Patna: Bihar’s new chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi worked as a child labourer in a landlord’s home and also tended cattle to make both ends meet as his childhood was lost in extreme poverty. Born in the poverty-stricken family of a farmer Ramjit Ram Manjhi from Mahakar village in southern Bihar’s Gaya district, Manjhi had to do petty jobs to run his family. With no schools in the vicinity and no money to study, he pursued higher studies braving all odds coming his way.
After completing his graduation, he worked as a clerk in the telephone department but the desire for social service forced him to quit the clerical job and join politics.
His political career began from the Congress party when in 1980 he reached the Bihar assembly after winning the Fetehpur assembly seat and was inducted as a minister on his maiden entry to the House. He was re-elected to the state assembly in 1985 state polls also and again became the minister. After he found the Congress fast losing grounds in the state, he hastily joined the Lalu Prasad’s Rashtriya Janata Dal and became a minister there. After the fall of the RJD, he joined Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) and became a minister there.
Manjhi is also known for implementing a number of schemes for the welfare of Dalit community. One of them was promotion of eating rat meat with the objective to contain the growing population of rodents and save food grain. The idea, however, could not be implemented after Dalit community strongly opposed the move.
