Meet Dr Shrikant Jichkar - India's most educated man with 20 degrees

Nagpur: When curiosity meets determination, the hunger for knowledge arises, just like Dr. Shrikant Jichkar, a man who collected every possible degree available in the country and turned them into a lifelong passion.

Born on 14 September 1954 in a Marathi family in Nagpur, Jichkar went on to earn a staggering 20 university degrees, including his medical degree, which takes years to learn and is a hassle to complete in itself. Most of the degrees that he earned were with first-class merit and gold medals.

His educational journey began with medicine (MBBS and MD), but he didn’t stop there. He went on to complete law (LLB and LLM in International Law), business administration (MBA and Doctor of Business Management), journalism (BJourn), and even a Doctor of Literature in Sanskrit. Alongside, he earned ten different MAs in subjects like public administration, sociology, economics, Sanskrit, history, English literature, philosophy, political science, ancient Indian history, culture & archaeology, and Psychology.

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Between 1973 and 1990, he sat for 42 university exams, appearing every summer and winter without fail. But his story wasn’t limited to classrooms and degrees. Jichkar also cleared the Indian Civil Services exam, first joining the Indian Police Service (IPS) in 1978, then later the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) in 1980.

Four months after joining into IAS, he resigned to contest his first general election, where he was elected to the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly, becoming the youngest MLA in the country at the age of 26.

Over his political career, he served as MLA, MLC, Rajya Sabha member, and even a Minister of State, at one time handling 14 different portfolios in Maharashtra. he was elected to the Indian Parliament in 1992 after 12 years in the Maharashtra Legislature and served as MP till 1998. He had travelled around the world representing India and leading Indian delegations on several forums, including the UNO, the UNESCO etc.

Beyond politics and academics, Jichkar was a philanthropist. In 1993, he founded the Sandipani School in Nagpur under the Shrikant Jichkar Foundation, focusing on quality education. He also contributed to the education and health of unprivileged children through his trust.

Sadly, his extraordinary journey ended abruptly on 2 June 2004, when he died in a car accident. A truck collided with his car near Kondhali, approximately 61 kilometres from Nagpur. He was only 49 years old at the time.

After his death, his children continued his philanthropic ventures under the banner of Zero Gravity Foundation.

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