Our President


Jayant Chaudhary, the National President of Rashtriya Lok Dal. He served as a Member of Parliament in the 15th Lok Sabha. He contested the 2009 General Election from Mathura, Uttar Pradesh. He is currently the National Vice-President of the Rashtriya Lokdal.

Born on 27th December 1978, Jayant did his undergraduate studies from Shri Venkateswara College, Delhi University, and in 2002 completed an MSc in Accounting and Finance from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

 

Jayant has been a vocal critic of the 1894 land acquisition law and the large-scale acquisition of fertile lands in the State of Uttar Pradesh. He was at the forefront of a number of agitations to protest the unfair acquisition of land in the State and in particular, the agitations in the Noida, Greater Noida, Mathura, Hathras, Agra and Aligarh districts.

The agitations and the violence against protestors at Bhatta Parsaul, Bajna and Tappal recently led to a nationwide debate on the misuse of the provisions of the Acquisition Act, and the indiscriminate use of force on protestors.

On 26th August 2010, thousands of farmers came to protest at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi where Jayant Chaudhary forcefully called for the Central Government to intervene and move to pass a new Land Acquisition law in parliament.

On 5th August, 2011, Jayant introduced a Private Member’s Bill on Land Acquisition in the Lok Sabha. The main tenets of the Bill included measures for limiting the government’s acquisition for private profit and the use of urgency clause in acquiring land. The proposal calls for return of land to landowners in case the land is not utilized in the stated land use within a period of five years, including intended land use as a parameter in calculating market value as compensation for landowners, a time-bound procedure for the acquisition process, compensation and dispute resolution, and a Land Acquisition Compensation Disputes Settlement Authority to adjudicate in disputes.

Jayant is concerned with the impact of climate change on our country, its agriculture and environment. He has spoken out in parliament on the need for countries like India, which have developing and large agrarian economies to come together and adopt a flexible approach that does not create barriers for growth but at the same time addresses the need for a global understanding and commitment on the climate change issue. Jayant is a vocal proponent of renewable energy. He attended a conference by the climate parliament organization in the European Parliament in Brussels in May 2011, and has called for the Government to set a target for India to achieve a 15 % share of solar, wind, biomass and other renewable energy technologies in total electricity supply by 2020.

Jayant also introduced a Private Member’s bill to amend the Right To Information Act to increase the applicability of the act to include PPPs (Public Private Partnerships) to ensure greater transparency.

During his first term in the Lok Sabha, Jayant Chaudhary served as a member of several Parliamentary Committees; the Standing Committees on Commerce, Agriculture and Finance, the Consultative Committee on Finance, the Committee on Ethics, and the Committee on Government Assurances. He was a member of the General Board of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR).

Jayant Chaudhary was the Co-chair of the FICCI Indo-British Forum of Parliamentarians and member of the Indo-Venezuela Parliamentary Friendship Group.

Jayant Chaudhary has been working with several civil society groups, and non-governmental organizations. He served as convener of the ‘Thursday Briefing sessions’ organized by the Constitution Club of India (CCI) in partnership with the PRS Legislative Research for the honourable Members of the Parliament during the session. This forum is a bi-partisan effort to informally debate on important legislations and evolve consensus on issues. He is a key member of the Climate Parliament and Globe India organizations, which work on sensitizing policy makers to climate change and the imperatives to ensure energy security in developing countries.

Jayant Chaudhary is serving as Chairman of the Kisan Trust founded by former Prime Minister, late Chaudhary Charan Singh in 1978