BOTANY: Freedom Fighter

Showing posts with label Freedom Fighter. Show all posts

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Nobel Personality in India

Abdul Ghaffar Khan
He was known as the 'Frontier Gandhi'. He was a nationalist Muslim leader of the North-West Frontier Province. He first started a militant organisation known as the 'Red Shirt', and later on joined the non-violent Civil Disobedience Movement started by Mahatma Gandhi.

Acharya Vinoba Bhave
Saintly personality; had devoted his life to social welfare; founder of the Bhoodan movement.

Amir Khusrau
Assumed 'Parrot of India', was a famous poet and author who wrote in poetry and prose and also composed music. He enjoyed the patronage of successive Sultans of Delhi from Balban to Ghiyas-ud-din Tughluq. He died in 1324-25. His works include Tughluqnamah and the Tarikh-i-Alai.

Anand Mohan Bose
He was a prominent Indian public man in his times. He was the first Indian to be a Wrangler of Cambridge University in 1873. He was the founder-secretary of the Indian Association which was established in Calcutta in 1876, and presided over the 14th session of the Indian National Congress held in Ma

Ashutosh Mukherjee
He was an eminent lawyer and educationist. He was certainly a maker of modern Bengal, if not of India, by virtue of his eminent services to the cause of education. At the early age of 25 he became a member of the Senate of the Calcutta University of which he became the vice-chancellor.

Aurobindo Ghosh
An ardent nationalist who later became a saint, was educated in England. His views were readily accepted by Lala Lajpat Rai of Punjab and Bal Gangadhar Tilak of Maharashtra and led to the formation of an extremist school within the Congress.

Bal Gangadhar Tilak
Patriot and statesman, known as Lokmanya. He organised Extremist Party within the Congress with Lala Lajpat Rai and Bipin Chandra Pai. Britishers called him "Father of Indian Unrest". He gave the clarion call "Swaraj is my birth right". Tilak was the founder-editor of Mahratta (English) and Kesar

Bhagat Singh
Known as Shahid-e-Azam. Founded Naujawan Bharat Sabha. Exploded bomb in Central Legislative Assembly at Lahore on April 8, 1929. He was arrested and sentenced for life. He along with Sukh Dev and Shivram Rajguru, was hanged on March 23, 1931 for participating in Lahore conspiracy.

Chakravarti Rajagopalachari
A prominent Indian politician, born in South India in 1879. He was the General Secretary of the Indian National Congress in 1921-22 and was a member of the Congress Working Commitee. Rajagopalachari was the Chief Minister of Madras from 1937-39.

Dadabhai Naoro Ji
He was elected president of the Indian National Congress at its second session held in Calcutta in 1886. He was the first Indian to be elected a member of the House of Commons in England on a ticket of Liberal Party. Twice again, in 1893 and in 1906, he was elected president of the INC.

Dr. B. R. Ambedkar
A prominent leader of the Scheduled Castes. Built up a party of the untouchables, became a member of the Constitutent Assembly and piloted through it the Indian Constitution Act which declared India to be Republic. He also piloted the Hindu Code through the Indian Legislature.

Dr. Rajendra Prasad
He was the first President of the Republic of India. Born in Bihar in 1884, educated at the Calcutta Universty, he began his career as an advocate and soon commanded a very large practice at Patna High Court. Prasad became the president of Congress in 1934, 1939 and 1947; a minister in Nehru's cabin

Gopal Krishna Gokhale
He was a prominent Indian nationalist, and presided over the 1905 session of the Indian National Congress. In 1905 he founded at Poona the Servants of India Society. He died in 1915. He is considered as the 'Political Guru' of Gandhiji.

Govinda Ballabh Pant
The celebrated Sanskrit grammarian, was the author of Ashtadhyayi. He was one of the leading members and leaders of the Indian National Congress. He became the Chief Minister in his native province of Uttar Pradesh after independence.

Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar
Social reformer and educationist from Bengal and a pioneer in the field of primary education and widow re-marriage.

Jamshedji Tata
Parsi industrialist and philanthropist. Father of Indian industry, founded Tata, Iron and Steel Company in Bihar.

Lal Bahadur Shastri
Prime Minister of India from May, 1964 to his death on 11 January, 1966. He was conferred Bharat Ratna posthumously. He was a martyr for the cause of peace between India and Pakistan at Tashkent.

Lala Lajpat Rai
Indian national leader known as "Lion of Punjab". Founder editor of Bande Mataram, The Punjabeeand The People. Died of injuries caused by police lathi-charge while leading a demonstration against Simon Commission at Lahore in 1928. Author of Young India, The Arya Samaj and England's Debt to India.

