Bhagat Singh Koshyari

Bhagat Singh Koshyari, known in Uttarakhand as “Bhagat Da”, has been a teacher, a newspaper founder, a minister and a Governor. In 2026 he was named for the Padma Bhushan in the field of public affairs, from Uttarakhand ^[1].

Teacher in the hills

Koshyari was born on 17 June 1942 in Palanadhura, a remote village in Bageshwar district ^[2]. He completed a master’s degree in English literature at Almora College in 1964 and taught briefly as a lecturer in Etah district, Uttar Pradesh ^[2].

From 1965 he turned to teaching and social work, starting at a Saraswati Shishu Mandir school in Kasganj ^[2]. In 1966 he founded a Saraswati Shishu Mandir in Pithoragarh, a border district, and helped set up Vivekanand Inter College there ^[2]. He sat on the executive council of Kumaon University from 1979 to 1990 and started a Hindi weekly, Parvat Piyush, from Pithoragarh ^[2]. He is a long-time member of the RSS, and was arrested under MISA during the Emergency ^[2].

Public office

He was nominated to the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council in 1997 ^[2]. When Uttarakhand was formed in November 2000 he joined its first cabinet, and he later served briefly as Chief Minister and then as Leader of the Opposition ^[2]. As the state’s energy minister he worked on the long-delayed Tehri hydro project ^[2].

He entered the Rajya Sabha in 2008 and won the Nainital–Udham Singh Nagar Lok Sabha seat in 2014 ^[2]. In both houses he chaired the Committee on Petitions ^[2]. On 5 September 2019 he was appointed Governor of Maharashtra ^[2].