Name: Dr. Manmohan Singh
Date of Birth: 26 September 1932
Place of Birth: Gah, Punjab
Description:-
He was born on 26 September 1932, now in district Chakwal, Pakistan , into a Kohli family. His economics education included an undergraduate a master's degree Panjab University, Chandigarh; an undergraduate degree Cambridge University (St. John's College); and a doctorate from Oxford University (Nuffield College). (Oxford University awarded him an honorary Doctor of Civil Law degree in June 2005.) Dr. Singh has been married since 1958; he and his wife, Mrs. Gursharan Kaur, have three daughters.
Dr. Singh's image is of a formidable intellectual, a political leader of integrity, someone who is compassionate and attentive to common people, and as a recognised technocrat. Although legislative achievements have been few and the Congress-led alliance is routinely hampered by conflicts, Singh's administration has focused on reducing the fiscal deficit, providing debt-relief to poor farmers, extending social programs and advancing the pro-industry economic and tax policies that have launched the country on a major economic expansion course since 2002. Singh has been the image of the Congress campaign to defuse religious tensions and conflicts and bolster political support from minorities like Muslims, Christians and Sikhs.
The Prime Minister's foreign policy has been to continue the new peace process with Pakistan initiated by his predecessor, Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Exchange visits by top leaders from both countries have highlighted this year, as has reduced terrorism and increased prosperity in the state of Kashmir.
Name: Inder Kumar Gujral
Date of Birth: 4 December 1919
Place of Birth: Jhelum, Punjab
Description:-
Born in the town of Jhelum in Western Punjab, now in Pakistan, he actively took part in India's freedom struggle, and was jailed in 1942 during 'Quit India Movement'.
In the tumultuous days of June 1975, he was minister of Information and Broadcasting. On June 12,1975, the Allahabad high court gave a verdict that Prime Minister Mrs. Indira Gandhi used unfair means in elections of 1971 and termed her election null and void. There were reports that her son, Sanjay Gandhi brought people from neighboring state of Uttar Pradesh in a number of trucks to Delhi and held massive demonstrations in support of the Prime Minister. It was also reported that Sanjay wanted Gujral to give coverage of the rallies on state run television and radio. However Gujral refused to obey Sanjay Gandhi, who did not hold any constitutional post. Many people believe that it was the reason why Gujral was replaced by Vidya Charan Shukla as minister of Information and Broadcasting.
Later, Gujral was appointed India's ambassador to Russia. By the time of Indira Gandhi's return to power in 1980,as the Indian envoy to Moscow, Gujral persuaded her to express opposition to the Soviet Union's 1979 invasion of Afghanistan. That was a break from India's earlier record of supporting Soviet military ventures in Hungary and Czechoslovakia, and it led Mrs. Gandhi to privately inform Soviet leader Leonid I. Brezhnev that the Kremlin had blundered in Afghanistan.
Gujral left the Congress Party in the mid-1980s and joined the Janata Dal. The Dal was a third-party with mainly socialist leanings and regional bases. In 1989 elections, Gujral was elected from Jallandhar parliamentary constituency of Punjab. He served as Minister of External Affairs in V.P.Singh cabinet. The issue he had to deal with as External Affairs Minister was Iraq's invasion of Kuwait and the subsequent events that led to first gulf war of January 1991. As India's representative, he personally met with Iraq's Saddam Hussein. His hug with Hussein during the meeting remains a matter of controversy. In 1991 mid-term parliamentary elections, Gujral contested from Patna constituency in Bihar against Janata Dal(S) candidate and then Finance Minister Mr. Yashwant Sinha. However the election was countermanded following complaints of large scale irregularities.
In 1992,Gujral was elected to Rajya Sabha and remained a key Janata Dal leader.
After 1996 elections, when United Front government was formed at the center under the leadership of H.D.Deve Gowda, he was again named Minister of External Affairs of India. During his second tenure as Minister of External Affairs, he propounded his 'Gujral Doctrine' which called for better relations with neighbors. With Gujral at the helm of Ministry of External Affairs, India resolved long standing dispute over Ganga water sharing with Bangladesh.
Before becoming the Prime Minister of India in April 1997, he served the country as Union Minister or Minister of State holding different portfolios in the Ministries of Communications and Parliamentary Affairs, Information & Broadcasting, Works & Housing, Planning and Ministry of External Affairs.
In early November 1997, parts of interim report of Jain Commission inquiring into the conspiracy aspect of Rajiv Gandhi assassination case were leaked to the press. Reportedly, the Jain Commission had indicted the political party, DMK (Dravid Munnetra Kazhagam) for tacitly supporting the LTTE, which was responsible for Rajiv Gandhi's assassination. The DMK was part of the ruling coalition at the center and the Union Cabinet had ministers belonging to the DMK. The Congress party first demanded the tabling of the report on the floor of the parliament. The report was tabled on 19 November 1997. When it was confirmed that the Jain Commission had in fact held the DMK responsible for supporting the LTTE, the Congress party demanded that the ministers belonging to the DMK be dropped. There was exchange of letters between Congress President Sitaram Kesri and Prime Minister Gujral. However, Gujral refused to budge. In a public function in Calcutta on November 23,1997, he gave a hint of what was to follow saying 'mid-term elections are around the corner'.The Congress party finally withdrew support to his government on November 28,1997. Gujral resigned following the withdrawal of support by the congress party. As no alternative government could be formed, the only alternative was mid-term elections, as Gujral had foreseen.
Name: Haradanahalli Dodde Deve Gowda
Date of Birth: 18 May 1933
Place of Birth: Haradanahalli, Kingdom of Mysore
Description:-
Haradanahalli Dodde Deve Gowda was the eleventh Prime Minister of the Republic of India (1996–1997 and the 14th chief minister of the state of Karnataka (1994–1996)
He is the president of the Janata Dal (S) (JD-S) political party in India and currently a member of Parliament (MP) representing his home town Hassan district in Karnataka. The JD-S had formed a coalition with the Congress party government led by Dharam Singh. There are allegations of nepotism owing to his two children H.D. Revanna and H.D. Kumaraswamy being powerful in this government. Revanna had served as a minister in that government.
In January 2006, H.D. Kumaraswamy, son of Deve Gowda took support of around 40 JD(S) MLAs and the BJP to bring down the Dharam Singh led coalition government. This prompted Devegowda to resign from his post as party president owing moral responsibilities for failing to save the Dharam Singh government.
However, in February 2006, he withdrew his resignation and suspended 40 JD(S) MLAs of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly, including his son and Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy, from the primary membership of the party. It was speculated that the entire political fiasco was orchestrated by Deve Gowda to elevate his son to the political summit. Recently, Mr. Gowda has openly supported his son's move to align with the BJP, provided it stuck to a common development agenda. He has also suggested that he would be willing to coordinate the BJP-led alliance on a national level, going against his previous adamant stance against dealing with the BJP. The stance led a split in his party, the Janata Dal.
Name: Atal Bihari Vajpayee
Date of Birth: December 25, 1924
Place of Birth: Madhya Pradesh
Description:-
Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the Prime Minister of India, in 1996, and again from October 13, 1998 until May 19, 2004. Atal Bihari Vajpayee is a native of Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh and has been active in Indian politics throughout his adult life (as a member of parliament, he has often resided in Delhi). He holds a masters degree in political science and was educated at the Victoria College, Gwalior (now Laxmibai College) and DAV College, Kanpur. He is also a poet and writer, and has published several volumes of poetry, essays and speeches. He has been described as a follower of the guru Sathya Sai Baba.Vajpayee is a bachelor and has the adopted daughters of Mr. and Mrs. B. N. Kaul, Nandita (Nanni) and Namita (Gunu). Nandita is a doctor residing in the US and is married to Ashok Nanda, a software engineer. Namita, who resides in Delhi, is married to Ranjan Bhattacharya and they have a daughter.
