Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan(1953):-
widely known as JP, is an Indian public administrator, social reformer, columnist and political leader. He is well known for his role in bringing electoral reforms and for his columns on democracy in leading Indian daily news papers.
Early career
Jayaprkash Narayana, originally a physician, joined public administration after passing I.A.S. in 1980 standing all India second. He worked on agriculture, irrigation, technology and youth rehabilitation projects in various capacities in various districts of Andhra Pradesh. He had also worked as chief secretary to Andhra Pradesh government. He had a eventful 16-year-long career in the government. Some of his achievements include
- Rehabilitation of 8000 youth from displaced families of the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant.
- Designing the reconstruction of drainage and irrigation network in Krishna and Godavari deltas.
- Strengthening the credit cooperatives and making them independent of government control.
Dr JP was involved in formulating major policy initiatives such as developing an Info‑City in Hyderabad to facilitate the growth of the software industry. Hi‑Tech City, which has grown into one of the most prominent IT hubs of India.
Dr. JP had also served on the following panels.
- The National Advisory Council (NAC) for the implementation of the National Common Minimum Programme
- Vigilance Advisory Council
- Second Administrative Reforms Commission constituted by the Government of India
Social reformer
In spite of achievements as Indian administration officer, Dr. JP’s experience in government convinced him that faulty governance process is the biggest hurdle in India’s path of progress. He resigned from I.A.S in 1996, as he wanted to work on grass roots for good governance. Jayaprakash, an optimistic individual, talks about the efficacy of reforms in the governance among several other issues on various platforms in educational and political institutes. He emphasizes that democracy is for the people, of the people and by the people.
He started Lok Satta Movement (means people power) in 1997 to educate citizens of India about voting, rights and government. Lok Satta, along with similar organizations worked on various activities like election reforms, police reforms and voter registration procedures. The movement initially started in Andhra Pradesh and later spread across the country, including Mumbai (formerly Bombay) and the Vote JUHU campaigns[1]
He has also written columns in Indian news papers like Times of India, Economic Times, Financial Express, Hindu and Eenadu. He also worked as Television host for political programs and election coverage shows.
Politician
He started a political party Lok Satta party in 2006 with the clean politics and good governance as the main agenda in 2006. While launching the political party, he stated that his party is aimed to enrich the political scenario in India with its true spirit and feels that it would not be considered as an alternative to another political party, since, it aims to create a true and faithful political picture in India. Lok Satta party contested in 2008 in By-elections for the first time, and was able to gain 12% of votes.
