Dharma Vira

Dharma Vira OBE
Governor of Mysore
In office 23 October 1970 – 1 February 1972
Preceded by	Gopal Swarup Pathak
Succeeded by	Mohanlal Sukhadia
6th Governor of West Bengal
In office 1 June 1967 – 1 April 1969
Preceded by	Padmaja Naidu
Succeeded by	Deep Narayan Sinha
Governor of Haryana
Succeeded by	Birendra Narayan Chakraborty
Governor of Punjab
In office 27 June 1966 – 1 June 1967
Preceded by	Sardar Ujjal Singh
Cabinet Secretary of India
In office 18 November 1964 – 27 June 1966
Succeeded by	D. S. Joshi
Personal details
Born	20 January 1906 Bijnor
Died	16 September 2000(2000-09-16) (aged 94)
Spouse	Dayavati Ganga
Parent(s)	Raja Jwala Prasad, Bhagyati Devi
Alma mater	School of Oriental Studies Muir Central College
Awards	Padma Vibhushan

Dharma Vira, OBE, ICS (20 January 1906 – 16 September 2000) was a governor of Punjab, West Bengal and Karnataka and a former Cabinet Secretary of the Government of India.

Early life

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, 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

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.

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:

• Punjab and Haryana 1966-67
• West Bengal 1967-69
• Karnataka (Mysore),1969–72

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.

In terms of post-independence India, he was the senior and most distinguished civil servant, and was awarded the Padma Vibhushan award in 1999. He died on 16 September 2000.

Accounts of him stress his congenial but firm nature, his addiction to golf, and his integrity.

External links

• [1]
• http://www.bsgindia.org/