Political energy and expansion made BJP the single-largest political party in the Lok Sabha elected in 1996. Mired down by corruption scandals, the Congress was at a historic low, and a vast medley of regional parties and break-off factions dominated the hung Parliament. Asked to form the government, A.B. Vajpayee was sworn in as prime minister, but the BJP failed to gather enough support from other parties to form a majority. Vajpayee resigned after just 13 days, when it became clear that he could not garner a majority. After a third-party coalition governed India between 1996 and 1998, the terribly divided Parliament was dissolved and fresh elections held. These elections again put the BJP at the head. This time, a cohesive bloc of political parties lined up with it to form the National Democratic Alliance, and A.B. Vajpayee was sworn in as the prime minister. The NDA proved its 286 vote majority in a narrow vote of confidence. Towards the end of 1998 however, the AIADMK under J.Jayalalitha withdrew its support from the 13-month old government. The government lost the ensuing vote of confidence motion by a single vote. As the opposition was unable to come up with the numbers to form the new government, the country returned to elections with Vajpayee remaining the "care-taker prime minister". After the election in 1999, Vajpayee was sworn in as the Prime Minister for the third time. The coalition government that was formed lasted its full term of 5 years – the only non-Congress government to do so.
His premiership began at a decisive phase of national life and history: the Congress Party, dominant for over 40 years, appeared irreparably damaged, and fractious regional parties seemed to threaten the very stability of the nation by continually fracturing government work.
Name: Pamulaparthi Venkata Narasimha Rao
Date of Birth: 28 June 1921 – 23 December 2004
Place of Birth: Karimnagar District of Andhra Pradesh
Description:-
P.V.Narasimha Rao was the twelth Prime Minister of the Republic of India. He belonged to a rich Telugu Brahmin family from a village called Vangara (pedda) in the Karimnagar District of Andhra Pradesh, India,Rao studied at the Osmania University and at the Universities of Mumbai and Nagpur where he obtained Bachelor's and Master's degrees in law. He was a polyglot and could speak 13 languages including Urdu, Marathi, Kannada, Hindi, Telugu and English with a fluency akin to a native speaker.His mother tongue was Telugu. He also learned several European languages that are typically not spoken in India such as French and Spanish. Along with his cousin Pamulaparthi Sadasiva Rao, Rao edited a Telugu weekly magazine called Kakatiya Patrika from 1948 to 1955.
When the Indian National Congress split in 1969 Rao remained loyal to Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and stayed so during the Emergency period (1975 - 77).[9] He rose to national prominence in 1972 by handling several diverse portfolios, most significantly Home, Defence and Foreign Affairs (1980-1984), in the cabinets of both Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi.[7]
After the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi and the general elections of 1991 Rao was chosen to lead the Congress party. As the Congress had got the largest number of seats in the elections Rao got the opportunity to head the minority government as Prime Minister. He was the first person outside the Nehru-Gandhi family to serve as Prime Minister for five continuous years, the first to hail from South India and so the first from the state of Andhra Pradesh. He was elected from Nandyal with a victory margin of a record 5 lakh votes and his win was recorded in the Guinness Book Of World Records. Rao's cabinet included Sharad Pawar, himself a strong contender for the PM's job, as defence minister.
Name: Chandra Shekhar Singh
Date of Birth: 1 July 1927
Place of Birth:
Description:-
From 1962 to 1967, Shekhar belonged to the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Parliament of India. He had a nationwide padayatra in 1984 to know the country better as he claimed which gave the jitters to Indira Gandhi, the then Prime minister of India
After his predecessor, V.P. Singh, resigned, Chandrashekhar let a breakaway faction of the Janata Dal, known as Samajwadi Janata Party. The Indian National Congress decided to extend outside support to his government to avoid snap elections, and Chandrashekhar held a bare majority, with both the Communist parties and the BJP . The relationship crumbled quickly, as the Congress party accused Chandrashekhar of spying on Rajiv Singh. The party boycotted parliament and as Chandrashekhar's faction only had about 60 MP's, he resigned in a nationally televised address.
Holding the office of Prime Minister for only seven months, Shekhar resigned on March 6, 1991 after the Congress Party withdrew support to him. He remained in office until national elections could be held later that year.
Chandra Shekhar was known for abiding by the parliamentary conventions and was honoured with the inaugural Outstanding Parliamentarian Award in 1995.
Today, Chandra Shekhar is a member of India's Lower House of Parliament. He now leads Samajwadi Janata Party (Rashtriya), (Socialist People's Party (National)). Starting in 1977, he has won election to the Lok Sabha 8 times from Ballia in east UP. The only time he lost was in 1984, when a massive sympathy wave for Indira Gandhi led to a near elimination of opposition Parliamentarians.
Name: Vishwanath Pratap Singh
Date of Birth: 25 June 1931
Place of Birth:
He was elected by Indira Gandhi to serve as the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh in 1980, when the Congress came back to power .As Cheif Minister, he cracked down hard on the banditry, problem, that was particularly severe in the rural districts of the south-west. He received much favourable national publicity when he offered to resign following a self-professed failure to stamp out the problem, and again when he personally saw the surrender of some of the most feared dacoits of the area in 1983.
He faced his first crisis within few days of taking office: terrorists kidnapped the daughter of his Home Minister, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed (Ex Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir). His government caved into the demand for releasing militants in exchange; partly to end the storm of criticism that followed, he shortly thereafter appointed Jagmohan, a controversial former bureaucrat, as Governor of Jammu and Kashmir, on the insistence of the BJP, who were concerned that an insufficiently hard line was being taken with the separatist element in the state. Jagmohan subsequently inflamed opinion in the Valley when he ordered troops to fire on the funeral procession of the unofficial head of Kashmiri Islam, the Mirwaiz, and shortly thereafter the Kashmir insurgency began in earnest. In contrast, in Punjab, Singh replaced the hardline Siddhartha Shankar Ray as Governor with another former bureaucrat, Nirmal Kumar Mukarji, who moved forward on a timetable for fresh elections. Singh himself made a much-publicised visit to the Golden Temple to ask forgiveness for Operation Bluestar and the combination of events caused the long rebellion in Punjab to die down markedly in a few months. V.P. Singh withdrew the IPKF from Sri Lanka after he saw that Rajiv Gandhi's Sri Lanka policy was a miserable failure having cost over 1000 Indian soldiers' lives, over 5000 Sri Lankan Tamil lives and cost over 2000 crores; and the Sri Lankan leader Premadasa wanted the IPKF to leave in March 1990.[1]
Singh himself wished to move forward nationally on social justice-related issues, which would in addition consolidate the caste coalition that supported the Janata Dal in North India, and accordingly decided to implement the recommendations of the Mandal Commission which suggested that a fixed quota of all jobs in the public sector be reserved for members of the historically disadvantaged so-called Other Backward Classes. (Generally abbreviated OBCs, these were Hindu castes, and certain non-Hindu caste-like communities, which, though not untouchable, had been socially and educationally backward). This decision led to widespread protests among the youth in urban areas in North India.
Meanwhile the BJP was moving its own agenda forward: in particular, the Ram Janmabhoomi agitation, which served as a rallying cry for several radical Hindu organisations, took on new life. The party president, Lal Krishna Advani, toured the northern states on a rath - a bus converted to look like a chariot - with the intention of drumming up support. Before he could complete it, by reaching the disputed site in Ayodhya, he was arrested on Singh's orders on the charges of disturbing the peace and fomenting communal tension. This led to the BJP's suspension of support to the National Front government. V.P.Singh faced the vote of confidence with a high moral ground that he stood for secularism ,that he saved the Babri Masjid at the cost of power and that basic principles were involved.But he lost the vote by 142-346.[2]
Chandra Shekhar immediately seized the moment and left the Janata Dal with several of his own supporters to form the Samajwadi Janata Dal, or the Socialist People's Party. Although he had a mere 64 MPs, Rajiv Gandhi, the leader of the Opposition, agreed to support him on the floor of the House so he won a confidence motion and was sworn in as Prime Minister. He lasted only a few months before Gandhi withdrew support and fresh elections were called.
Name: Rajiv Ratna Gandhi
Date of Birth: August 20, 1944 – May 21, 1991
Place of Birth: Mumbai
The eldest son of Indira and Feroze Gandhi, was the 9th Prime Minister of India (and the 3rd from the Gandhi family) from his mother's death on 31 October 1984 until his resignation on December 2, 1989 following a general election defeat. Becoming the Prime Minister of India at the age of 40, he is the youngest person to date to hold that office.