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi
Better known as Mahatma Gandhi, was born on October 2, 1869 at Porbandar in Gujarat. Became a barrister-at-law (1891) in England. Went to South Africa in 1893. Stayed there till 1914 for the cause of the emancipation of the Indians from the insulting life.

Mrs. Vijayalakshmi Pandit
Born in 1900, was a talented daughter of Pandit Motilal Nehru. She held many high offices after Indian independence including the post of India's High Commissioner in England (1955-61) and India's Ambassador to the U. S. S. R. as well as to the U. S. A.

Mrs. Annie Besant

English theosophist, bom in London in October 1847. She founded the Central Hindu College at Banaras and was elected president of the Theosophical Society in 1907. In 1916 she founded the Indian Home Rule League and became its first president and in 1917.

Mrs. Sarojini Naldu

The most talented Indian lady, born of Bengali parents, was a poet and orator who took a prominent part in Indian politics. She presided over the Kanpur session of the Indian National Congress in 1925 and was the first lady to be appointed a state Governor in the Republic of India.

Netaji Subhash Bose

Popularly known as Netaji, was born on January 23, 1879, at Cuttack. He passed the Indian Civil Service Examination in 1920. He joined the Indian National Congress in 1921. In 1938 he was the president of the INC at its Haripura session and in 1939 he was elected president of its Tripuri session.

Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru

He was the first Prime Minister of Independent India and is known as the architect of modem India. He was born in Allahabad on Novemeber 14,1889. In 1928 be became the General Secretary of the Indian National Congress and in 1929 its President. At the Lahore session under his Presidentship was pass

Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya

A leading nationalist leader, prominent educationist and social reformer. Later on joined the second session of the Indian National Congress held in 1886 and twice became its President in 1909 and 1918. His greatest achievement was the foundation in 1915 in Benaras of the Hindu University.

Pandit Motilal Nehru

A renowned Indian patriot, was born on 6th May, 1861 in Delhi. He began his career as a lawyer at the Allahabad High Court, joined the Indian National Movement and started a journal named The Independent' to support the cause of Indian Nationalism. Along with C. R. Das he formed the Swarajist Party

Rabindranath Tagore

Poet, novelist, patriot, educationist, essayist, painter and philosopher. He founded Shantiniketan (now Viswabharati University) in West Bengal. The first Asian to receive Nobel Prize in Literature (for Gitanjati in 1913), writer of National Anthems of India and Bangladesh.

Ram Manohar Lohla

A social and political revolutionary, he founded the'Samajwadi Party' after difference of opinion with the Congress.

Ramakrishna Paramhansa

He was a very great spiritual teacher of the Hindus in modern times. His two-noteworthy disciples were Keshavchandra Sen and Swami Vivekanand.

Rasbehari Basu

He was elected president of the Surat session of the Indian National Congress in 1907 in which the Moderates and Extremists came to a serious clash. Next year he presided over the Madras session of the INC.

Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel

A renowned Indian patriot and politician, was born on the 31st, October, 1875 in Gujarat and began his career as a lawyer. He took a leading part in the Bardoli Satyagraha movement. In 1931 he became the president of the Congress. He joined the "interim Government" set up in 1946 as the Home Ministe

Sarvapalli Radha Krishan

The second President of the Republic of India. Radha Krishnan was appointed as India's ambassador to the USSR in 1949. In 1962 he became the President of India. His birthday, Sept 5, is celebrated as Teacher's Day.'

Shaukat Ali

A prominent leader and politician amongst the Indian Muhammadans. He along with his brother Muhammad All, led the Khilafat Movement in 1919-20. He also joined the Indian National Congress and the non-co-operation movement.

Sir Sayyid Ahmed Khan

He was a prominent leader of the Indian Muhammadans. Remained loyal to the British during the Sepoy Mutiny (1857-58), founded the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College at Aligarh in 1875. In 1920 the college was raised to the status of University and called the Aligarh Muslim University.

Sister Nivedita

A famous disciple of Swami Vivekananda, was an Irish lady named Miss Margaret Nobel.

Swami Vivekananda

Disciple of Rama Krishna Paramahansa, and founder of Ramakrishna Mission at Belur. He championed the supremacy of Vedantic philosophy and his talk at the Chicago conference of world religions in 1893 made westerners realise the greatness of Hinduism for the first time.

