In 1946, he became the youngest minister in Jawaharlal Nehru’s provisional government, the First Union Cabinet of India as a Labour minister, and also a member of Constituent Assembly of India, where he ensured that social justice was enshrined in the Constitution. He went on serve as a minister in theIndian parliament with various portfolios for more than forty years as a member of Indian National Congress (INC), most importantly he was the Defence Minister of India during the Indo-Pak war of 1971, which resulted in formation of Bangladesh. His contribution to the Green Revolution in India and modernising Indian agriculture, during his two tenures as Union Agriculture Minister are still remembered, especial during 1974 drought when he was asked to hold the additional portfolio to tide over the food crisis. Though he supported Indira Gandhi during the Emergency in India (1975–1977), he left Congress in 1977 and joined Janata Party alliance in 1977, along with his Congress for Democracy, he later served as the Deputy Prime Minister of India(1977–1979), then in 1980, he formed Congress (J). He is also famous for “forgetting to pay his taxes” during his years in power.

Jagjivan Ram was born at Chandwa near Arrah in Bihar, to a family of five siblings, elder brother Sant Lal, and three sisters. His father Sobhi Ram was withBritish Indian Army, posted at Peshawar, but later resigned due to some differences and bought some farming land in his native village Chandwa, and settled there. He also became a Mahant of Shiv Narayani sect, skilled in calligraphy he illustrated many book of the sect and distributed locally.

Young Jagjivan started going a local school in January 1914, but shortly afterward his father died prematurely, leaving him and his mother Vasanti Devi to economic hardships. He joined Aggrawal Middle School in Arrah in 1920, where the medium of instruction was English for the first time, and joined Arrah Town School in 1922, it was here that is faced caste discrimination for the first time, yet remained unfazed. An often cited incident occurred in the school, there was this tradition of having two water pots in the school, one for Hindus and another for Muslims, so when Jagjivan drank water from the Hindu pot, while being from an untouchable class, the matter was reported to the Principal, who placed a third pot for “untouchables” in the school, but this pot was broken by him twice, eventually the Principal decided against placing the third pot. A turning point in his life came in 1925, when Pt. Madan Mohan Malviya visited his school, and impressed by his welcome address, invited him to join Banaras Hindu University.

Jagjivan Ram passed his matriculation in the first division and joined the Banaras Hindu University (BHU) in 1927, where he was awarded the Birla scholarship, and passed his Inter Science Examination; while at BHU he organised the scheduled castes to protest against social discrimination. As a Dalit student, he would not be served meals in his hostel, denied haircut by local barbers, a Dalit barber would arrive from Ghazipur from occasionally to trim his hair, eventually he left BHU and pursued graduation from Calcutta University. In 2007, the BHU set up a Babu Jagjivan Ram Chair in its faculty of social sciences to study caste discrimination and economic backwardness.

He received a B.Sc. degree from the University of Calcutta in 1931, here again he organized conferences to draw the attention towards issues of discrimination, and also participated in the anti-untouchability movement started by Mahatma Gandhi.

Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose took notice of him at Kolkata, when in 1928 he organized a Mazdoor Rally at Wellington Square, in which approximately 50,000 people participated. When the devastating Bihar earthquake of 1934 occurred he got actively involved in the relief work and his efforts were appreciated his work. When popular rule was introduced under the 1935 Act and the scheduled castes were given representation in the legislatures, both the nationalists and the British loyalists sought him because of his first-hand knowledge of the social and economic situation in Bihar, Jagjivan Ram was nominated to the Bihar Council. He chose to go with the nationalists and joined Congress, which wanted him not only because he was valued as an able spokesperson for the depressed classes, but also that he could counter Ambedkar; he was elected to the Bihar assembly in 1937. However, he resigned his membership on the issue of irrigation cess.

In 1935, he contributed to the establishment of the ‘All-India Depressed Classes League’, an organization dedicated to attaining equality for untouchables. He was also drawn into the Indian National Congress, in the same year he proposed a resolution in the 1935 session of the Hindu Mahasabha demanding that temples and drinking water wells be opened up to Dalits. and in the early 1940s was imprisoned twice for his active participation in the Satyagraha and the Quit India Movements. He was among the principal leaders who publicly denounced India’s participation in the World War II between the European nations and for which he was imprisoned in 1940.

In 1946 he became the youngest minister in Jawaharlal Nehru’s provisional government and also the subsequent First Indian Cabinet, as a Labour Minister, where he is credited for laying the foundation for several labour welfare policies in India. He was a part of the prestigious high profile Indian delegation that attended to attend the International Labour Organization (ILO)’s International Labour Conference on 16 August 1947 in Geneva along with the great Gandhian Bihar Bibhuti Dr. Anugrah Narayan Sinha his chief political mentor and also the then head of the delegation, and few days later he was elected President of the ILO. He served as Labour minister until 1952, later he several Ministerial posts in Nehru’s Cabinet,Communications (1952–56), for Transport and railways (1956–62), and for Transport and communications (1962–63).