Rajiv Gandhi worked as a professional pilot for Indian Airlines before coming into politics. He was married to Edvige Antonia Albina Maino (Sonia Gandhi)) , an Italian national he met while in college. He remained aloof from politics despite his mother being the Indian Prime Minister, and it was only following the death of his younger brother Sanjay Gandhi in 1980 that Rajiv was convinced to enter politics. Upon the assassination of his mother in 1984 due to her involvement in Operation Blue Star, Congress party leaders convinced him to become the new Prime Minister. Rajiv Gandhi led the Congress to a major election victory in 1984 soon after, amassing the largest majority in Parliament. He had the public image of being young, modern and Mr. Clean - an honest leader free of machine politics and corruption. He began dismantling the License Raj - government quotas, tariffs and permit regulations on economic activity - modernized the telecommunications industry, the education system, expanded science and technology initiatives and improved relations with the United States. He also was responsible for sending Indian troops for peace efforts in Sri Lanka, which soon ended in open conflict with the LTTE, which Rajiv refused to pullout and was withdrawn by V.P.Singh . The Bofors scandal broke his honest, corruption-free image and resulted in a major defeat for his party in the 1989 elections. He was awarded the Bharat Ratna posthumously in 1991.
Rajiv Gandhi remained the Congressional leader till the elections in 1991. He was assassinated while campaigning, by a female LTTE suicide bomber Thenmuli Rajaratnam. His Italian-born widow Sonia Gandhi became the leader of the Congress party in 1998, and led the party to victory in the 2004 elections. His son Rahul Gandhi is a member of parliament.
Name: Chaudhary Charan Singh
Date of Birth: 23 December 1902 – 29 May 1987
Place of Birth: Noorpur
Charan Singh entered politics as part of the Independence Movement. After independence he came to be associated with the rural socialism of Ram Manohar Lohia. Popular particularly among his Jat community from which he himself originated and was born into, his political base was Western Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, where that community was dominant.
The leader of the Bharatiya Lok Dal, a major constituent of the Janata party, he was disappointed in his ambition to become Prime Minister in 1977 by Jayaprakash Narayan's choice of Morarji Desai. He settled at the time for the largely honorary post of Deputy Prime Minister of India. However, the internal stresses of the coalition's government caused him to leave the government with the former Lok Dal, after being promised by Mrs. Gandhi the support of the Congress Party on the floor of the House in any efforts to form a government. He was sworn in as Prime Minister with the support of just 64 MPs.
During his term as Prime Minister the Lok Sabha never met. The day before the Lok Sabha was due to meet for the first time the Indian National Congress withdrew their support from his Bharatiya Lok Dal Government. Choudhary Charan Singh resigned and fresh elections were held six months later.
He continued to lead the Lok Dal in opposition till his death in 1987, when he was succeeded as party president by his son Ajit Singh. His association with the causes dear to farming communities in the North caused his memorial in New Delhi to be named Kisan Ghat. (In Hindi, Kisan is the word for farmer.).
The university of Meerut city in Uttar Pradesh India, is named after him (Chaudhary Charan Singh University).
Name: Morarji Ranchhodji Desai
Date of Birth: February 29, 1896 – April 10, 1995
Place of Birth: Gujarat
Morarji Desai was born into a Anavil Brahmin family in Bhadeli, Dis.Valsad, Gujarat. Originally a college-educated civil servant in Gujarat, Desai left the service of the British in 1924 and joined the civil disobedience movement against British rule in India in 1930.Before the Independence of India, he became Mumbai's Home Minister and later was elected Chief Minister of Bombay in 1952. The state was home to Marathi linguistic movements, with Marathi people were fighting for justice i.e. to create separate linguistic state. Considered as a tough leader, Desai was also known for pioneering beliefs and disciplinary in authority and most of the times his radical thinking. By Desai's orders in 1960 a peaceful demonstration by the Samyukta Maharashtra Samiti was fired upon by the police resulting in deaths of 105 demonstrators. Many innocent people were killed in the incidence. A huge public outrage shook the central government. The incident led to the formation of the present State of Maharashtra. As Home Minister, Desai had outlawed any "kissing" scenes in films and theatrical productions. Although a staunch Gandhian, Desai was socially conservative, pro-business, and for free enterprise reforms, as opposed to Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru's socialistic policies.
Desai led a fractious collage of a coalition government, and thus failed to achieve much owing to continuous wrangling and controversy. With no party in leadership of the coalition, rival groups vied to unseat Desai. Controversial trials of prominent Congress leaders, including Indira Gandhi over Emergency-era abuses tied down the fortunes of his administration. Desai worked to improve relations with neighbour and arch rival Pakistan and restored normal relations with China, for the first time since the 1962 war.
During his time Desai greatly improved relations with Pakistan and Zia-ul-Haq. Diplomatic relations were also re-established with China. His greatest contribution was that his Government renewed people's faith in democracy. His Government undid many amendments made to the constitution during emergency and made it difficult for any future Government to impose National emergency.
In 1979, Charan Singh pulled his BLD out of the Janata alliance, and Desai resigned from office and retired from politics at 83 years old. He lived in the city of Mumbai, and died at the ripe old age of 99. He had been honoured much in his last years as the last great living freedom-fighter of his generation.
Morarji Desai was a strict follower of Mahatma Gandhi's principles and a moralist.
Name: Indira Gandhi
Date of Birth: November 19, 1917 to October 31, 1984
Place of Birth: Thanjavur District, Tamil Nadu
Indira was born on 19 November 1917 to Mr. Jawaharlal Nehru. Indira's grandfather Motilal Nehru was a wealthy barrister of Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh. Nehru he was one of the most prominent members of the Indian National Congress in Gandhi times and would go on to author the Nehru Report, the people's choice for a future Indian system of government as opposed to the British system. Her father Jawaharlal Nehru was a well-educated lawyer and was a popular leader of the Indian Independence Movement. At the time of Indira's birth, Nehru entered the independence movement under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi.
Started when she turned twelve years of age.Time of British imperialism,Indian National Congress from Allahabadnot know when or if the British would search their homes. some asserted that the Monkey Brigade was the idea of the Congress. In any event, Indira became the leader of this children's group whose purpose was to help end British control in India.One of the most significant actions of the Monkey Brigade involved Indira. The Congress party's top officials were organizing a civil disobedience movement After meeting, the documents containing the plans of movement were placed in trunk of car with Indira in the back seat.a police inspector stopped the car to search it.However, Indira pleaded him not to inspect the car because the delay would cause her to arrive late at school. Fortunately, the inspector believed her and car was not searched.
she married journalist Feroze Gandhi to whom she eventually born two sons. Soon after the couple was married, they were sent to prison on charges of subversion by the British. Her first and only imprisonment lasted from September 11, 1942 until May 13, 1943 at the Naini Central Jail in Allahabad. Fortunately, India won its independence from Britain in 1947. In that same year, Indira's father Jawaharlal Nehru became prime minister. Since her mother had died in 1936, Later in 1959, Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri appointed Indira Gandhi as minister of information and broadcasting. This position was the fourth highest ranking position in the Cabinet As minister, she most importantly encouraged the making of inexpensive radios and started a family planning program.
She was imprisoned for 13 months in 1942 by the British. In that year she married Feroze Gandhi, a journalist; they had two sons, Rajiv and Sanjay. Indira, however, remained with her father, who became Prime Minister after independence, and acted as his hostess and close supporter from 1947 to 1964. Under Gandhi's instructions she worked in the riot-affected areas of Delhi in 1947. Associated with numerous organizations, she was Chairman of the Central Social Welfare Board (1953-7), member of the Working Committee and Central Election Committee from 1955 and the Central Parliamentary Board from 1956, and President of the All India Youth Congress from 1956 to 1960. On Nehru's death in 1964 she was elected to Parliament in his place. After acting as Minister of Information and Broadcasting (1964-6), Indira Gandhi became Prime Minister on the death of Lal Shastri in 1966, having toured India, drawing enormous crowds in her campaign, . In 1971 he called a general election to seek public support and won by an enormous margin.
