BrittnyFiorillo at 08:06, 26 March 2026

2026-03-26T08:06:28Z

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{{Short description|Indian politician (1926–2018)}}
{{Indian patronymic|Jacob|Mundakkal Mathew}}
{{Multiple issues|
{{more citations needed|date=July 2018}}
{{more footnotes needed|date=January 2011}}
}}
{{Use Indian English|date=July 2018}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2016}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Mundakkal Mathew Jacob
| image = M.M. Jacob photo.jpg
| order = 9th
| office = Governor of Meghalaya
| term_start = 19 June 1995
| term_end = 11 April 2007
| 1blankname = Chief Minister
| 1namedata = {{ubl|[[S. C. Marak]]|[[B. B. Lyngdoh]]|[[E. K. Mawlong]]|[[Flinder Anderson Khonglam]]|[[D. D. Lapang]]|[[J. Dringwell Rymbai]]}}
| predecessor = [[Madhukar Dighe]]
| successor = [[Banwari Lal Joshi]]
| office1 = [[Governor of Arunachal Pradesh]]
| status1 = ''{{nobold|additional charge}}''
| term_start1 = 24 January 2007
| term_end1 = 6 April 2007
| 1blankname1 = Chief Minister
| 1namedata1 = [[Gegong Apang]]
| predecessor1 = [[Shilendra Kumar Singh]]
| successor1 = [[K. Sankaranarayanan]] {{small|(additional charge)}}| office2 = [[Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha]]
| term2 = Feb 1986 – Dec 1986
| predecessor2 =
| successor2 =
| 1blankname3 = [[Vice President of India|Chairman]]
| 1namedata3 = [[Shankar Dayal Sharma]]
| birth_date = 9 August 1926
| birth_place =
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2018|7|8|1926|8|9|df=y}}
| death_place = [[Pala, Kerala|Pala]], [[Kerala]], [[India]]
| alma_mater = {{ubl|[[University College Thiruvananthapuram]]|[[Lucknow University]]|[[University of Chicago]]|[[Sacred Heart College, Thevara]]|[[Loyola College, Chennai]]}}
| spouse = Achamma Kunnuthara
| children = 4
}}

'''M. M. Jacob''' (9 August 1926 – 8 July 2018), in full '''Mundakkal Mathew Jacob''', was an [[India]]n politician, working in the [[Indian National Congress]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.genealogy.rocksea.org/getperson.php?personID=I723&tree=roots|title=Jacob Mathew Mundakkal [ Jacob M. M. ] b. 09 Aug 1928 Ramapuram, Kottayam: Roots. The Kerala Christian Family Tree|website=www.genealogy.rocksea.org}}</ref> He married Achamma Kunnuthara from [[Tiruvalla]], Kerala (since deceased) and had four daughters. He was appointed [[Governor of Meghalaya]] in 1995 and again in 2000. He was also [[Governor of Arunachal Pradesh]] for a few months in 1996. He is the longest serving governor of any Indian state, having served for more than 11 years.

== Education ==
He was educated at the [[University College, Trivandrum]], [[Sacred Heart College, Thevara]] in [[Cochin]],<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.onmanorama.com/kerala/top-news/2018/07/08/congress-leader-mm-jacob-dies-at-90.html |title=Congress leader MM Jacob dies at 90 |website=www.onmanorama.com |date=8 July 2018 |accessdate=19 January 2021}}</ref> [[Loyola College, Madras]], and [[Lucknow University]]. He was a graduate in law and had a master's degree in [[political science]]. He held a diploma in income tax law as well. He did a course in [[social work]] at the [[University of Chicago]], USA.

== Career ==

=== Cooperative Movement ===
Jacob played a leading role in the [[Cooperative movement in India|cooperative movement]]. He served as President of the [[Kerala State Cooperative Rubber Marketing Federation]] (1975–1981). He also served as Director of the [[Kottayam District Cooperative Bank]], the [[Pala Rubber Marketing Cooperative Society]], and Director (later Chairman) of the [[Chitralekha Film Cooperative Society]], [[Trivandrum]] for over a decade, with extensive experience on [[Board of directors|boards]] and in corporations.

He was Chairman of the Kerala state-owned [[Plantation Corporation, Ltd]] (1974–1978) and the first chairman of [[Oil Palm India]] (1977–1978). He served as a member of the Governing Board of the [[Indian government]]-owned [[Hindustan Latex]] (1975–1978), the [[Indian Coffee Board]] (1973–1975) and the [[Indian Rubber Board]] under the [[Ministry of Commerce (India)|Commerce Ministry]] for many years. He worked as Chairman of the [[National Alliance of Young Entrepreneurs]], Kerala Branch (1974–1976). He also served as Director of the [[Indian Overseas Bank]] (1977–1982) and the [[Kerala State Red Cross]]. He was on the State Tourist Advisory Board, Small Scale Industries Board (SISIS, 1975) at the state level before being elected to [[Parliament of India|Parliament]]. Active in the [[YMCA]] movement, he served as board chairman of Management at the [[YMCA Institute of Engineering]] in [[Faridabad]] from 1991 to 1994.