V. D. C Savarkar

He founded Mitra Mandal aimed at achieving freedom by armed rebellion, founded Abhinav Bharat, started Free Indian Society in England (London). Savarkar was arrested in Nasik conspiracy case and sentenced to transportation for life and freed in 1937. He authored Indian War of Independence.

Wumesh Chandra Banerjee

The first president of the Indian National Congress held at Bombay in 1885. He was made Congress President a second time at its Allahabad session in 1892.

Zakir Hussain

Proposed Wardha Scheme of education, formerly Vice-Chancellor of Jamia Millia. He was elected as President of India in 1967.

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Sinha, Sachchidananda (1871-1950)

Sinha, Sachchidananda (1871-1950)

Born in a respectable middle-class Kayastha family at Arrah, the headquarters of the Shahabad district in Bihar, on 10 November 1871, Sachchidananda was the youngest child (and the only son in the family) of Bakshi Ramyad Sinha (1831-97), the Chief Pleader of the Maharaja of Dumraon. His grandfather, Bakshi Shiva Prasad (1790-1870), had been the Diwan of the Dumraon Estate.
Their ancestral home was somewhere near Lucknow and during the disturbed conditions under the later Mughals they migrated to the village of Murar near Buxar in Shahabad, and their locality in Murar is still known as Lakhnaua Tola. Some of their forefathers must have served in the Military Accounts Department of the Mughals and they were given the honorific appellation of Bakshi, but Sachchidananda never used it.
Sachchidananda's parents were Vedantists with liberal views and toleration for others, and they chose for their only son a name which represents the three sublimes attributes of the Divinity according to Hindu philosophy. From his parents Sachchidananda inherited a sprit of rationalism which gave him the strength to rebel openly in later life against unjust social restrictions and meaningless religious rituals and superstitions. He was the first well-known Bihari Hindu to have undertaken a sea-voyage to England and to have married (1894) outside his sub-caste.
Sachchidananda's wife Radhika Devi (1880-1919) was the only child of Seva Ram, a Barrister of Lahore, and the granddaughter of Rai Bahadur Kanhaiya Lal, a distinguished engineer of his time. It is generally held that Sachchidananda married a widow, but this is not the case. The most probable reason for Radhika Devi's being regarded as a widow must be that the remarriage of her paternal aunt Hardevi with Roshan Lal, a Barrister of Allahabad, a year before her own marriage, created quite a stir in northern India, and public memory being proverbially short, what was actually applicable to Hardevi was transferred to the niece, Radhika Devi.
Sachchidananda, learnt the Hindi alphabet first at home at his mother's feet. She used to hold in her house in the afternoon discourses on the Ramayana for the benefit of the local women-folk. Sachchidananda learnt the lessons of life as given in the epic in these midday gatherings and he used to say that the Ramayana had been a source of inspiration to him throughout his life, as it likewise inspired his countrymen-the petty or the mighty-for generations.
His father had a fairly big library in his house and he used to hold special evening lessons for the son. Sachchidananda was generally asked to read out to his father important chapters from different books on religion, history and politics and from the newspapers and magazines, to a large number of which his father used to subscribe. This aspect of the daily routine inculcated in the son a love of books and a devotion to duty and it also created in him a love for journalism which, as a hobby and useful pastime, he cultivated throughout his life.
Sachchidananda was educated at the Arrah Zilla School, T. K. Ghosh Academy at Patna, Patna College and City College, Calcutta. While he was a first-year Arts student of the Patna College, in 1888, he was deeply impressed by what he heard of and read about the genius and activities of Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya. He attended the Allahabad session of the Congress in that year with the sole object of being personally acquainted with Malaviyaji.

Later, in the summer of 1889, Malaviyaji visited Arrah on Congress organisational work and was Sachchidananda's guest at Patna. Sachchidananda wanted to be a lawyer, editor and public man like Malaviyaji, and with this end in view he prepared to sail to England to prosecute studies at the English Bar. But when his parents came to know about this, they made him discontinue his studies at Patna and took him home. After a few weeks he persuaded his parents to allow him to go to Calcutta and study there.
Once in Calcutta he again started preparations for a voyage to England and on 25 December 1889 secretly boarded a ship bound for London. But he was short of funds and on reaching Aden he wired his parents about his difficulties when they had no option but to be reconciled to the plan of their son.
In London Sachchidananda used to live with the Imam brothers, Ali and hasan. Along with them he took an active part in the deliberations of the Anjuman-i-Islamia, of which Mazharul Haq, Lala Har Kishan Lal, Shah Din Shafi, Abdur Rahim, M. A. Jinnah and Gandhiji were some of the prominent members. He was also an active member of the Northbrook Indian Club and was its Librarian for quite a long time. He was its Librarian for quite a long time. He was a voracious reader and soon he collected in his house a library of about one thousand books which formed the nucleus of the famous Sinha Library at Patna.

