Former joint Punjab bureaucrat Jivat Thadani dies in US

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 28

A former bureaucrat, Jivat Thadani, who served in joint Punjab between 1950 and 1965, breathed his last at his home in Vermont, US, on December 23. He was 94.

An illustrious personality, Thadani after joining the Indian Administrative Service was posted to Punjab between 1950 and 1957. He served in several districts, including Amritsar, Hisar, Karnal, Mahendragarh and Ferozepur. From 1957 to 1962, he was Director of Industries, Punjab, before resigning from the service. Thadani later joined Delhi Cloth and General Mills to help develop new industries in various parts of the country.

In 1969, Thadani was employed by World Bank in Washington DC and remained a senior adviser for industrial projects before his retirement in 1987.

Throughout his career, he sought to advance industrial development through various routes, seeing in it the only way to improve the condition of the poor and underprivileged whose plight had influenced him from his earliest days in India.

Born in Hyderabad, Pakistan, Thadani was schooled at home in Delhi, where his father was principal of Hindu College. He subsequently attended Hindu College, and after changing his subject from English to economics, he became the first student to be granted a PhD in economics by Delhi University.

Widely read in history, economics, and philosophy, and remained to the end clear in intellect, Thadani spent his last years in India, the US, and the UK. He is survived by his wife, Jaya Thadani, son Vijay Thadani, daughter-in-law Onita Connington and their grandchildren.