In Indira Gandhi’s government he worked as minister for Labour, employment, and rehabilitation (1966–67), and Union minister for Food and agriculture (1967–70), where he is best remembered for having successfully led the Green Revolution during his tenure. When the Congress Party split in 1969, Jagjivan Ram joined the camp led by Indira Gandhi, and became the president of that faction of Congress. He worked as the Minister of Defence (1970–74) making him the virtual No. 2 in the cabinet, minister for Agriculture and irrigation (1974–77). It was during his tenure as the minister of Defence that the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 was fought, and Bangladesh achieved independence. While loyal to Prime Minister Indira Gandhi for most of the Indian Emergency, in 1977 he along with five other politicians resigned from the Cabinet and formed the Congress for Democracy party, within the Janata coalition.

A few days before the elections, on a Sunday, Jagjivan Ram addressed an Opposition rally at the famous Ram Lila Grounds in Delhi. The national broadcaster Doordarshan allegedly attempted to stop crowds from participating in the demonstration by telecasting the blockbuster movie Bobby. The rally still drew large crowds, and a newspaper headline the next day ran “Babu beats Bobby” . He was the Deputy Prime Minister of India when Morarji Desai was the Prime Minister, from 1977 to 1979, though initially reluctant to join the cabinet, and was not present at the oath-taking ceremony on 27 March 1977; he eventually did so at the behest of Jai Prakash Narayan, who insisted that his presence for necessary, “not just as an individual but as a political and social force” and took oath later on. However, he was once again given the defence portfolio. Disillusioned with the Janata party he formed his own party, the Congress (J). He remained a member of Parliament till his death in 1986, after over forty years as a parliamentarian. He was elected from Sasaram parliament constituency in Bihar. His uninterrupted representation in the Parliament from 1936 to 1986 was a world record, until Tony Benn overtook him by serving 51 years (1950–2001) in the British parliament. .

In August 1933 his first wife died after a brief illness, thereafter in June 1935 he married Indrani Devi, a daughter of Dr. Birbal, a well-known social worker of Kanpur, and the couple had two children, Suresh Kumar and Meira Kumar.

The place he was cremated has been turned into the memorial Samatha Sthal, and his birth anniversary is observed as Samatha Diwas., (Equality Day) in India, his centenary celebrations were held all over the nation in 2008, especially at his statues at the Parliament and at Nizam College; demands for awarding him posthumous Bharat Ratna have being raised from time to time Hyderabad.Andhra University which had conferred an honorary doctorate on him in 1973, and in 2009 on the occasion of his 102nd birth anniversary, his statue was unveiled on the university premises .

]]> http://www.thebihar.com/about-bihar/famous-personalities/jagjivan-ram/feed/ 0 http://www.thebihar.com/about-bihar/famous-personalities/jayaprakash-narayan/ http://www.thebihar.com/about-bihar/famous-personalities/jayaprakash-narayan/#comments Sat, 05 Nov 2011 06:09:50 +0000 The Bihar http://www.thebihar.com/?p=458 Jayaprakash Narayan (11 October 1902 – 8 October 1979), widely known as JP Narayan, Jayaprakash, or Loknayak, was an Indian independence activist and political leader, remembered especially for leading the opposition to Indira Gandhi in the 1970s and for giving a call for peaceful Total Revolution. His biography, Jayaprakash, was written by his nationalist friend and an eminent writer of Hindi literature, Ramavriksha Benipuri. In 1998, he was posthumously awarded the Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian award, in recognition of his social work. Other awards include theMagsaysay award for Public Service in 1965. The airport of Patna is also named after him.

Jayprakash Narayan was born in a Kayastha Family in Sitabdiara Siwan, Bihar. When he was a child, he had many pets. One day, his pigeon died and he did not eat food for two days afterward. His father Harsudayal was a junior official in the canal department of the State government and was often touring the region. Jayaprakash, called Baul affectionately, was left with his grandmother to study in Sitabdiara. There was no high school in the village, so Jayaprakash was sent to Patna to study in the Collegiate School. He excelled in school. His essay, “The present state of Hindi in Bihar”, won a best essay award. He entered the Patna College on a Government scholarship.Jayaprakash Narayan joined “Bihar Vidyapeeth” founded by Dr. Rajendra Prasad for motivating young meritorious youths and was among the first students of eminent Gandhian Dr. Anugrah Narayan Sinha , a close colleague of M. K. Gandhi who later became first Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar.