=== Indian National Congress political party ===
Jacob was a permanent invitee of the [[Congress Working Committee]]. He was in charge of party affairs in [[Jammu]] and [[Karnataka]]. He was an elected member of the [[All India Congress Committee]] for many years. He also worked as General Secretary and Treasurer of the [[Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee]] and as Chairman of the Kerala [[Seva Dal]].

=== Publisher and editor ===
He published ''[[Bharat Sevak]]'', a social worker's journal, and was the chief editor of ''[[Congress Review]]'', fortnightly published from [[Trivandrum]], and the managing director of ''Veekshanam'', a [[Malayalam]] daily newspaper published from Cochin. He has published several papers and articles in journals and periodicals. Besides, he has compiled and published a few books. He has presented many papers in national and international seminars in India and abroad.

=== In Parliament ===
Jacob was elected to the [[Rajya Sabha]] in 1982 and again in 1988. He served as Chairman of the Committee on Subordinate Legislation (1984–1985) and as Chairman of the Parliament Standing Committee for the [[Ministry of Home Affairs (India)|Ministry of Home Affairs]] (1993–1994). He was elected [[Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha]] in 1986, and later served as a Union Minister of State in the Ministries of Parliamentary Affairs, Water Resources and Home Affairs at different periods (during 1987–1993).{{Citation needed|date=November 2017}}

=== Representing India in World Forums ===
As a youth leader, he participated in the sixth [[World Youth Festival]] in [[Moscow]] (1957) and the [[International Conference of Work Camp Leaders]] organised by [[UNESCO]] (1956). He led India's youth delegation to [[North Vietnam]] (1957) and later the Indian youth delegation to [[China]] (1957), was a youth delegate to the Cleveland International Programme for youth leaders and social workers, USA (1963) and the International Conference of youth leaders from developing countries in [[Bonn]], Germany in 1968. He was also a delegate to the International Seminar on Social Administration at [[Western Reserve University]] in [[Cleveland]], Ohio, USA (1976). He was a member of the Indian delegation to [[Kuala Lumpur]], Malaysia for the International Conference of Natural Rubber Producing Countries in 1975, and led the Indian delegation to [[Sri Lanka]] for the same conference in 1980.

=== Indian Parliament and Commonwealth representative ===
As Deputy Chairman Rajya Sabha, Jacob attended the Commonwealth Parliament conference in [[London]] in 1986. He was also leader of the Indian Parliamentary Delegation to [[Zaire]] in 1986 (now the [[Democratic Republic of the Congo]]), Leader of the Indian delegation to Inter-Parliamentary Union Conference in [[Budapest]] (1989) and a delegate at the [[Disarmament Conference]] organised by the [[Inter-Parliamentary Union]] and the [[United Nations]] in [[Mexico]] (1985).

He attended the [[United Nations General Assembly]], New York (1985 and again in 1993) and the Human Rights Conference held at the [[European Parliament]] in [[Strasbourg]], [[France]] (1993).
He was a delegate to Human Rights Conference in [[Vienna]], [[Austria]] organised by the U.N. (1994). He represented the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (C.P.A.) in [[Accra]], [[Ghana]] at the seminar of Ghana Parliamentarians (1993) and was a Commonwealth Observer monitoring the first [[1994 South African general election|post apartheid general election]] in [[South Africa]] in 1994.

== Later activities ==
Jacob had a keen interest in the traditional forms of local [[democracy]] in tribal areas, particularly in [[Meghalaya]], and advocated a marriage of modernity and tradition to strengthen grassroots democracy in tribal areas.

He died on 8 July 2018 at the age of 91.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/mm-jacob-senior-congress-leader-and-former-meghalaya-governor-dies-1879810 | title=MM Jacob, Senior Congress Leader And Former Meghalaya Governor, Dies | date=8 July 2018 | publisher=NDTV | author=IANS | accessdate=8 July 2018 }}</ref>

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* {{cite book |last1=Syiemlieh |first1=David R. |title=Reflections From Shillong: Speeches Of M.M. Jacob (vol. Iii) |date=2005 |publisher=Regency Publications |isbn=978-81-89233-29-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=15mSMA8LXhoC |language=en}}

{{Governors of Meghalaya}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jacob, M. M.}}
[[Category:1926 births]]
[[Category:2018 deaths]]
[[Category:Politicians from Kottayam district]]
[[Category:Malayali politicians]]
[[Category:Governors of Meghalaya]]
[[Category:Indian National Congress politicians from Kerala]]
[[Category:Deputy chairmen of the Rajya Sabha]]
[[Category:Rajya Sabha members from Kerala]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian politicians]]
[[Category:Indian editors]]
[[Category:Indian publishers (people)]]
[[Category:Indian columnists]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian journalists]]
[[Category:Journalists from Kerala]]

M. M. Jacob - Revision history

BrittnyFiorillo at 08:06, 26 March 2026