Name: Lal Bahadur Shastri
Date of Birth: October 2, 1904 - January 11, 1966
Place of Birth: Mughalsarai, Uttar Pradesh
Description:-
Lal Bahadur was born in the year 1904 in Mughalsarai, Uttar Pradesh as Lal Bahadur Srivastava When Lal Bahadur was three months old, he slipped out of his mother's arms into a cowherd's basket at the ghats of the Ganges. The cowherd, who had no children, took the child as a gift from God and took him home. Lal Bahadur's parents lodged a complaint with the police, who traced the child, and returned him to his parents[2].
Lal Bahadur's father died when he was only a year and a half old. His mother Ramdulari Devi took him and his two sisters to her father's house and settled down there[3]. Lal Bahadur stayed at his grandfather Hazari Lal's house till he was ten. Since there was no high school in their town, he was sent to Varanasi where he stayed with his maternal uncle and joined the Harischandra High School. While in Varanasi, Shastri once went with his friends to see a fair on the other bank of the Ganges. On the way back he had no money for the boat fare. Instead of borrowing from his friends, he jumped into the river and swam to the other bank[4].
Jawaharlal Nehru died in office on May 27, 1964 and left a vacuum. The major figures of the Congress Party were unable to find enough support which allowed the lesser regarded Shastri to be elected as the compromise candidate, becoming Prime Minister on June 9. Shastri, though mild-mannered and soft-spoken, was a Nehruvian socialist and thus held appeal to those wishing to prevent the ascent of conservative right-winger Morarji Desai.
In his first broadcast as Prime Minister, on June 11, 1964, Shastri stated Shastri worked by his natural characteristics to obtain compromises between opposing viewpoints, but in his short tenure was ineffectual in dealing with the economic crisis and food shortage in the nation. However, he commanded a great deal of respect in the Indian populace, and he used it to advantage in pushing the Green Revolution in India; which directly led to India becoming a food-surplus nation, although he did not live to see it. During the 22-day war with Pakistan, Lal Bahadur Shastri created the slogan of "Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan" ("Hail the solider, Hail the farmer"), underlining the need to boost India's food production. Apart from emphasizing the Green Revolution, he was instrumental in promoting the White Revolution[16]. Greatly impressed by a visit to the Kaira district in October 1964,
Name: Gulzarilal Nanda
Date of Birth: July 4, 1898 to January 15, 1998
Place of Birth: Sialkot in the Undivided Punjab
Descrition:-
Name: Shri K. R. Narayanan
Date of Birth: October 27, 1920 to 2005
Place of Birth: Kottayam district, Kerala.
K. R. Narayanan was born in his tharavaadu (ancestral home), a small thatched hut at Perumthanam, Uzhavoor, as the fourth of seven children of Kocheril Raman Vaidyar, a physician practicing the traditional Indian medical systems of Siddha and Ayurveda, and Punnaththuraveettil Paappiyamma. His family (belonging to the Paravan caste, whose members are assigned the task of plucking coconuts as per the caste system) was poor, but his father was respected for his medical acumen. He was born on 4 February 1921, but his uncle, who accompanied him on his first day in school, did not know his actual date of birth, and arbitrarily chose 27 October 1920 for the records; Narayanan later chose to let it remain official.
Narayanan had his early schooling in Uzhavoor at the Government Lower Primary School, Kurichithanam (where he enrolled on 5 May 1927) and Our Lady of Lourdes Upper Primary School, Uzhavoor (1931-35). He walked to school for about 15 kilometres daily through paddy fields, and was often unable to pay the modest fees. He often listened to school lessons while standing outside the classroom, having been barred from attending because tuition fees were outstanding. The family lacked money to buy books and his elder brother K. R. Neelakantan, who was confined to home as he was suffering from asthma, used to borrow books from other students, copy them down, and give them to Narayanan. He matriculated from St. Mary's High School, Kuravilangad (1936-37) (he had studied at St. John's High School, Koothatukulam (1935-36) previously). He completed his intermediate at C. M. S. College, Kottayam (1938-40), aided by a merit scholarship.
While working in Rangoon, Burma (Myanmar), K. R. Narayanan met Ma Tint Tint, whom he later married in Delhi on 8 June 1951). Ma Tint Tint had been active in the YWCA, and on hearing that Narayanan was a student of Laski, had approached him to speak on political freedom before her circle of acquaintances. Their marriage needed a special dispensation from Nehru per Indian law, because Narayanan was in the IFS and she was a foreigner. Ma Tint Tint adopted the Indian name Usha and became an Indian citizen. Usha Narayanan worked on several social welfare programmes for women and children in India. She also translated and published several Burmese short stories; a collection of translated stories by Thein Pe Myint, titled Sweet and Sour, appeared in 1998. She is the only woman of foreign origin to have become the First Lady. They have two daughters, Chitra (who has served as Indian ambassador to Sweden and Turkey) and Amrita.
K. R. Narayanan was elected as the Presidency of India[11] (17 July 1997) with 95% of the votes in the electoral college, from the Presidential poll (14 July). This is the only Presidential election to have been held with a minority government holding power at the centre. T. N. Seshan was the sole opposing candidate, and all major parties save the Shiv Sena supported his candidature. The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) opposed him, alleging that he was not knowledgeable on Indian culture,[12] while Seshan alleged that Narayanan had been elected solely for being a Dalit.
He was sworn in as the President of India (25 July 1997) by Chief Justice J. S. Verma in the Central Hall of Parliament. In his inaugural address,[13] he said:
Name: Shri R Venkataraman
Date of Birth: December 4, 1910
Place of Birth: Thanjavur District, Tamil Nadu
Ramaswamy Venkataraman was born in Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu.
Educated locally and in the city of Madras (now Chennai), Venkataraman obtained his Master Degree in Economics from Madras University. He later qualified in Law from the Law College, Madras. Venkataraman was enrolled in the High Court, Madras in 1935 and in the Supreme Court in 1951.
While practicing Law, Venkataraman was drawn into the movement for India's freedom from Britain's colonial subjugation. His active participation in the Indian National Congress's celebrated resistance to the British Government, the 'Quit India Movement of 1942', resulted in his detention for two years under the British Government's Defence of India Rules. Venkataraman's interest in the Law continued during this period. In 1946, when the Transfer of Power from British to Indian hands was imminent, the Government of India included him in the panel of lawyers sent to Malaya and Singapore to defend Indian nationals charged with offences of collaboration during the Japanese occupation of those two places. In the years 1947 to 1950, Venkataraman served as Secretary of the Madras Provincial Bar Federation.
Law and trade union activity led to Shri Venkataraman's increasing association with politics. Venkataraman was the member of constituent assembly that drafted India's constitution. He was elected in 1950, to free India's Provisional Parliament (1950-1952) and to the First Parliament (1952-1957). During his term of legislative activity, Venkataraman attended the 1952 Session of the Metal Trades Committee of International Labour Organisation as a workers' delegate. He was a member of the Indian Parliamentary Delegation to the Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference in New Zealand. Venkataraman was also Secretary to the Congress Parliamentary Party in 1953-1954.
Although re-elected to Parliament in 1957, Venkataraman resigned his seat in the Lok Sabha to join the State Government of Madras as a Minister. There Shri Venkataraman held the portfolios of Industries, Labour, Cooperation, Power, Transport and Commercial Taxes from 1957 to 1967. During this time, he was also Leader of the Upper House, namely, the Madras Legislative Council.
Venkataraman was appointed a Member of the Union Planning Commission in 1967 and was entrusted the subjects of Industry, Labour, power, Transport, Communications, Railways. He held that office until 1971. In 1977, Venkataraman was elected to the Lok Sabha from Madras (South) Constituency and served as an Opposition Member of Parliament and Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee. In 1980, Venkataraman was re-elected to the Lok Sabha and was appointed Union Minister of Finance in the Government headed by Smt Indira Gandhi. He was later appointed Union Minister of Defence.