Though JP was practically a committed Marxist, he was convinced that the communists in India must join the main stream of the struggle for National Liberation even if it was under the hegemony of the so-called bourgeoisie. On his way back to India, he had met Clemenus Dutt, brother of Rajani Palme Dutt and other communist leaders in London and discussed with them the issue of India’s freedom & revolution. JP, who had read Lenin’s famous “Colonial thesis” calling upon the communists in the “Slave” countries to take active part in the national freedom struggle, was not convinced of Dutt’s argument. Later when JP joined the nationalist freedom movement, he was surprised to find that Indian communists were following the line which Clemenus Dutt advocated. JP could not understand the rationality of the fight against the Indian National Congress which was fighting for the freedom of the country.

After returning to India, Narayan joined the Indian National Congress on the invitation of Jawaharlal Nehru in 1929; Mahatma Gandhi became his mentor in the Congress. He shared the same house at kadam kuan in Patna with his close friend and nationalist Ganga Sharan Sinha (Shrivastava). with whom he shared the most cordial and lasting friendship. During the Indian independence movement he was arrested, jailed, and tortured several times by the British. He won particular fame during the Quit India movement.

After being jailed in 1932 for civil disobedience against British rule, Narayan was imprisoned in Nasik Jail, where he met Ram Manohar Lohia, Minoo Masani, Achyut Patwardhan, Ashok Mehta, Yusuf Desai and other national leaders. After his release, the Congress Socialist Party, or (CSP), a left-wing group within the Congress, was formed with Acharya Narendra Deva as President and Narayan as General secretary.

During the Quit India Movement of 1942, when senior Congress leaders were arrested in the early stages, JP, Lohia and Basawon Singh (Sinha) were at the forefront of the agitations. Leaders such as Jayaprakash Narayan and Aruna Asaf Ali were described as “the political children of Gandhi but recent students of Karl Marx.” He was also a great advocate of corelation ”SAHJEEVAN”

Initially a defender of physical force, Narayan was won over to Gandhi’s position on nonviolence and advocated the use of satyagrahas to achieve the ideals of democratic socialism. Furthermore, he became deeply disillusioned with the practical experience of socialism in Nehru’s India.

After independence and the death of Mahatma Gandhi, Narayan, Acharya Narendra Dev and Basawon Singh (Sinha) led the CSP out of Congress to become the opposition Socialist Party, which later took the name Praja Socialist Party. Basawon Singh (Sinha) became the first leader of the opposition in the state and assembly of Bihar and Acharya Narendra Deva became the first leader of opposition in the state and assembly of U.P. His party is the first national party who distributed tickets on caste line. This was the point where Jayaprakash Narayan disagreed with the party principles and pursued Sarvodey and Lokniti.

On April 19, 1954, Narayan announced in Gaya that he was dedicating his life (Jeevandan) to Vinoba Bhave’s Sarvodaya movement and its Bhoodan campaign, which promoted distributing land to Harijans (untouchables). He gave up his land, set up an ashram in Hazaribagh, and worked towards uplifting the village.

In 1957, Narayan formally broke with the Praja Socialist Party in order to pursue lokniti [Polity of the people], as opposed to rajniti [Polity of the state]. By this time, Narayan had become convinced that lokniti should be non-partisan in order to build a consensus-based, classless, participatory democracy which he termed Sarvodaya. Narayan became an important figure in the India-wide network of Gandhian Sarvodaya workers.

In 1964, Narayan was vilified across the political spectrum for arguing in an article in the Hindustan Times that India had a responsibility to keep its promise to allow self-determination to the state of Jammu and Kashmir. He hit back at critics in a second article, dismissing the Indian version of the “domino theory” which held that the rest of India’s states would disintegrate if Kashmir were allowed its promised freedom. In his graceful if old-fashioned style, Narayan ridiculed the premise that “the states of India are held together by force and not by the sentiment of a common nationality. It is an assumption that makes a mockery of the Indian Nation and a tyrant of the Indian State”.

Narayan returned to prominence in State politics in the late 1960s. In 1974, he led the student’s movement in the state of Bihar which gradually developed into a popular people’s movement known as the Bihar movement. It was during this movement that JP gave a call for peaceful Total Revolution Together with V. M. Tarkunde, he founded the Citizens for Democracy in 1974 and the People’s Union for Civil Liberties in 1976, both NGOs, to uphold and defend civil liberties.

When Indira Gandhi was found guilty of violating electoral laws by the Allahabad High Court, Narayan called for Indira to resign, and advocated a program of social transformation which he termedSampoorna kraanti [Total Revolution]. Instead she proclaimed a national Emergency on the midnight of June 25, 1975, immediately after Narayan had called for the PM’s resignation and had asked the military and the police to disregard unconstitutional and immoral orders; JP, opposition leaders, and dissenting members of her own party (the ‘Young Turks’) were arrested on that day.

