C. Subramaniam

C. Subramaniam Biography

Chidambaram Subramaniam was a prominent politician from Tamil Nadu. He was also an Independence activist and parliamentarian. He served as Minister of Finance (1975–1977) and Minister of Defence (28 July 1979 – 14 January 1980) under Indira Gandhi’s government. He served as Minister of Agriculture during 1964–1966 under Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri. He held the position of Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission during 2 May 1971 – 22 July 1972 during Indira Gandhi’s governance. Thus Chidambaram Subramaniam was a prominent Congress politician from Tamil Nadu who remained an influential figure in national level politics.

Chidambaram Subramaniam was born on 30 January 1910. He belonged to a Gounder family in Pollachi of present day Coimbatore district. His early education was done at his village, before he moved to Chennai for higher studies. He took B.Sc degree in Physics at the Presidency College, Chennai, followed by degree in law from Madras Law college, Chennai. It was during his stay in Chennai, he got associated with nationalist movement as well as activism, as a part of freedom struggle movement. He was influenced by his uncle Swami Chidbhavananda.

As a student he started Vanamalar Sangam and published a magazine called Pithan from Gobichettipalayam, which promoted India’s freedom struggle movement and heavily criticized British rule. Periyasaamy Thooran, K. S. Ramaswamy Gounder and O. V. Alagesan who were student leaders also got associated with the move. As an active member of the Civil disobedience movement, he participated in freedom struggle movement.

After Indian independence, he became active in politics associated with Indian national congress. He joined hands with M. S. Swaminathan and B. Sivaraman to design modern agricultural development policy, which led to Indian Green Revolution. He served as Minister for Food and Agriculture then. During this last phase of political career, he served as Governor of Maharashtra during 1990-1993. He passed away on 7 November 2000 aged 90.

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Updated: September 02, 2018