Devaraj Urs

For over 45 years, one man held the record for Karnataka‘s longest-serving Chief Minister. In January 2026, that record finally fell.

MCQ Questions

ModHist0281

2,792 days

Devaraj Urs’s combined tenure as Chief Minister, a record that stood for over 45 years.

First Term

1972-1977

Mysore State’s 5th CM. Becomes Karnataka’s first CM when the state is renamed in 1973, mid-term.

Backward Classes Reservation

32%

Recommended by the 1975 Havanur Commission for Hindus, plus a separate 13% for Muslims

Land Reform Beneficiaries

1.5M+ tenants

Gained ownership from landlords, through decentralised tribunals

Record Held Until

7 Jan 2026

Siddaramaiah surpassed his combined tenure record, at 2,793 days

A record that just fell: Urs’s 2,792 combined days as Chief Minister stood unmatched from 1980 until January 2026, when Siddaramaiah equalled it on 6 January, then surpassed it the next day, at 2,793 days.

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Two Terms, One State Renamed Mid-Way Need to Know

• D. Devaraj Urs was born on 20 August 1915, in Kallahalli village, Mysore district.
• He became an MLA from Hunasuru constituency in 1952. He held this seat across three separate terms.
• His first term as Chief Minister ran from 20 March 1972 to 31 December 1977. He was Mysore State’s 5th Chief Minister.
• The state was renamed Karnataka on 1 November 1973, in the middle of that first term. This made him Karnataka’s own first Chief Minister, mid-tenure.
• His second term ran from 28 February 1978 to 7 January 1980.
• In 1972, he appointed the Karnataka Backward Classes Commission, chaired by L.G. Havanur.
• The Havanur Commission submitted its report on 19 November 1975. It recommended 32% reservation for backward classes among Hindus, plus a separate 13% for Muslims.
• He died on 6 June 1982, aged 66.

The Havanur Commission and Land to the Tiller Good to Know

• The Havanur Commission surveyed 3.55 lakh people, across 378 villages and towns. It examined 171 castes and communities.
• Its final recommendations covered 128 backward castes, 62 backward tribes, and 15 backward communities. Together, these covered over 45% of the state’s population.
• Urs reportedly called the Havanur report the “Bible of Backward Classes.”
• The report is widely credited as an influence on the later, national Mandal Commission report of 1980.
• His government’s land reforms transferred ownership to over 1.5 million tenants, from landlords, through decentralised tribunals.
• His government abolished bonded labour. Mysore district had the highest recorded incidence of bonded labour in the country at the time.
• His government also ended the practice of assigning night-soil-carrying duties specifically to Dalits.
• Electronics City, now a major IT hub in Bengaluru, was established in 1978, during his second term.

Test Yourself

Please wait…

1. Devaraj Urs became Karnataka’s first Chief Minister at what point in his tenure?

From his very first day in office in 1972

Only in his second term, from 1978

Mid-way through his first term, when Mysore State was renamed Karnataka in 1973

Only after Siddaramaiah surpassed his tenure record in 2026

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Current Affairs Great to Know

• His land reforms and backward-classes reservation were politically risky at the time. They won him strong support among the marginalised. They also alienated Karnataka’s dominant landowning castes.
• His combined 2,792 days in office made him Karnataka’s longest-serving Chief Minister, for over four decades after his death.
• On 6 January 2026, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah equalled Devaraj Urs’s record of 2,792 combined days in office. On 7 January 2026, he surpassed it, at 2,793 days, becoming Karnataka’s longest-serving Chief Minister.
• Siddaramaiah’s tenure spans two terms: 13 May 2013 to 15 May 2018, and 20 May 2023 onward.