Jayaprakash Narayan attracted a gathering of 100,000 people at the Ramlila Grounds and thunderously recited Rashtrakavi Ramdhari Singh ‘Dinkar”s wonderfully evocative poetry: Singhasan Khaali Karo Ke Janata Aaati Hai.

Narayan was kept as detenu at Chandigarh even after he had asked for a month’s parole for mobilising relief in areas of Bihar gravely affected by flood. His health suddenly deteriorated on October 24, and he was released on November 12; diagnosis at Jaslok Hospital, Bombay, revealed kidney failure; he would be on dialysis for the rest of his life.

“Free JP” campaign was launched in UK by Surur Hoda and chaired by Nobel Peace Prize winner Noel- Baker for the release of Jayaprakash Narayan.

After Indira revoked the emergency on January 18, 1977 and announced elections, it was under JP’s guidance that the Janata Party (a vehicle for the broad spectrum of the anti-Indira Gandhi opposition) was formed. The Janata Party was voted into power, and became the first non-Congress party to form a government at the Centre. On the call of Narayan many youngesters joined the J P movement.

Jayaprakash Narayan died on 8 October 1979 due to effects of diabetes and heart ailments; but a few months before that, in March 1979, his death was erroneously announced by the Indian prime minister to the parliament as he lay fighting for his life in Jaslok Hospital, causing a brief wave of national mourning, including the suspension of parliament and regular radio broadcasting, and closure of schools and shops. When he was told about the gaffe a few weeks later, he smiled.

The qualities that gave Dr Anugrah Narayan Sinha a place among the eminent nationalists of his time were moral as well as intellectual.His genuineness, intensity, abhorrence of sham trickery and imposture and his dauntless determination to arrive at facts gave his action a ring of truth.

He was born to Visveshwar Dayal Singh on 18 June 1887 in a family of Poiwan village of the erstwhile Gaya district (today known as Aurangabad) of Bihar.As a lad his patriotic virtues were visible.A brilliant student from the beginning of his academic career, Dr. Anugrah Narayan Sinha obtained his initial education in the village school.From Junior school till graduation he topped the lists at every examination, obtaining an M.A. (History) in 1914 from the prestigious University of Calcutta.He became the Secretary of the Bihar Students Conference founded by Rajendra Prasad and the Chanakya Society of the Patna College.He served as a volunteer in the Patna Congress,With fever on he feverishly worked for its success.In 1915,he was appointed Professor of History at the T.N.B. college in Bhagalpur where he remained, known as an ideal professor, until 1916.He organised relief work when Bhagalpur was raved by floods.He began successfully practising law at Patna High Court.

In 1917, heeding the call of Mahatma Gandhi to the nation, he left his flourishing law practice to join theChamparan Satyagraha movement. The Champaran experiment formed a vital chapter in the development of the Gandhian method in India and he was catapulted to the national stage.He served as a teacher in “Bihar Vidyapeeth” founded by Dr. Rajendra Prasad for motivating young meritorious youths.Among his first students was young Jayprakash Narayan. In 1922 he successfully organized the Gaya Congress.In the following year he became one of the General Secretaries of the All India Congress Committee (AICC).When Rajendra Prasad was elected Chairman of Patna Municipality,Dr. Anugraha Narayan Sinha was elected Vice-Chairman.As he was soon elected Chairman of the Gaya District Board,he resigned.He was the pivotal force behind the Civil Disobedience Movement led by M K Gandhi,in the year 1930 which is considered an important milestone in the history of Indian Nationalism.His patriotism earned him 15 months of rigorous imprisonment in 1933–34.When a massive earthquake affected Bihar on 15 January 1934,Bihar Central Relief Committee was set up on 17 January 1934,under the Presidentship of Dr. Rajendra Prasad and Dr. Anugraha Narayan Sinha became its Vice-President.He took the task of raising funds to help the people and the relief and rehabilitation work was organised in an elaborate and efficient manner.He was elected as a member of the Central Council in 1935 from Sahabad-cum-Patna Constituency with a massive margin.He became a member of the Bihar Legislative Assembly in 1936. In the provincial autonomy granted by British, under the Government of India Act of 1935, the first Congress ministry was sworn in on 20 July 1937 and he became the Deputy Premier cum Finance Minister of Bihar province.He and Premier Dr. Sri Krishna Sinha disagreed with the then Governor Maurice Garnier Hallett on the issue of the release of political prisoners and both resigned.The Governor had to give in and they again resumed their offices. But they again resigned in 1939, as did all Congress governments in the country, over the question of involving India in the Second World War without the consent of the Indian people.

