Balram Jakhar

Jakhar was born in a Jat family in Panjkosi village of Fazilka district in Punjab now in Abohar on 23 August 1923. His father was Chaudhari Rajaram Jakhar and his mother Patodevi Jakhar. His elder son, Sajjan Kumar Jakhar, is a former Punjab minister and his youngest, Sunil Jakhar is three time MLA from Abohar and became Leader of the Opposition in Punjab in March 2012 and Member of Parliament from Gurdaspur and became PPCC President in 2017.

Jakhar earned a degree in Sanskrit from Forman Christian College, Lahore, in 1945. He had knowledge of English, Punjabi, Urdu, Sanskrit and Hindi languages.

Jakhar was elected to the Punjab Legislative Assembly in 1972 and was re-elected in 1977 becoming the Leader of the Opposition.

He was elected to the seventh Lok Sabha from Ferozepur in 1980 and re-elected to the eighth Lok Sabha from Sikar in 1984. He served twice as Speaker of Lok Sabha from 1980 to 1989, a rare achievement in Indian parliament history, thus became the longest speaker of the Lok Sabha (lower house of the Indian Parliament). As Speaker of Lok Sabha he was an instrument for automation and computerization of Parliamentary works. He promoted Parliament library, reference, research, documentation and information services for the knowledge and use of members of Parliament. The establishment of Parliament Museum was his contribution. He was first Asian to be elected as Chairman of Commonwealth Parliamentarian Executive Forum.

He became the Central Agriculture minister in 1991 in INC govt headed by P. V. Narasimha Rao.

He was Governor of Madhya Pradesh state from 30 June 2004 to 30 May 2009.[2]

Speaker Jakhar with Pandit Ram Kishore Shukla and Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother at a Commonwealth Conference.

Jakhar was the life president of Bharat Krishak Samaj and president of Jallianwala Bagh Memorial Trust Management Committee. He has written a book, People, Parliament and Administration. He tried to introduce scientific techniques in agriculture to increase production. The president of India awarded him 'Udyan Pandit' in 1975 for his contribution to Horticulture. Haryana Agricultural University Hisar and Gurukul Kangri Visvavidyalaya Haridwar have awarded him Doctor of Science and ‘'Vidya Martand'’ honorary degrees for his contribution to the Agriculture and Horticulture.

Sports, farming and reading were his hobbies.

• "Wayback Machine". Web.archive.org. 4 April 2005. Retrieved 20 January 2019.
• "IFFCO chairman Surinder Jakhar shot dead accidentally". Archive.is. 15 July 2011. Archived from the original on 15 July 2011. Retrieved 20 January 2019.