence of people like Yashwantrao Chavan-pioneer of Maharashtra, Balasaheb Desai - Ex-Home minister of Maharashtra, Keshavrao Jedhe-Leader of Samyukat Maharashtra and other such leaders, Gulabrao Patil engaged himself in social context.

Social Work & Co-operative Movement

After Indian independence, Gulabrao Patil worked on solving agriculture problems in Western Maharashtra. He established different Co-operative societies in nearby palace of Sangli. In 1951,he was firstly elected as a member of local council, followed by Councilor of Sangli city in 1954-55. Where he took many brave step and brought new development in City including Water pipeline for entier sangli city. In 1958, he was main mentor with vasantdada patil in establishing largest Co-operative Sugar factory of Asia in Sangli.

Meanwhile, he was influenced by Vaikhuntbhai Mehta & Dhanajirao Gadgil both great leaders of Indian Cooperative movement. Gulabrao Patil believed that 'Sahakar' i.e Cooperative Movement is main source of upliftment of society & economic growth. Later he dedicated his entire life for strengthening Cooperative Movement in Post Independence era of India[7]. He worked closely with regional leaders such as Barrister G.D.Patil, Rajarambapu Patil, Aabasaheb Shinde-Maisalkar, Shahjibapu Patil and many more.

Late. Gulabrao Patil was a main instrumental in establishing & developing Sangli District Central Cooperative Bank (SDCC) where he severed as a Chairman & Director for over two decades. Here he took many brave decisions for economical development of farmers. He was 1st Chairman of DCC Bank to promote and give Agricultural loan to farmers for growing World famous Seedless Grapes in Sangli district. Today, Sangli District is Leading Grapes Producer in Country. In 1960, he started Sangli District Cooperative Board for basic education & training in Cooperative. He made valuable efforts to increase irrigation scheme for agriculture via Co-operative societies in Sangli district. One of the reasons why Sangli District is now one of the Leading Cooperative hub in India. It comprises of highest number of Co-op sugar factories, spinning Mills, Co-op Banks and many other Cooperative industries.

As a Member of Parliament Gulabrao Patil made a special efforts to establish Marathi Film City-Chitranagari in Kolhapur together with leading Marathi Film Director- Dinkar D patil. Also, he put forward the issue of Belgaum border dispute during his term as MP in Rajya Sabha.

Also, Patil had set up Cooperative Housing Societies in Pune and Sangli cities known as Gulab Nagar Coop Housing Society, Dhanakawadi and Gulab Colony, Near Chandni Chowk Sangli respectively.[8]

Politics

Gulabrao Patil was mainly active in State politics and National politics rather than Local politics, as he was Member of Parliament for 12 years. In 1978-79, he joined Indira Gandhi led Congress, were he was one of the poineer person from Maharashtra who joined Congress(I) at that time. Soon in 1981, Indira Gandhi appointed Gulabrao Patil as a President of Maharashtra Pradesh Congress(I) Committee [9]. Where he initially played important role in taking Congress(I) to common people. In next general election Congress(I) won by big margin in Maharashtra under his strong leadership.

After Controversial resignation of Chief Minister A R Antulay in 1982, Gulabrao Patil was leading & most able candidate of next Chief Minister of Maharashtra at that time. But at last moment his name was changed due to internal politics. Sooner in next government of Babasaheb Bhosale, he was offered a lower post than his designation of State Ministership, but he denied the Ministership, and famously said, Power without Prestige, is a Gun without Bullets. This historic statement made him more popular in entire Maharashtra State, as this showed that he was not greedy for power but a 'True Leader' dedicated for upliftment of society. He passed away in Pune by a heart attack on 21 January 1989 at age of 67. Throughout his life he remained loyal and served to his Country, People and Congress party without selfishness.

Current Senario

Currently, his son Prithviraj Patil is socially and politically active and expanding the social and educational work of Late. Gulabrao Patil. Different educational institutes and social project are undertaken through Gulabrao Patil Memorial Trust(GPMT)[10]. Colleges such as Homeopathy, Pharma, Nursing, B.Ed, D.Ed, IT Training center and Cambridge English School are run in Miraj and Sangli Cities. Please visit following websites for more details.

References

• Gulabrao Patil Memorial Trust- http://www.gpmt.org/index.html
• List of Members of Rajya Shabha (see No.77 in list)- http://164.100.47.5:8080/members/alphabeticallist_all_terms.asp?alphabet=P
• List of Presidents- Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee(see No.11 in list)- http://www.maharashtrapcc.org/PCC%20Presidents%20of%20Maharashtra.aspx
• Marathi Sahitya Samellan Article on Gulabrao Patil- http://www.mymarathi.com/sahityasagarswf/gulabrao_patil.swf
• Gulabrao Patil Articles in Marathi News Paper- http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/patil.ruturaj/GulabraoPatil#
• MSC Bank Photo Gallary- http://www.mscbank.com/photogallery.asp?GT=H
• Maharashtra Cooperative Website in Marathi-http://www.co-operativeonnet.com/default.asp
• Gulabrao Patil D.Ed and B.Ed College- http://www.gpmt.org/GP_D_ED/Index_GP_D_Ed.html
• Gulabrao Patil Pharmacy College- http://www.gpmt.org/GPCP/Facilities_GPCP.html
• National Cooperative Union of India Website- http://www.ncui.net/

Pandit Nehru Visit to Board of Directors- Maharashtra State Co-operative Bank, Bombay in 1961. Bank Director-Gulabrao Patil standing in between Nehru and Gadgil Handshake. Futher he became Chairman of Bank in 1980

File:PatilGulabrao.jpg