Express News Service
RANCHI: Baby Devi, wife of ex-minister for School Education and Literacy Department Late Jagarnath Mahto on Monday took oath as a minister in Hemant Soren Cabinet in Jharkhand. Governor CP Radhakrishnan administered the oath of office and secretary to Baby Devi at the Darbar Hall of Raj Bhawan in Ranchi.
The ministerial berth was lying vacant following the death of Jagarnath Mahto who passed away on April 6 this year during treatment at a Chennai Hospital. Mahto was suffering from lung problems following lung transplantation after being infected by COVID-19.
JMM General Secretary Binod Pandey said that giving a ministerial berth to the wife of the late Jagarnath Mahto is a real tribute to his departed soul. Baby Devi, on the other hand, said that she will try to complete the unfinished dreams of her late husband.
Jharkhand Education Minister and senior JMM firebrand leader Jagarnath Mahto, 56, passed away during treatment at a Chennai Hospital on April 6. He was airlifted to MGM Chennai after his health condition suddenly deteriorated and he did not show any sign of improvement at Paras Hospital in the Jharkhandcapital on March 14.
VIDEO | Former minister Jagarnath Mahto’s wife Baby Devi will take oath as minister in the Hemant Soren-led UPA government in Jharkhand today.A ministerial berth in the Hemant Soren cabinet was vacant after the death of Mahto, who held charge of school education and literacy… pic.twitter.com/gcLA7x6f41
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) July 3, 2023
Mahto, a matriculate, came into the limelight by taking admission to Nawadih Devi Mahto Inter School in Bokaro, a school set up by him in 2006 after becoming MLA for the first time in 2005. According to Mahto, he decided to take admission in Inter-Arts only to remove the blot of being termed as an under-qualified education minister.
In a first-of-its-kind initiative to boost the morale of the students performing well in their exams, Mahto handed over Alto cars to state toppers of Class 10th and 12th examinations in Jharkhand.
The minister, who himself was a student of class 11th Arts, also had promised to adopt toppers from the next year so that they can complete their studies without any hurdles.
Notably, Devi will be the second JMM leader to become a minister in the UPA government before being elected to the Assembly. Earlier, Hafizul Hassan was sworn-in as minister in the UPA government on February 6, 2021, after the death of his father Haji Hussain Ansari who was a minority affairs minister in the Hemant Soren Government.
Later he won the Madhupur by-poll on May 2, 2021. In the 81-member Jharkhand assembly, there could be a maximum of 12 ministers, including the chief minister, in the Cabinet, but Hemant Soren’s Cabinet had only 10 members in his Cabinet.
RANCHI: Baby Devi, wife of ex-minister for School Education and Literacy Department Late Jagarnath Mahto on Monday took oath as a minister in Hemant Soren Cabinet in Jharkhand. Governor CP Radhakrishnan administered the oath of office and secretary to Baby Devi at the Darbar Hall of Raj Bhawan in Ranchi.
The ministerial berth was lying vacant following the death of Jagarnath Mahto who passed away on April 6 this year during treatment at a Chennai Hospital. Mahto was suffering from lung problems following lung transplantation after being infected by COVID-19.
JMM General Secretary Binod Pandey said that giving a ministerial berth to the wife of the late Jagarnath Mahto is a real tribute to his departed soul. Baby Devi, on the other hand, said that she will try to complete the unfinished dreams of her late husband.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });
Jharkhand Education Minister and senior JMM firebrand leader Jagarnath Mahto, 56, passed away during treatment at a Chennai Hospital on April 6. He was airlifted to MGM Chennai after his health condition suddenly deteriorated and he did not show any sign of improvement at Paras Hospital in the Jharkhand
capital on March 14.
VIDEO | Former minister Jagarnath Mahto’s wife Baby Devi will take oath as minister in the Hemant Soren-led UPA government in Jharkhand today.
A ministerial berth in the Hemant Soren cabinet was vacant after the death of Mahto, who held charge of school education and literacy… pic.twitter.com/gcLA7x6f41
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) July 3, 2023
Mahto, a matriculate, came into the limelight by taking admission to Nawadih Devi Mahto Inter School in Bokaro, a school set up by him in 2006 after becoming MLA for the first time in 2005. According to Mahto, he decided to take admission in Inter-Arts only to remove the blot of being termed as an under-qualified education minister.
In a first-of-its-kind initiative to boost the morale of the students performing well in their exams, Mahto handed over Alto cars to state toppers of Class 10th and 12th examinations in Jharkhand.
The minister, who himself was a student of class 11th Arts, also had promised to adopt toppers from the next year so that they can complete their studies without any hurdles.
Notably, Devi will be the second JMM leader to become a minister in the UPA government before being elected to the Assembly. Earlier, Hafizul Hassan was sworn-in as minister in the UPA government on February 6, 2021, after the death of his father Haji Hussain Ansari who was a minority affairs minister in the Hemant Soren Government.
Later he won the Madhupur by-poll on May 2, 2021. In the 81-member Jharkhand assembly, there could be a maximum of 12 ministers, including the chief minister, in the Cabinet, but Hemant Soren’s Cabinet had only 10 members in his Cabinet.