While in England he assisted the Congress Delegation of 1890 led by George yule and worked as a volunteer for the election of Dadabhai Naoroji from the Central Finsbury consistency in 1892. The training in practical politics, he thus received, stood him in good stead when he himself entered Indian politics as a Congressman in 1894.
Sachchidananda was called to the Bar from the Middle Temple on 26 January 1893 and returned to India in March. On his return he was asked by his relations to perform prayaschitta which he firmly refused to do. On this he was given a hero's welcome at Allahabad where the main speaker on the occasion was Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya.
During his stay in England and on his way back home Sachchidananda observed that the name of Bihar was unknown everywhere-even to educated Indians from other parts of the country. He also found that Bihar was politically and educationally very backward, and felt that it was so because it had no distinct political identity and individuality and because, as an unimportant part of the Bengal Presidency, it received inadequate official attention and care.

To agitate for the creation of a separate Province of Bihar he started a journal, the Behar Times, at Patna in 1894 with Mahesh Narayan as its Editor. The movement gained momentum by 1896 and more particularly after the partition of Bengal in 1905. In 1906 he reconstituted the management of the Behar Times and changed its name to the Beharee to serve the local interests best.
Sachchidananda organised the Bihari Student's Conference (1906), the Bihar Provincial Conference (1908) and the Bihar Provincial Congress Committee (1908) to popularise the demand for the creation of a Bihar Province and to mobilize all-India support for it. The Calcutta Press opposed him tooth and nail and very selfish motives were attributed to him. But he remained steadfast.

In 1910 he was elected to the Imperial Legislative Council and managed to get his friend, Ali Imam, appointed as the Law Member in the Viceroy's Executive Council. After this, with the help of Ali Imam, it became comparatively easy for him to secure Provincial status for Bihar when the Government decided to revoke the Curzonian partition and redemarcate the territorial boundaries in eastern India in 1911. Mainly as a result of Sachchidananda's leadership and efforts the new Province of Bihar
and Orissa came into being on 1April 1912.
After this Sachchidananda became the recognised spokesman of the Bihari people and was chosen Secretary of the Reception Committee of the Congress session at Bankipore (Patna) in 1912. He was the President of the Bihar Provincial Congress Committee during 1916-20, but resigned when the majority of its members decided to follow Gandhiji's non-cooperation scheme at a meeting on 5 October 1920. He was a constitutionals and belonged to the Gokhale school of philosophy. But he never severed his connection with the Congress, and his house was a popular rendezvous of all nationalists of every denomination.
Earlier, in 1895, on medical advice Sachchidananda lived in Allahabad for a few years. There he came in intimate contact with Ramananda Chatterjee, Motilal Nehru and Tej Bahadur Sapru. He was the Secretary of the Kayastha Pathsala for some years and when Ramananda Chatterjee left permanently for Calcutta he became the Editor of the Kayastha Samachar. He founded the Hindustan Review in 1901, which he edited till his death except during the years 1921-26 when he was an Executive Councillor of Bihar and Orissa in charge of Jails, Judiciary and Finance. He was the first Indian to hold the Finance portfolio in a Province.