Venkataraman was also, variously, member of the Political Affairs Committee and the Economic Affairs Committee of the Union Cabinet; Governor, International Monetary Fund, the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and the Asian Development Bank. Venkataraman was a Delegate to the United Nations General Assembly in 1953, 1955, 1956, 1958, 1959, 1960 and 1961. He was Leader of the Indian Delegation to the 42nd Session of the International Labour Conference at Geneva (1958) and represented India in the Inter Parliamentary Conference in Vienna (1978). He was a Member, United Nations Administrative Tribunal from 1955 to 1979 and was its President from 1968 to 1979
Name: Giani Zail Singh
Date of Birth: May 5, 1916 to 1994
Place of Birth: Sandhwan in Faridkot District
GIANI ZAIL SINGH, whose ascendancy in the service of the nation can be traced from the humblest of origins, combines rare qualities of head and heart. The Giani's innings in public life have been long and varied - freedom fighter, social reformer, champion of the down-trodden, State Congress Leader, successful Chief Minister and Union Home Minister. Truly, he was a relentless fighter against princedom, feudalism and foreign domination in the pre-independence days, a tireless crusader against communalism, economic disparities and social injustice, a true friend of the down-trodden and the economically weak. Tall, handsome and immaculately dressed Giani Zail Singh was a firm believer in democratic traditions, most unassuming, a God fearing man and true son of the soil. No wonder that he has been able to carve out a distinguished niche for himself in Indian public life.
Giani Zail Singh, was born on May 5, 1916 in village Sandhwan in Faridkot District in a family of artisans, taken to agriculture. His father Sardar Kishan Singh owned about fifty-six acres of land which was inter shared by Giani Zail Singh and his two brothers. He comes from common stock and was born in a mud house in a remote village having no pull or patronage. Stitching clothes, crushing stones, ploughing in fields, laying roads, digging wells and making swords on the part of Gianiji gave him a rare insight into the psyche of the common man - his problems and aspirations. Also as a form of basic education, he has gone through the Quran, Geeta, Ramayana, besides an intensive study of the Sikh Scriptures.
Displaying precocity from his early childhood, Gianiji cultivated literary tastes. By the time most of the boys of his age had passed their matriculation examination, he had completed the study of Sikh Religion, Sikh History and Sikh Scriptures. He grew to be a Giani which means a Scholar. He was very well versed in Hindi and Urdu. Though not well-versed in the nuances of the English language, the valuable example which he furnishes of the power of self help, of patient purpose, resolute working and steadfast integrity illustrate the efficiency of self respect and self reliance in enabling men of even the humblest rank to work out for themselves and honourable competency and a solid reputation.
The martyrdom of Bhagat Singh and his companions, valiant freedom fighters, on March 23, 1931, moved the young Giani who was then only 16. The story of Giani Zail Singh's ordeals started with setting up of the branch of the All India Congress in the State of Faridkot in 1938. Giani Zail Singh was proclaimed and treated as an ordinary criminal. The Maharaja regarded the opening of the Branch of the Congress as a challenge and the man who did it as an arch enemy. So it was that Gianiji having founded the Congress in the State of Faridkot found himself behind prison bars for five years. He was kept in solitary confinement throughout his imprisonment. Even after his release, Gianiji was harassed and he had to spend sometime outside the State. During this period he canvassed support for the freedom movement in his State. During the same period he was influenced by Mahatma Gandhi's message of non-violence.
In 1946, Gianiji was back in his State to resume the freedom struggle on the lines initiated by Mahatma Gandhi - Father of the Nation. The whole State of Faridkot rose to a man on the question of hoisting the National Flag. But a reign of terror was unleashed by the Maharaja. Hearing of this high-handedness from Gianiji and some of colleagues Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru decided to visit Faridkot to hoist the Tricolour. This brought Gianiji into close contact with Panditji and ever since that day, Panditji kept his benign eye on the young and promising freedom fighter.
Setting up a parallel Government in Faridkot was the most perilous adventure of Giani Zail Singh's life. Giani Zail Singh was held guilty of leading the revolt against the Raja's Government and taken into custody. Then occurred the famous Jeep Episode - a tyrannical response to Gianiji's quest to end the princely and feudal tyranny. Gianiji was bound hand and feet to a jeep and was threatened that he would be dragged along the streets unless he relented. But ultimately good sense prevailed and the threat was not carried out.
When Faridkot State was merged into the State of Patiala and East Punjab States Union, Giani Zail Singh made historic contributions in removing socio-economic injustice of farm labourers, small cultivators and tenants in his capacity as a Minister for Revenue and Agriculture. The conferment of proprietary rights on the actual tillers and the abolition of absentee landlordism and the legislative steps ensuring the security of tenancy and the rights of tenants to share the lands declared as "surplus" after land-ceiling, are all to the credit of Gianiji. The protection given in PEPSU against State ejectments by landlords is till today a shining landmark in the post-freedom history of agrarian reforms in India.
On November 1, 1956, when PEPSU was integrated with Punjab it opened a new chapter in the life of the peasants and workers and the common people. In 1956, Giani Zail Singh became a Member of Rajya Sabha and the Senior Vice-President of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee. He injected new fervour among the partymen and struggled selflessly to ensure thumping victories for the Congress in Punjab in 1962 General Elections to Punjab Vidhan Sabha and the Lok Sabha. He was taken as a Minister in the Government headed by the late Sardar Pratap Singh Kairon but in 1962, he sacrificed that office when the Chinese aggression brought new challenges in its wake.
During 1962 to 1972, Giani Zail Singh waged an uncompromising battle against the forces of communalism, reaction and exploitation for about ten long years in Punjab. As a President of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee, the spirit he was able to infuse in the rank and file of the Congress against heavy odds, triumphed with decisive and overwhelming majority for the Congress in the 1971 Lok Sabha elections and the 1972 Punjab Vidhan Sabha poll.
In March, 1972, he was elected unanimously by the Punjab Congress Legislative Party to be the Chief Minister of Punjab. For an unprecedented spell of stability for five years and three months, Giani Zail Singh accelerated the pace of Green Revolution and industrialization in the State and strengthened the forces of secularism by promoting the unity of the people of all faiths.
Under his dynamic stewardship Punjab saw prosperity, stability, vitality, unity and solidarity. Inspired by the Leadership of Shrimati Indira Gandhi, Gianiji worked with dedication to make the Punjabis realize their dream of a better life.
With the advent of the multiparty governments at the Centre and in certain States including Punjab towards the middle of 1977, Giani Zail Singh had to brave a fresh spate of difficulties, hardships and harassment. The trials and tribulations, however, failed to break his spirit or to deprive him of the love of the common masses. He was elected to the Seventh Lok Sabha in January, 1980, from the Hoshiarpur Constituency in Punjab with a thumping lead of over 1,25,000 votes over his nearest rival, and became Home Minister in Government of India in Smt. Indira Gandhi's Cabinet.
As a Union Home Minister, Giani Zail Singh made a notable contribution in maintaining law and order, handling the Assam agitation and dealing firmly with communal riots in the country. He used his vast administrative experience spanning over more than three decades as Minister in PEPSU and Punjab and as the State Chief Minister to his great advantage. In attending to almost all the major problems facing the nation today, he has shown rare qualities of a seasoned statesman. The most striking, however, is his role in the Assam Crisis. He used all his skill in bringing round the agitation leaders to the negotiating table. His personal intervention at the crucial moments during the talks brought him many laurels, and greatly helped create a congenial climate for mutual discussions. As Home Minister he has abundantly shown his keen alertness to the numerous problems facing the nation. He has been able to strengthen the national integration and has shown tenacity in curbing violence of all types.
Giani Zail Singh was elected to the highest office of the President of India on July 15, 1982 and took the oath of office on July 25, 1982.
Giani Zail Singh believes in the efficiency of politeness in expression and penetrative understanding of human relations and problems. This has, however, never impaired his firmness on basic principles of approach and the fundamentals of the policy and programmes. A refined sense of humour, backed by his intense love for children and the suffering humans in all parts of the country, is his inbuilt safeguard against tensions and malice in his public conduct.
Name: SHRI NEELAM SANJIVA REDDY
Date of Birth: May 18, 1913 - June 1, 1996.
Place of Birth: Anantapur District (Andhra Pradesh)
Name: Dr. Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed
Date of Birth: May 13,1905-1977
Place of Birth: Assam
Born on May 13, 1905 at Hauz Qazi area of Old Delhi with a silver spoon in his mouth, Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed was one of those few Muslims who by virtue of his service to the country under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi reached the pinnacle of honour as the President of the Indian Republic, the fifth in the roll.
