Jivraj Mehta

Jivraj Mehta
Mehta in October 1947
1st Chief Minister of Gujarat
In office 1 May 1960 – 18 September 1963
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	Balwantrai Mehta
Personal details
Born	29 August 1887 Amreli, Bombay Presidency
Died	7 November 1978
Political party	Indian National Congress
Spouse(s)	Hansa Jivraj Mehta
Religion	Hindu

Dr. Jivraj Narayan Mehta was the first Chief Minister of Gujarat.

He was born on 29 August 1887 to Narayan and Jamakben Mehta in Amreli in Bombay Presidency. He was son-in-law of Manubhai Mehta, then Dewan of Baroda state. In his early age, Dr. Eduljee Rustomji Dadachandjee, a civil surgeon in Amreli prompted him to take up medicine. He subsequently secured admission into the Grant Medical College and Sir J.J. Hospital, Mumbai, after clearing a stiff written test and a thorough viva voce examination that was conducted by the British IMS officers.

His medical education was sponsored by the Seth VM Kapol Boarding Trust. He topped the class in his First Licentiate in Medicine and Surgery (the then equivalent of MBBS) examination. In his final year, he won seven of the eight prizes open to his batch and shared the eighth prize with his hostel roommate Kashinath Dikshit.

Later, for postgraduate studies in London he applied to the Tata education foundation for a student loan and he has been selected in one of the only two students for this prestigious fellowship from amongst several bright students who had applied for it. Jivraj Mehta lived from 1909 to 1915 in London. He was the president of the Indian Students Association in London where he studied medicine and did his FRCS there. He won University gold medal in his MD examinations in 1914. Later he has been made a member of the prestigious Royal College of Physicians of London.

He was briefly the personal doctor to Mahatma Gandhi after returning to India and joined the independence movement.

He was twice incarcerated (1938 and 1942) by the British government for his role in Gandhi's Satyagraha movement. After independence in 1947, he held various public offices. He served as the first "Dewan" (Prime Minister) of the erstwhile Baroda state in free India sworn-in on 4 September 1948, director general of health services and secretary to the ministry of health in the central government during the partition period, minister of public works, finance, industry and prohibition for the then Bombay state.