He was among the first freedom fighters to respond to Gandhiji’s call for Satyagraha in 1940–41. He was arrested by the British authorities and imprisoned in the Hazaribagh Central Jail in 1942. In 1944 he was released and devoted himself to serving the epidemic ridden people.

After independence he dedicated himself to the all round development of Bihar as Finance Minister and as the Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar.

The first Bihar Government, both in 1937 and 1946, was characterised by the values of the Mahatma Gandhi. Its two eminent leaders Sri Babu (Sri Krishna Sinha) and Anugrah Babu (Dr Anugrah Narayan Sinha) were nationalists of unimpeachable integrity and great public spirit. They ran an exemplary government in Bihar. Almost all the development projects needed for the state of Bihar were done by the leadership pair of Sinha and Dr A N Sinha.It included several river valley projects right from Koshi, Aghaur and Sakri to other such river projects.The first five-year plan period was given to the development in rural development works mainly mainly in the agricultural sector. In fact, Bihar became the top state in the country’s first five-year plan and it was announced by Dr A N Sinha in the assembly.The then Prime Minister of India Jawaharlal Nehru sent Paul H. Appleby to assess the administration in states and in his famous report,he described Bihar as the best governed state in India mostly due to the excellent leadership of Dr S K Sinha and Dr Anugrah Narayan Sinha.

Since the second five year plan period,Anugrah Babu spearheaded the process of rapid industrialization of Bihar and and bought several industries for the all round development of the state.He served India’s international interests.He successfully led the Indian Food and Agriculture delegation to Nepal and also the Indian delegation to the International Labour Organization (ILO) in Canada and Switzerland. He also actively led a number of Government and voluntary organisations in India and abroad.

The President of India, Pratibha Patil recently released a book on the letters of exchange between Sinha and the First Prime minister of India Jawaharlal Nehru titled Freedom and Beyond. The Nehru-Sinha correspondence touches on subjects such as Indian democracy in the making in early years of Independence, Centre-state relations, role of governor, turbulence in Nepal, Zamindari abolition and education scenario. Sinha was known for his scholarship and erudition and he had given his personal collection of 17,000 books to the public library in Munger in 1959 which is now named after him asSri Krishna Seva Sadan.

Sri Babu was born on 21 October 1887 in Khanwa situated along the banks of the Ganges River in the state of Bihar. His paternal village is Maur near Barbigha which was under Munger District (earlier name Monghyr)but now falls under Sheikhpura District of Bihar. His father was a religious, middle-class member of a Bhumihar Brahmin family. His mother was also a very simple and religious-minded person. She died of plague when Sri babu was five years old. He got his early education in his village school, and later in Zila School, Monghyr, and then joined Patna College, then an affiliate of the University of Calcutta in 1906. He studied law and started practicing in Munger from 1915. In the meantime, he married and had two sons, Shivshankar Singh and Bandishankar Singh (more commonly known as Swaraj Babu) who later held various posts in the State Ministry.

He first met Mahatma Gandhi in 1916 at Central Hindu College, Benares and later at Shah Muhammad Jubair’s house in December, 1920. At Monghyr, by the Ganges, he vowed to work relentlessly to free India from the British rule. He had started practising law in 1915, but gave it up in 1921 to take active part in Gandhi’s non-cooperation movement.

He was arrested for the first time in 1922 at Shah Muhammad Jubair’s house and Congress Seva Dal was declared illegal. With this spirited action he was declared Bihar Kesari by the people. He was released from jail in 1923 and on the day of Tulsi Jayanti performed in the play Bharat Darshan at Central School, Kharagpur. In the same year he became member of All India Congress Committee.

In 1927, he became member of Legislative Council and in 1929 became General Secretary of Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee. In 1929 he became the General Secretary of Bihar Pradesh Kisan Sabha started by Swami Sahajanand Saraswati. In 1930, Sinha played an important role in ‘Namak Satyagrah’ at Garhpura. During arrest he suffered severe scalding injuries to his hands and chest. He was arrested for six months and again during Civil Disobediencemovement he was arrested for two years under severe conditions. He was released after Gandhi–Irwin Pact and again started with his nationalist work and work with the Kisan Sabha. On 9 January 1932 he was again arrested in Monghyr for two years of rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs. 1,000. He was released from Hazaribagh Jail in October, 1933. He was involved in relief and rehabilitation after the 1934 Bihar earthquake. He was the President of Munger Zila Parishad from 1934–37. In 1935, he became member of Central Assembly.