In 1909, along with Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya and Motilal Nehru, he organised The Leader and brought C. Y. Chintamani from Vizianagram to Allahabad as Joint Editor; the Editor, being Negendranath Gupta, the former Editor of the Tribune, of Lahore. In fact, C. Y. Chintamani was Sachchidananda's find and gift to the people of the U. P.
In April 1913 Sachchidananda presided at the Agra and Oudh Provincial Conference held at Kanpur and acted as a member of the Patna University Committee (Nathan Committee). Next year he visited Europe as a member of the Congress Delegation. With the help of P. R. Das (younger brother of C. R. Das), Hasan Imam, Dr. P. K. Sen, and Rajendra Prasad, he started on 15 August 1918. The Searchlight at Patna, which is still one of Bihar's leading journals with progressive views. He was also the Managing Director of the Indian Nation (Patna) during 1931-32.
Sachchidananda's wife Radhika Devi died on 30 July 1919. As she was without any issue, she and her husband adopted a few weeks before her death the second son of Bhubaneshwar Prasad (alias Bachcha Babu of Patna) and gave him the name of Radhakrishna Sinha (1918-69). On her husband's advice she made a will to dispose of her properties by which a Chair of Mathematics and Physical Sciences at the Punjab University and a Chair of Economics at the Kayastha Pathsala (College), Allahabad, and a fund of about Rs. 1,50,000/- to house the Radhika Sinha Institute and Sachchidananda Sinha Library at Patna, were created.
In September 1919 Sachchidananda was elected to the Imperial Legislative Council and was its first elected Deputy President. In 1921 at the request of Lord Sinha, Governor of Bihar and Orissa, he became an Executive Councillor (1921-26) and also acted as President of the Bihar and Orissa Legislative Council from July 1921 to November 1922.
In 1927 Sachchidananda toured extensively in Europe and represented India at the International Press Conference at Geneva. He also addressed the East India Association London on the working of the Dyarchy in Indian Provinces.
Sachchidananda presided over the 35th session of the All India Kayastha Conference at Delhi in 1929. Next year he was elected unopposed from his home constituency of Shahabad to the Bihar and Orissa Legislative Council and became the leader of the opposition until 1937.
In 1933 he again toured extensively in Europe and was a prominent witness deposing before the Joint Parliamentary Committee on Indian Reforms. In 1936 Sachchidananda was appointed the first non-official Vice-Chancellor of the Patna University and held that office until December 1944. During his Vice-Chancellorship postgraduate reaching and research received great encouragement. Twice (in 1937 and 1946) he was elected to represent the Patna University Constituency in the Bihar Legislative Council.
He delivered the Convocation address of the Lucknow University in 1935, the Nagpur University in 1937 and the Utkal University at its first Convocation in 1944. He was the Chairman of the Benares State Reforms Commission in 1939.
In 1946 he was elected by the Bihar Legislative Council to the Constituent. Assembly of India and he presided over its inaugural session.
Because of his valuable services to the nation honours began to pur profusely on him. The degree of Doctor of Letters (honoris causa) was conferred on him by the Allahabad University in 1937, by the Patna University in 1947 and by the Benares Hindu University in 1948. Earlier, in 1944, the Governor of Bihar, Sir Thomas Rutherford, proposed his name for Knighthood, but he declined to accept it because he considered democratic ideals and acceptance of official titles incompatible.
Almost the last act of Sachchidananda was his signing on 14 February 1950, at a special function arranged by President Rajendra Prasad, of the India Constitution after it had been finally adopted by the Constituent Assembly. He was then lying seriously ill. He passed away peacefully in the early hours of 6 March 1950, after living a fairly long, active and full life.
Sachchidananda combined in himself rare qualities of leadership. As a journalist and orator he ranked high among the literary men of his time in India. His criticism of Iqbal and his works revealed his deep knowledge of Persian thought and Urdu literature. He also wrote an excellent travel-guide on Kashmir, which ran into three editions in course of only five years, from 1942 to 1947.

His book, 'Some Eminent Behar Contemporaries' (Himalaya Press, Patna, 1944), is indispensable to any serious student of the history of modern Bihar. All his mature and considered opinions and ideas are contained in his `Speeches and Writings' (first published in 1935; second enlarged edition, Thacker Spink & Co. Ltd., Calcutta, 1942), which is also a remarkable piece of literature.
A spirit of rationalism and nationalism pervaded all the political and social reform activities of Sachchidananda, and he carried with him the people who came in touch with him and read or heard his speeches. Even those who differed from him on matters of principle admitted the soundness of his arguments and admired his liberal constitutional approach to various problems. He had a host of Muslim friends, such as Ali Imam and his brother Hasan Imam, Mazharul Haq and Mirza Ismail, the most important result of which was that so long as he was active communal tension could not raise its head in Bihar.
In administration-whether in the Government, in the University or in any other public organisation-he endeared himself to the people all the more by his boldness, impartiality, punctuality and hard work, and throughout his public life all sections of the public were attracted to him by his charity, hospitality and personality.

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Famous Indians - Famous Indian Personalities - Biography of Famous Indian Personalities

Famous Indians

India has produced several famous personalities that have excelled in their field. These Indian heroes have battled against all odds and have reached the pinnacle of success by their courage, determination and perseverance. Their lives have inspired a whole generation of Indians and continue to inspire millions of Indians and others all around the world.
Here are biographies of few such Indian heroes. These include people from all walks of life such as freedom fighters, leaders, scientists, litterateurs, writers, painters, musicians, social reformers and entrepreneurs.

Dhirubhai Ambani