Thakur Ram Lal was born on January 15, 1929 in Village Barthata, which is in Tehsil Jubbal of District Shimla.

He went on to get a Bachelor’s in Arts, and later got an LLB. During his time as a student, he was interested in sports and took part in many societies like the literary and dramatic societies.

Thakur Ram Lal was elected to Himachal Pradesh Territorial Council in 1957 and 1962. The council was eventually converted into a Legislative Assembly in 1963.

He was a close confidant of Dr Yashwant Singh Parmar, the Chief Minister at the time. Dr Parmar’s relationship with his long time ally, Pt Padam Dev, had started to sour. Thakur Ram Lal was one of the people Parmar entrusted to counter Pt Padam Dev’s influence in Mahasu Congress.

Ram Lal was appointed the Congress’ Chief Whip and also was the Chief Parliamentary Secretary in 1966. He became a member of the Cabinet in 1967 and remained a member till January 07, 1977, post which he became the Chief Minister of Himachal.

When Dr Parmar chose to submit his resignation in January 1977, Thakur was chosen as his successor by the Congress High Command. Parmar, presiding over his last state level function as a Chief Minister, gave his wholehearted support to the new ministry. Ram Lal was sworn in as a Chief Minister by the Governor of Himachal Pradesh, S Chakravarti. Dr Parmar was also present at the ceremony.

When general elections to HP Legislative assembly took place in 1977 after the Emergency was lifted, Congress suffered massively at the ballot, and the party could only manage to win 9 seats. Ram Lal contested from Jubbal-Kotkhai, and won 60.19% of the total votes, defying the anti-Congress sentiment.

In 1977, he was elected the leader of the Congress Party. With a decisive majority, Janata Party’s Shanta Kumar formed the government, and Thakur Ram Lal was the Leader of Opposition from 1977 until 1980.

When elections were again conducted in 1982, Thakur Ram Lal managed to secure a thumping 85.34% of the total votes in Jubbal-Kotkhai. He again became the Chief Minister of Himachal, and his second stint as the Chief Minister lasted from May 24, 1982 till April 07, 1983.

He was then appointed the Governor of Andhra Pradesh on August 15, 1983 and held that office till August 29, 1984.

On July 06, 2002, he passed away following a cardiac arrest. His grandson, Rohit Thakur, is currently the Education Minister of Himachal Pradesh. Interestingly, Thakur Ram Lal also held the portfolio of Education Minister in Dr Parmar’s government. Rohit, like his grandfather, is an MLA from Jubbal-Kotkhai.

Agriculture is an important industry in Himachal, and it was no different when Thakur Ram Lal took office as Chief Minister. At the time, it accounted for 40 to 45 percent of the state’s Gross Domestic Product. Thakur Ram Lal was determined to improve productivity and life of farmers. Speaking at the HP Vidhan Sabha, on March 25, 1977, he announced his plans to increase the area under the High Yielding Variety Programme (HYVP), which was a scheme of the central government to increase productivity of food grains. Thakur also said that an agency to verify the quality of seeds was going to be set up. He also had plans to improve quality control of fertilisers, and he informed the House that a lab for testing fertilisers was being set up in Mandi.

His government also planned to set up mandis (markets) across the state, a fact that he repeatedly stressed upon. He believed that farmers needed places to sell their produce at the best possible rates and that establishment of marketplaces was important.

Thakur Ram Lal took special interest in improving horticulture in the state. Much like his predecessor, Dr Parmar, his government took initiatives to improve production of fruits. He was particularly focused on research initiatives to explore and promote other usages of fruits like apple. In 1977, speaking at the Vidhan Sabha, he said that his government had submitted a proposal to the World Bank for setting up a factory for crushing apples. On March 28, 1980, in the HP Vidhan Sabha, he said that his government was planning to improve research into other usages of excess fruits like making juices and jams.

Thakur Ram Lal stressed on development of infrastructure to electrify villages across Himachal. He was determined to achieve goals set under the Fifth-Five Year Plan, which aimed to electrify more than 50 percent of villages.

Hydropower had been a special focus of Dr Parmar, and Thakur Ram Lal, too, wanted to increase hydel power generation in the state. During his address as the Chief Minister in 1980, he informed the Legislative Assembly that he wanted to explore avenues with other states to increase power generation in Himachal, while making sure that Himachal’s interests were adequately protected.

Thakur Ram Lal was focused on improving connectivity in the tough terrain of Himachal.

After taking reins as a Chief Minister for the first time, speaking in the Vidhan Sabha, he said that road connectivity was his government’s top priority. This is also apparent in the amount of time he dedicated to the subject during his speech. He was well versed with the special challenges that the hills of Himachal offered, and he set aside a special budget for unforeseen events affecting the roads of the Pradesh.

When he became the Chief Minister again in 1980, he increased the funding for road development by 9.4%, as compared to the Janata party’s government.

In 1977, Himachal had about 10,190 km of motorable road. By 1981, this number had increased to 11,993 km, approximately a 17.7% increase.

Thakur Ram Lal was of the view that special focus must be put on development of Tribal areas of Himachal Pradesh. During his address as the CM in March 1977, he said that social and economic policies must be tailored to specially focus on Tribal areas. From electrification to providing medical facilities, Thakur’s government increased funding for all sectors in these areas.

During his speech in the Vidhan Sabha in March 1977, Thakur said, “For any government dedicated to welfare, ensuring adequate health services is of vital importance.” He also informed the House that his government had increased the funding for social programs that provided food to school students and mothers, and expecting mothers.

Thakur’s plans, that he presented in March 1981 aimed to open 900 new Primary Health Centres, and he aimed to provide every village health facility within a radius of three kilometres.

Thakur Ram Lal held the portfolio of Education Minister for many years, and after becoming the Chief Minister, he made sure his government focused on education in the state. For the year 1980-81, the government under his leadership increased the budget for education by a whopping 17.4%.