On 20 July 1937, he became the Premier of Bihar province when Congress came to power. Under the Government of India Act of 1935, Sinha formed his Cabinet at Patna on 20 July 1937. He and his colleague Bihar Vibhuti Anugrah disagreed with the governor on the issue of the release of political prisoners and resigned. The then governor had to accede to the demands for release of prisoners from Cellular Jail (Kalapani) and Bihar Tenancy Act was reformed in favour of peasants. They then resumed office. But they again resigned in 1939, as did all Congress CMs, over the question of involving India in the Second World War without the consent of the Indian people. Along with his close colleague in Gandhi’s non co-operation movement Bihar VibhutiAnugrah Narayan Sinha, a prominent Gandhian and the first Deputy Chief Minister cum Finance Minister of the Indian state of Bihar,he is considered one of the makers of modern Bihar.

In 1940, at Ramgarh, where the 53rd National Convention of Indian National Congress took place, at Gandhi’s inspiration became the first Individual Satyagrahi from Bihar. He was jailed for nine months (22 November 1940 – 26 August 1941). When the Quit India movement started in 1942, he was arrested on 10 August. He was released in 1944 from Hazaribagh jail after he became seriously ill. In the same year his wife died at Prince of Wales Medical College.

As the former Prime Minister of Bihar he attended the Simla Conference and also became the member of Constituent Assembly of India which framed theConstitution of India.

He was always interested in self-study and his ideas and speeches were noted for their wisdom. He was a staunch opponent of casteism and always rose in defence of the oppressed and the oppressed. Impressed by this courage of Sinha, Mahatma Gandhi in 1940 awarded him the distinction of being called the first Satyagrahi of Bihar.

Sinha served Bihar continuously from 1946 till his death on 31 January 1961 at the age of 73. In his honour in 1978, the Ministry of Culture started a science museum called Srikrishna Science Centre. The biggest conference hall in Patna, Shri Krishna Memorial Hall is also named after him.

Almost all the development projects needed for the state of Bihar were done by the leadership pair of Sinha and A N Sinha. It includes several river valley projects right from Koshi, Aghaur and Sakri to other such river projects.The first five-year plan period was given to the development in rural development works mainly mainly in the agricultural sector. In fact, Bihar became the top state in the country’s first five-year plan and it was announced by the then Finance Minister Dr Sinha in the assembly. Since the second five year plan period, Shri Babu brought several heavy industries like Barauni Oil Refinery, HEC plant at Hatia, Bokaro Steel Plant, Barauni Fertiliser Plant, Barauni Thermal Power Plant, Maithon Hydel Power Station, Sulphur mines at Amjhaur, Sindri Fertiliser Plant, Kargali Coal Washery, Barauni Dairy Project, etc. for the all round development of the state.

During the independence movement, he left his law work and joined the Congress Party, playing a prominent role in the Indian Independence Movement. He served as the president of the Constituent Assembly that drafted the first constitution of the Republic, which lasted from 1948 to 1950. He also became the first Minister of Food and Agriculture in the year 1946 in the Interim national Government.

Rajendra Prasad was the youngest son of Mahavira Sahai, and born in a Kayastha family. He was known as “Rajen” to his family and friends. His father was a scholar of both the Persian language|Persian]] and Sanskrit languages, while his mother, Kamleshwari Devi, was a religious woman.

When Prasad was five years old, his parents placed him under the tutelage of a Moulavi, an accomplished Muslim scholar, to learn the Persian language, Hindi and arithmetic. After the completion of traditional elementary education, Prasad was sent to the Chapra District School and at a small age of 12, he was married to Rajavanshi Devi. He, along with his elder brother Mahendra Prasad, then went to study at T.K. Ghosh’s Academy in Patna for a period of two years.He secured first in the entrance examination to the University of Calcutta and was awarded Rs.30 per month as a scholarship. He joined the Presidency College in 1902, initially as a science student. He passed Intermediate level classes then called as F. A. under Calcutta University in March 1904. Later he decided to focus on the arts and did his M.A. in Economy with First Division from Kolkata University in December 1907. There he lived with his brother in the Eden Hindu Hostel. A devoted student as well as a public activist, he was an active member of The Dawn Society. It was due to his sense of duty towards his family and education that he refused to join Servants of India Society. Prasad was instrumental in the formation of the Bihari Students Conference in 1906 in the hall of the Patna College.It was the first organization of its kind in India and produced some of the eminent leaders of Bihar like Dr. Anugrah Narayan Sinha and Sri Krishna Singh.Dr. Rajendra prasad was a great man of India.

Rajendra Prasad served in various educational institutions as a teacher. After completing his MA in economics, he became a professor of English at the Bhumihar Brahman College (Now Langat Singh College) in Muzaffarpur, Bihar and went on to become the principal. However later on he left the college for his legal studies. In 1909, while pursuing his law studies in Kolkata he also worked as Professor of Economics at Calcutta City College. In 1915, Prasad appeared in the examination of Masters in Law, passed the examination and won a gold medal. He then completed his Doctorate in Law.