Shri Fakhruddin's grandfather, Shri Khaliluddin Ali Ahmed, of Kacharighat near Golaghat town in the Sibsagar district, Assam, married in one of the families who were the relics of Emperor Aurangzeb's bid to conquer Assam. Ali Ahmed's father Col. Zalnur Ali, of the Indian Medical Service, had to leave Assam while he was a bachelor doctor following an incident in Shillong. Col. Ali and one of his Assamese contemporaries, Col. Sibram Bora, were allotted seats at a function in the Shillong Club away from the European guests. The two Assamese Colonels boycotted the function in protest against the segregation meted out to them. This naturally enraged the European bosses who transferred Col. Zalnur Ali to distant North-West Province. This provided him with an opportunity to come in contact with the Nawab of Lohari in Delhi whose daughter he married. Here was born Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed.
Educated first in the Bonda Government High School in U.P., Fakhruddin matriculated from the Delhi Government High School then under the Punjab University. He was sent to England for higher education in 1923 in order to groom him for the I.C.S., though his mother was opposed to his son being sent abroad. He joined the Catherine College of Cambridge University and was called to the Bar from Inner Temple of London. He could not compete for the I.C.S. examination due to illness. On return to India he started legal practice in the Lahore High Court in 1928. In October that year, Col. Zalnur Ali, accompanied by his Barrister son, Fakhruddin, paid a visit to Gauhati ostensibly to look after his paternal property which included a few hundred acres of land in and around Gauhati. Obviously, the Ahmed family's link, snapped on the Colonel's posting in N.W.P. was thus re-established after several years. Two years later Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed revisited Gauhati and came in contact with the leaders of the Congress in Assam and in 1931 enrolled himself as its primary member. This was a turning event in the life of Ahmed.
During his stay in England he met Jawaharlal Nehru in 1925 whose progressive ideas impressed him very much; in fact, Nehru became his mentor and friend from the thirties onwards. (Lord Bulter, one of the luminaries of the Tories was a classmate of Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed). Once Ahmed joined the Indian National Congress he steadfastly adhered to it though his co-religionists in the Muslim League tried to persuade him to join the latter. As a Congressman, Ahmed Saheb actively participated in the freedom movement. To begin with, he offered individual satyagraha on 14 December, 1940 for which he was imprisoned for a year under Section 5 of the DIR. Again, in the 'Quit India Movement' he was arrested on 9 August, 1942 while he was returning after attending the historic session of the AICC meeting held at Bombay and detained as a security prisoner for three and a half years till April 1945. In the Congress organization he occupied several positions of responsibilities. He remained a member of the Assam Pradesh Congress Committee since 1936 except for a small break. He retained the membership of the AICC from 1947 till 1974. He was elected to the Assam Assembly for the first time in 1935 and became the Minister of Finance, Revenue and Labour in the Congress Coalition Ministry formed by the late Gopinath Bardoloi on 19 September, 1938. In the first spell of his Ministerial office Ali Ahmed demonstrated his acumen and ability in administrative sphere. His initiative in introducing the Assam Agricultural Income Tax Bill, the first of its kind in India, that levied taxes on tea garden lands in the Province and his pro-labour policy in the labour strike in the British-owned Assam Oil Company Ltd. At Digboi irked the European planters and their henchmen who considered that the measures of the Congress Coalition Government were revolutionary and, therefore, constituted a danger signal to the interests of the British commercial community. But Ali Ahmed did not heed to such opposition and went ahead with the measures which brought him and the Bardoloi Ministry a good deal of popular applause. However, the Bardoloi Ministry had to resign on 16 November, 1939 on the war efforts issue, but that Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed was an able administrator was established.
After Independence he was elected on Congress ticket to the Assam Assembly on two terms (1957-1962) and (1962-1967). Earlier, he was elected to the Rajya Sabha (1952-1953) and thereafter became Advocate-General of the Government of Assam. Though Ali Ahmed occupied a senior position in the Chaliha Ministry from 1957 he was asked by Jawaharlal Nehru to join his Cabinet at the Centre in January 1966. He was elected to the Lok Sabha from the Barpeta constituency in 1971. In the Central Cabinet he was given important portfolios relating to Food and Agriculture, Cooperation, Education, Industrial Development and Company Laws. His induction to the Central Cabinet was perhaps because of his close link with, and loyalty to the Nehru family and also for his acumen in administration.
In the Congress hierarchy Ali Ahmed enjoyed an enviable position being a member of the Congress Working Committee for several years. In the Great Split of the Congress (1969), Ali Ahmed remained with Indira Gandhi, may be his deep-rooted association with the Nehru family made him adhere to Indira Gandhi's leadership till his death. He was elected to the highest post of the land - the Presidentship of the Indian Republic on 29 August, 1974, but his tenure in the office was cut short (1977) by his sudden death due to a heart attack which he suffered on his return from a tour of the South-East Asian countries only a day before. In the wake of the Emergency Ali Ahmed became the target of criticism of his detractors. It was alleged that he put his signature as President to the order on promulgation of Emergency on 25 June, 1975 at the behest of the Prime Minister, though he assured at the time of his election to Presidentship that he would not be a yes-man of the Cabinet. Notwithstanding this criticism, Ali Ahmed's personality, integrity and ability in administration were never questioned.
Suave and sober, Ali Ahmed seldom allowed anger and prejudices to get better of him, at the same time, he did not compromise with unprincipled issues. These traits of his character were apparently the key to his success in the public life and enabled him to acquire a respectable position in the society. Towards the end of his political career, he was, however, accused of being communal by certain quarters, but this accusation was hardly warranted. Mention of an incident in this connection would perhaps be relevant. In 1935, when Mohammad Ali Jinnah, Liaquat Ali Khan, Nazimuddin and a few starwarts of the Muslim League came to Assam to campaign against Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed who was pitted by the Congress against a Muslim League candidate in the Assembly poll, a common friend at the instance of Sir Mohammad Saadullah suggested that Fakhruddin Saheb should pay a courtesy call to the Muslim League leaders at Gauhati. Liaquat Ali, however, reacted to the suggestion somewhat tersely saying that he would not shake hands with a Kafir meaning Ali Ahmed. Thus, the suggestion was scotched. It is apparently difficult to believe that he could be communal with a long record of service to the country under the banner of the Congress. It is, nonetheless, a fact that he tried to bring to the Congress fold a number of Aligarh Muslim University educated youths of his community whose communal outlook was a public knowledge. If this had created an impression in certain quarters that Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed was communal, that was entirely a different matter. But his love for the country and faith in secularism were profound and therefore, were not in doubt in the least.
Though politics was Ali Ahmed's forte, his deep interest in sports and other extra-mural activities was well-known. Himself a tennis player and golfer, he was elected President of the Assam Football Association and the Assam Cricket Association for several terms; he was also the Vice-President of the Assam Sports Council. In April, 1967 he was elected President of the All India Cricket Association besides being a member of the Delhi Golf Club and the Delhi Gymkhana Club since 1961. His love for music and finer arts was no less; he was deeply interested in poetical works of Ghalib. His travels in the USSR, the USA, the UK, Japan, Malaysia and many Arab countries as a Minister and afterwards as the President of India widened his urbane outlook that endeared him to all sections of the people, irrespective of caste, creed and avocation. Elegantly dressed he was always courteous but firm in what he considered to be just and fair and presented himself as a Moghul, as it were, which quality he perhaps inherited from his maternal side.
At forty Ali Ahmed married Abida (21) of a respectable family of U.P. educated in Aligarh Muslim University. When negotiations for the wedding were under way Ahmed was undergoing a jail term in Jorhat as security prisoner. At a certain stage of the negotiations Abida's family wanted to know what the prospective bride groom was doing. The answer came from one of the relatives of the would-be bridegroom: Fil hal to jail men Hai (At present he is in jail). But Destiny so ordained that Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed and Abida were happily married on 9 November, 1945. Begum Abida Saheba was elected to the Lok Sabha in 1981 from a U.P. constituency in a by-election.
Ali Ahmed passed away on 11 February, 1977 in the Rashtrapati Bhavan leaving behind wife, two sons and a daughter.
