T. M. Jacob

T. M. Jacob Biography

T. M. Jacob was a prominent politician from Kerala and the founder of the Kerala Congress (Jacob), a splinter faction of the Kerala Congress. He is also remembered as the initiator behind the Mahatma Gandhi University, Kerala. When he passed away in 2011, he was serving as Food & Civil Supplies Minister in the UDF government. Following his demise, a by-poll was announced and his son Anoop Jacob got elected to Kerala state legislative assembly for the first time representing Piravom Constituency, from where his father got elected earlier. When he died he was 61 year old. He is considered one of the best parliamentarians Kerala has ever produced. He served the state as a minister in four governments.

He was born on 16 September 1950, to T. S. Mathew and Annamma in Oliyappuram, Ernakulam District. He was first elected to the Kerala Legislative Assembly in the year 1977 from Piravom constituency, his favourite. In a political career spanning to more than 3 decades, he served as the state minister in 4 terms. His tenure as Education Minister under Karunakaran’s Cabinet between 1982 and 87 is the glorious period of his political journey. During this term, he introduced the concept of Pre-degree board with an aim to de-link matriculation from colleges. Privatization of technical education was done in Kerala state for the first time during his period.

Between 1991 and 1996, he served under the ministries of both K Karunakaran and A K Antony and once again under Antony in 2001. Apart from Education, he has handled portfolios of Water Resources and Food and Civil Supplies. He is also behind Chandy government’s flagship project for distributing rice at Re 1/kg for BPL families.

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Updated: June 16, 2014