In the year 1916, he joined the High Court of Bihar and Orissa. Later in the year 1917, he was appointed as one of the first members of the Senate and Syndicate of the Patna University. He also used to practice law at Bhagalpur, the famous silk-town of Bihar.

Rajendra Prasad and Anugrah Narayan Sinha during Mahatama Gandhi’s 1917 Champaran Satyagraha Prasad had formally joined the Indian National Congress way back in the year 1911. During the Lucknow Session of Indian National Congress held in 1916, he met Mahatma Gandhi. During one of the fact-finding missions at Champaran, Mahatma Gandhi asked him to come with his volunteers. He was so greatly moved by the dedication, courage, and conviction of Mahatma Gandhi that as soon as the motion of Non-Cooperation  was passed by Indian National Congress in 1920, he retired his lucrative career of lawyer as well as his duties in the university to aid the movement.

He also responded to the call by Gandhi to boycott Western educational establishments by asking his son, Mrityunjaya Prasad, to drop out of his studies and enroll himself in Bihar Vidyapeeth, an institution he along with his colleagues founded on the traditional Indian model.

During the course of the independent movement, he interacted with Dr Rahul Sankrityayan, a writer, and polymath. Rahul Sankrityayan was greatly influenced by Prasad’s intellectual prowess, finding him to be a guide and guru. In many of his articles he mentioned about his meeting with Sankrityayan and narrated about their him. He wrote articles for the revolutionary publications Searchlight and the Desh and collected funds for these papers. He toured widely, explaining, lecturing, and exhorting the principles of the independence movement.

He took an active role in helping the affected people during the 1914 floods that struck Bihar and Bengal. When an earthquake affected Bihar on 15 January 1934, Prasad was in jail. During that period, he passed on the relief work to his close colleague Anugrah Narayan Sinha.^[6] He was released two days later and set up Bihar Central Relief Committee on 17 January 1934, and took the task of raising funds to help the people himself. During the May 31, 1935 Quettaearthquake, when he was forbidden to leave the country due to government’s order he set up Quetta Central Relief Committee in Sindh and Punjab under his own presidentship.

He was elected as the President of the Indian National Congress during the Bombay session in October 1934. He again became the president when Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose resigned in 1939. On 8 August 1942, Congress passed the Quit India Resolution in Bombay which led to the arrest of many Indian leaders. He was arrested from Sadaqat Ashram, Patna and sent to Bankipur Jail. After remaining incarcerated for nearly 3 years, he was released on 15 June 1945.

After the formation of Interim Government of 12 nominated ministers under the leadership of Jawaharlal Nehru on Sep 2 1946, he got the Food and Agriculture department. Later, he was elected the President of Constituent Assembly on 11 December 1946. Again on 17 November 1947 he became Congress President for a third time after Jivatram Kripalani submitted resignation. Two and a half years after independence, on January 26, 1950, the Constitution of independent India was ratified and Dr. Rajendra Prasad was elected the nation’s first President.

Prasad acted independently of politics, following the expected role of the president as per the constitution. Following the tussle over the enactment of the Hindu Code Bill, he took a more active role in state affairs. In 1962, after serving twelve years as the president, he announced his decision to retire. After relinquishing the office of the President of India on May 1962, he returned to Patna on 14 May 1962 and preferred to stay in the campus of Bihar Vidyapeeth.^[7] He was subsequently awarded the Bharat Ratna, the nation’s highest civilian award.

He died on 28 February 1963.

Kunwar Singh, king of Jagdispur, was born in 1777, Jagdispur, near Arrah in the state of Bihar. He belongs to Panwar/Parmar(Ujjain Rajputs as they are locally known in Bihar or in and around his birth place). His ancestors belong to the dynasty of the great Raja Vikramaditya as well as Raja Bhoj of Malwa.

Veer Kunwar Singh was nearly eighty and in failing health when he was called upon to take up arms. The great warrior that he was, he gave a good fight and harried British forces for nearly a year and remained invincible till the end. Kunwar Singh assumed command of the soldiers who had revolted at Danapur on July 5. Two days later he occupied Arrah, the district headquarters. Major Vincent Eyre relieved the town on 3 August, defeated Kunwar Singh’s force and destroyed Jagdispur. Kunwar Singh left his ancestral village and reached Lucknow in December 1857. In March 1858 he occupied Azamgarh. However, he had to leave the place soon. Pursued by Brigadier Douglas, he retreated towards his home in Bihar. On 23 April, Kunwar Singh had a victory near Jagdispur over the force led by Captain Le Grand. On 26 April 1858 he died in his village. The mantle of the old chief now fell on his brother Amar Singh who, despite heavy odds, continued the struggle and for a considerable time, running a parallel government in the district of Shahabad. In October 1859,Amar Singh joined the rebel leaders in the Nepal Terai.