Name: Shri Varahagiri Venkata
Date of Birth: 10 August 1894-1980
Place of Birth: Berhampore in Ganjam district
Shri Varahagiri Venkata Giri was born on 10 August, 1894 at Berhampore in Ganjam district at that time in the Madras Presidency and now in Orissa. He came of a rather well-off Brahmin family. His father Shri V.V. Jogaiah Pantulu was a prosperous lawyer at Berhampore and the leader of the local Bar. He also took a prominent part in the nationalist movement. In the twenties he joined the Swarajya Party founded by Pandit Motilal Nehru and Chittaranjan Das and was a member of the Central Legislative Assembly from 1927 to 1930. He was also elected to the Madras Legislative Council after the introduction of the Act of 1935. Jogaiah was also interested in the Bengal Nagpur Railway Workers' Union. The example of his father and the family atmosphere naturally influenced the mind and career of V.V. Giri. Shri V.V. Giri was married at an early age. The name of his wife is Saraswati Bai.
After his early education in his home-town Giri went to Ireland and joined the University of Dublin for higher studies. It was here that he came under the spell of the freedom struggle in Ireland and drew his inspiration from De Valera. He became associated with the Sinn Fein Movement and came in close contact with De Valera, Collins, Pearee, Desmond Fitzgerald, MacNeil, Connolly and others. Giri was called to the Bar during World War I and returned to India in 1916.
Giri returned to India not only as a militant nationalist but deeply concerned about the well-being of the working people. The Irish Trade Union Movement had impressed him a good deal and when he returned to India he started taking a keen interest in the labour movement. Giri started practice in his home-town Berhampore but he also took an active part in the nationalist movement. He joined the Home Rule League and also the Indian National Congress. When Gandhi launched his Non-Cooperation Movement, Giri gave up his lucrative practice at the Bar and plunged himself into the movement. He was arrested and suffered imprisonment for a short period.
As early as 1922 he identified himself closely with the organization of the working classes and became a trusted lieutenant of N.M. Joshi. From that time onwards his main sphere of work was the Trade Union movement. To this day he is proud above all else of being a trade unionist. His identity and deep affinity with the working people is the main-spring of his strength. In 1923 he became one of the founders of the All India Railwaymen's Federation. He was twice elected President of the Trade Union Congress, in 1926 and 1942. As a leading trade unionist he attended many international gatherings. In 1927 he attended the International Labour Conference at Geneva. He also attended the Trade Union Congress at Geneva. In 1931-1932 he attended the Second Round Table Conference in London as the Workers' Representative.
During the Civil Disobedience Movement in the early thirties Giri, as a prominent labour leader, did much to organize trade unions in support of the nationalist movement. He was a member of the Indian Legislative Assembly from 1934 to 1937. In a house dominated by stalwarts like Satyamurty, Bhulabhai Desai, Jinnah, Govind Ballabh Pant, Madan Mohan Malaviya, Asaf Ali and others, Giri soon made his mark as a forceful speaker, specially on labour questions.
In the 1936 General Election in Madras, after the introduction of the Act of 1935, Giri was put up as the Congress candidate in Bobbili against the Raja of Bobbili, the most powerful political personality in the Madras Presidency. The Raja of Bobbili was the leader of the Justice Party and the Chief Minister of the Province; and the constituency was the traditional family strong-hold. The contest was like David tackling Goliath. In this contest between a feudal leader and a popular leader, the victory of the people's man heralded a decisive turning of the political tide. After the election when C. Rajagopalachari formed the Congress Ministry in Madras in 1937, V.V. Giri was naturally taken into the Cabinet and given the portfolio of Labour. Again after the General Election of 1946 in Madras Giri was taken into the Cabinet formed by T. Prakasam and given the portfolio of Labour. Later Giri was appointed India's High Commissioner in Ceylon.
Before long he returned to his favourite forum, the lelgislature. He was a member of the Lok Sabha from 1952 to 1957. From 1952 to 1954 he was a member of the Union Cabinet and was given the portfolio of Labour. When an issue arose that involved the interest of labour, Giri resigned to uphold his cherished principles. Eventually, the Government had to come round to his viewpoint.
After 1957 began a long spell of gubernatorial assignments for Giri. Successively he served as Governor of Uttar Pradesh, Kerala and Mysore. He won friends everywhere, initiated new activities and became a mentor for the younger generation. It was during these years that he imparted new depth and dimension to social work as the President of the Indian Conference of Social Work, to which office he was elected in 1958.
In 1967, during the period of turmoil, he was invited to be the Vice-President. Fate willed that Dr. Zakir Hussain should not complete his term as the President. On his death on 3 May, 1969, V.V. Giri had to officiate as the President. Giri was so clear about his manifest destiny that without bothering about party support he offered himself as a candidate for the Presidential election, confident of popular approval. He was elected (1969) the fourth President of the Republic with the acclaim of the people. With him the arena of the election shifted from the close preserve of politicians to the broad wishes of the people.
Giri has written two important books, one on "Industrial Relations" and the other on "Labour Problems in Indian Industry". He has been a socialist of long standing, but never a doctrinaire socialist, always a pragmatist. His approach is at once practical and human. In his opinion of the tree of socialism the root is man. Even today he gives expression to his economic and social thoughts in terms of "jobs for the millions".
Name: Dr. Zakir Husain
Date of Birth: February 8 1897-1969
Place of Birth: Hyderabad
DR. ZAKIR HUSSAIN was born at Hyderabad on February 8, 1897, he came of a Pathan family of the upper middle-class, settled at Qaunganj in the District of Farrukhabad, Uttar Pradesh. His father, Fida Hussain Khan, went to Hyderabad, studied Law and had a most successful career. Unfortunately, he died when Dr. Zakir Hussain was only ten years old.
Name: Dr. Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan
Date of Birth: 1888-1975
Place of Birth: Madras
Dr. Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan was born on 5 September, 1888 in Tirutani, a well-known religious center in the Madras. He was the second son of Veera Samayya, a tehsildar in a zamindari. It was a middle-class, respectable Hindu Brahmin family. Indeed, the place, the time and the family were most suitable, from every point of view, for the advent of a new philosopher-statesman, so directly needed in those turbulent days of the awakening of a very ancient and glorious nation, drowsy and dormant in its own ignorance and indolence, for reasons well known to all.
Bright and brilliant, with a scholarly disposition and a serene and saintly demeanor, from the very beginning, Radhakrishnan spent the first eight years of his life happily and fruitfully in his home town with his parents. The peaceful and exhilarating atmosphere of that well-known and well-loved place, as well as the benign influence of his parents who, as was common in the South, were intensely religious in the traditional sense, went far in moulding his character and sowing a lively seed of religiousness and moralism in him.
It was, indeed, an indubitably significant fact that Radhakrishnan's parents, though orthodox, thought it fit to send their beloved son to Christian Missionary schools and colleges: Lutheran Mission School, Tirupathi (1896-1900), Vellore College, Vellore (1900-1904), Madras Christian College(1904-1908).
The wonderful far-sightedness, open-heartedness and broad-mindedness of his revered and beloved parents, which enabled them, in those days of blind prejudices and equally blind social taboos, to send their son to well-known, well-managed, well-disciplined Christian educational institutions - stood him in good stead throughout, making it possible for him to acquire specially Occidental qualities like a sense of duty, punctuality, discipline, sobriety and the like, together with specially Oriental qualities of religiosity, calmness, patience, faith in God and men.
Radhakrishnan's choice of Philosophy as his main or Honours subject in his B.A. degree course was due to a very fortunate accident. At that time, he was really rather baffled as to what particular Honours subject to choose from amongst the possible five, viz., Mathematics, Physics, Biology, Philosophy and History. Then, purely accidentally, and out of a mere boyish curiosity, he read three well-known works on Philosophy, passed on to him by one of his cousins who had that year obtained the B.A. degree with Philosophy Honours; and that definitely decided his future course of studies.
He studied Sanskrit and Hindi also; and had a good deal of interest in the traditional languages of India. He read also the Vedas and the Upanishads with great care and reverence.
In fact, Radhakrishnan was, and is, still today, a reader and a digester in the true sense of the terms. For, what he read - and he read widely and lovingly all kinds of good books - did not remain an external acquisition, an ornamental decoration, with him; but blossomed forth in him in fullest glory and grandeur.
