Shri Krishna Sinha, the first chief minister of Bihar held the office from 1946 to 1961. Sinha was a modern leader of the social justice of Bihar who served as a first Chief Minister for the state of Bihar till his last breath. He was born on October 21, 1887, in Nawada district of Bihar.
In collaboration with the deputy and finance minister Anugrah Narayan Sinha, Sri Krishna Sinha spearheaded several developmental projects in the state. The two men led Bihar from 1937, when the first Bihar government was formed under British rule. Sri Krishna Sinha’s long stint as chief minister saw the setting up of key industries and river valley projects along with major agricultural and social reforms.
Since childhood, Sinha started to look at the qualities of self-esteem and a keen interest in the field of knowledge. His primary education took place in the district school of his village and later after he got a scholarship for his further higher education in District School, Munger.
He completed his M.A and took a degree of law from Calcutta University and then started practising law in his hometown Munger. He appeared as a mass leader on the political horizon of Bihar from his student life. He was known as “Babu Kesari” for his lionlike roars when he rose to address the masses. His close friend and prominent Gandhian, Dr Anugrah Narayan Singh wrote an essay for him titled “Mere Shri Babu”.
Sinha’s first meeting with Mahatma Gandhi was in 1911 and inspired by his ideas, Shri Krishna Singh became his follower. He first went to jail in 1922. He underwent different terms of imprisonment for a total of about eight years. In 1937, he was elected as a member of the Central assembly as well as the Bihar assembly. During his tenure, the Zamindari system was ended, and also the establishment of Asia’s Engineering industry, Heavy Engineering Corporation, and many more factories took place.
During that time, India’s first prime minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru called the world’s best administrative expert to administrate and evaluate the policies of the state government. After evaluation, Apelvi declared Bihar as the most administered state.
Shri Krishna Sinha had an immense contribution to the cultural and social development of Bihar. It was he who established the Rajendra Chatra Niwas at Calcutta for Bihari students, the Anugrah Narayan Institute of Social studies at Patna, Ravindra Bhawan at Patna, Lord Buddha’s statue at Rajgir Venu VanVihar as well as an orphanage of Muzaffarpur.
He passed away on January 31, 1961. In his honour in 1978, the Ministry of Culture started a science museum called Shri Krishna Science Centre. The biggest conference hall in Patna, Shri Krishna Memorial Hall is also named after him.