It is not always that in this strange world of ours inner worth is accompanied by outer success. But Radhakrishnan is a glorious exception in this regard. For, all throughout his brilliant career, honour after honour was showered on him. The following are some of the main posts held by him most fittingly and efficiently: Lecturer in Philosophy, Presidency College, Madras, in the Madras Provincial Educational Service, after graduation; Assistant Professor of Philosophy in the same College for five years; Professor of Philosophy, Mysore University (1918-1921); King George V Professor of Philosophy, Calcutta University (1921-1931) and again (1937-1944); Vice-Chancellor of the Andhra University (1931); Spaulding Professor of Eastern Religion and Ethics, Oxford University (1932-1953) - first Indian to be so appointed; and Vice-Chancellor of the Banaras Hindu University (1942). Among the cultural posts held by him may be mentioned: Leader of the Indian Delegation to UNESCO many times (1946-1950); Chairman of the University Education Commission (1948) appointed by the Government of India; Chairman of the Executive Board of UNESCO (1948); President of UNESCO (1952); Delegate to the P.E.N. Congress (1959); Vice President of International P.E.N.; Honorary Fellow of the British Academy (1962); Representative of the Calcutta University at the Congress of Philosophy, Harvard University, U.S.A. (May 1962).
Among the political posts held by him may be mentioned: Ambassador-Extraordinary and Minister-Plenipotentiary to the U.S.S.R. (1949-1952),Vice-President of India (twice: 1952-1956 and 1957-1962); and President of India (1962-1966).
Among the Lectureships held may be noted: Upton Lecturer, Manchester College, Oxford; Harwell Lecturer in Comparative Religion, University of Chicago; Hibbert Lecturer, University College, London and Manchester (1929).
Among the Honorary degrees and distinctions achieved were: Knighthood (1931); Honorary D. Ph. (Teheran University, 1963); Honorary D.Litt. (Tribhuvan University, Nepal, 1963); Honorary Doctor of Law (Pennsylvania University, 1963); Honorary Ph.D. (Moscow University, 1964); Honorary Doctor of Law (National University of Ireland, 1964); over one hundred Honorary degrees including those from Oxford, Cambridge and Rome Universities; Honorary Member of the Order of Merit, Buckingham Palace (12 June, 1963). He also made Goodwill tours to Singapore, Indonesia, Japan and China (September-October 1956); to Belgium, Poland, Czechoslovakia, the Soviet Union, Hungary and Bulgaria, African countries like East and Central Africa (June-July 1956); to Indo-China States, China, Mongolia and Hong Kong (September, 1957). He also paid State visits to Great Britain (June 1963), to Nepal (November 1963) and to U.S.S.R. and Ireland (September 1964).
Radhakrishnan was, and still is, one of the most celebrated writers of the present generation. His works are many and varied on philosophical, theological, ethical, educational, social and cultural subjects. He contributed also numerous articles to different well-known journals, which too, will prove to be of immense value to generations to come.
But what is most felt after reading any of his valuable works or articles is its wonderful liveliness. Truly, his articles are not merely outer expressions of his inner thoughts, but, what is more, infinitely more, emblems and embodiments of his very life - life that merrily dances forth in the fortuitous, zig-zag way of the world, removing all its obstacles in its own inner irresistible urge and boundless boldness. Hence, it is that his works, written in an incredibly simple, sublime, soft and serene way, are so very enchanting, enlivening, exhilarating to all. As a matter of fact, as is well known, it is very difficult to express very abstract and abstruse philosophical thoughts in easily intelligible and enchantingly sweet language. But Dr. Radhakrishnan, like the great and revered Rabindranath, is one of the few who could accomplish this apparently impossible feat. That is why his philosophical writings are not ordinary scholarly dissertations, but also melodious poetical perfections of great and permanent value.
His first book, 'The Ethics of the Vedanta and Its Material Presupposition', being his thesis for the M.A. degree examination of the Madras University, published in 1908, at the tender age of twenty only, at once established his fame as a great philosophical writer of undoubted ability. All his later works are landmarks in their respective fields, like 'The Philosophy of Rabindranath Tagore' (1918), 'Idealistic View of Life' (1932), 'Eastern Religions and Western Thought', 'Reign of Philosophy in Contemporary Thought', Kalki or The Future of Civilization', 'Indian Philosophy (2 vols.), etc.
Dynamic in personality, quiet in demeanor, austere in habits, unostentatious in behaviour, just in decision, prompt in action, simple in his dress, sympathetic in his dealings - such is our revered Dr. Radhakrishnan. He is a living, loving symbol and lovely emblem of our age-old Indian culture and civilization. Nothing much need be said here regarding his ideas and attitude towards different issues. For, the central refrain of his Life's Music reverberates through every walk of his blessed life. That is why he is a Monist in Philosophy, believing in one Reality, viz., Spirit; a Monotheist in Religion, believing in one God; an Eudemonist or Perfectionist in Ethics, believing in inner perfection as the summum bonum or the highest end of life; a Socialist in Politics, believing in mass or universal uplift. His whole glorious life proves anew the eternal truth of that well-known Platonic maxim, viz., "Those States only flourish where kings are philosophers, philosophers, kings" (Plato's Republic).
Radhakrishnan is considered as the greatest living philosopher of India, and one of the greatest living philosophers of the world. In 1952 the Library of Living Philosophers, an institute of world-wide repute, brought out a massive volume on 'The Philosophy of Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan, devoted wholly to a critical appreciation of his philosophical doctrines. This proves beyond doubt that he is universally considered to be one amongst the most notable of modern philosophical luminaries, like G.F. Moore, Bertrand Russell and Karl Jaspers, about whose works also the above Library published separate volumes.
According to our Indian view, the highest aim of human life is to be, step by step, a 'Brahmachari' (or one who lives and moves about and believes in Brahman), a 'Brahmajnani' (or one who knows Brahman or the Absolute) and finally, a 'Brahmavadin' (or one who speaks or writes about Brahman or the Absolute). Here, we find Knowing, Doing and Speaking or Writing all go together; or, are intimately, intrinsically, indissolubly connected. Thus, Theory must end and fructify in Practice, Knowledge in Action, Philosophy in Ethics - in short, the root in the fruit. Dr. Radhakrishnan - himself a real 'Brahmachari', a real 'Brahmajnani' - subscribed to this theory all along. In his very first work, 'The Ethics of the Vedanta and Its Material Presupposition', published as early as 1908, he clearly and forcefully asserts this. Compare - "Philosophy in India is not an abstract study, remote from the life of man…. The Civilisation of India is an effort to embody philosophical wisdom in social life".
Dr. Radhakrishnan is, indeed, a versatile genius - a great scholar, a great philosopher, a great seer, a great writer, a great orator, a great statesman, a great administrator, all combined.
And above all, he is a Man - a full real Man, who has always lived men, served men, worshipped men, not as a superior being, not as a superman; but only as a Man, as their fellow being, as their friends, as their nearest and dearest one.
Jawaharlal Nehru, who was one of his closest friends throughout, said about Radhakrishnan: "I join you in paying my tribute to our President, Dr. Radhakrishnan. He has served his country in many capacities. But above all, he is a great Teacher from whom all of us have learnt much and will continue to learn. It is India's peculiar privilege to have a great philosopher, a great educationist and a great humanist as her President. That in itself shows the kind of men we honour and respect".
PUBLICATIONS:
The Ethics of the Vedanta and Its Material Presupposition (1908); The Philosophy of Rabindranath Tagore (1918); The Reign of Religion in Contemporary Philosophy (1920); Indian Philosophy (2 volumes) (1923 and 1927); The Hindu View of Life (1926); The Religion We Need (1928); Kalki or The Future of Civilisation (1929); An Idealist View of Life (1932); East and West in Religion (1933); Freedom and Culture (1936); The Heart of Hindusthan (1936); My Search for Truth (Autobiography)(1937); Gautama, The Buddha (1938); Eastern Religions and Western Thought (1939); Mahatma Gandhi (1939); India and China (1944); Education, Politics and War (1944); Is this Peace (1945); The Religion and Society (1947); The Bhagwadgita (1948); Great Indians (1949); The Dhammapada (1950); The Religion of the Spirit and the World's Need (Autobiographical)(1952);The Radhakrishnan Number, (A Souvenir Volume).