The main source of Samudragupta’s history is an inscription engraved on one of the rocks set up by Ashoka the Great in Kausambi ( present day Allahabad). In this inscription Samudragupta details his conquests. This inscription is also important because of the political geography of India that it indicates by naming the different kings and peoples who populated India in the first half of the fourth century AD. The inscription to Samudragupta’s martial exploits states that its author is Harishena, who was an important poet of Samudragupta’s court.

The beginning of Samudragupta’s reign was marked by the defeat of his immediate neighbours, Achyuta, ruler of Ahichchhatra, and Nagasena. Following this Samudragupta began a campaign against the kingdoms to the south. This southern campaign took him south along the Bay of Bengal. He passed through the forest tracts of Madhya Pradesh, crossed the Orissa coast, marched through Ganjam,Vishakapatnam, Godavari, Krishna and Nellore districts and may have reached as far as Kancheepuram. Here however he did not attempt to maintain direct control. After capturing his enemies he reinstated them as tributary kings. This act prevented the Gupta Empire from attaining the almost immediate demise of theMaurya Empire of Ashoka the Great and is a testament to his abilities as a statesman. The details of Samudragupta’s campaigns are too numerous to recount here. These can be found in the first reference below. However it is clear that he possessed a powerful navy in addition to his army. In addition to tributary kingdoms, many other rulers of foreign states like the Saka and Kushan kings accepted the suzerainty of Samudragupta and offered him their services.

Much is known about Samudragupta through coins issued by him. These were of eight different types and all made of pure gold. His conquests brought him the gold and also the coin-making expertise from his acquaintance with the Kushana. Samudragupta is also known to have been a man of culture. He was a patron of learning, a celebrated poet and a musician. Several coins depict him playing on the Indian lyre or Veena. He gathered a galaxy of poets and scholars and took effective actions to foster and propagate religious, artistic and literary aspects of Indian culture. Though he favoured the Hindu religion like the other Gupta kings, he was reputed to possess a tolerant spirit vis-a-vis other religions. A clear illustration of this is the permission granted by him to the king of Ceylon to build a monastery for Buddhist pilgrims in Bodh Gaya.

Pusyamitra Sunga was originally a Senapati (General) of the Mauryan empire. In 185 BCE he assassinated the last Mauryan Emperor (Brhadrata) during an army review, and proclaimed himself King. He then performed the Ashwamedha Yajna and brought much of Northern India under his rule. Inscriptions of the Shungas have been found as far as the Jalandhar in the Punjab, and the Divyavadana mentions that his rule extended as far as Sagala (Sialkot).

Pushyamitra’s reign was marked by warfare, wherein he and his successors fought the Indo Greeks, Kalingas, Satavahanas (Andhras), and possibly the kingdoms of Panchala and Mathura (which may not have been under his rule).

Following the assassination of Brhadrata, in 180 BCE the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom invaded Sunga lands with an army led by Demetrius I of Bactria. The Greco-Bactrians overran Arachosia, Gedrosia, the Punjab, and perhaps Mathura. Pushyamitra may have regained some of the lost territory,^]with the Ashvamedha terminating at the Indus late in his reign (Kulke).

Pusyamitra may have been attacked by King Kharavela of Kalinga (modern Orissa). Kharavela’s inscriptions claim that he forced a King of Magadha named “Bahasatimita”, (thought to be the Sunga King Brhaspatimitra, or Pusyamitra himself) to bow at his feet. However, this has not been confirmed as dates for Kharavela range several centuries.

Some historians have rejected Pushyamitra’ s persecution of Buddhists. The traditional narratives are dated to two centuries after Pushyamitra’s death in Asokâvadâna and the Divyâvadâna, Buddhist books of legend. The traditional accounts are often described as exaggerated. The Asokavadana legend is likely a Buddhist version of Pusyamitra’s attack on the Mauryas, reflecting the declining influence of Buddhism in the Sunga Imperial court.

Koenraad Elst writes :

The story is in fact given in two near contemporaneous (2nd century A.D.) Buddhist histories, the Asokâvadâna and the Divyâvadâna; the two narratives are almost verbatim the same and very obviously have a common origin.5 This non-contemporary story (which surfaces more than three centuries after the alleged facts) about Pushyamitra’s offering money for the heads of Buddhist monks is rendered improbable by external evidence: the well-attested historical fact that he allowed and patronized the construction of monasteries and Buddhist universities in his domains, as well as the still-extant stupa of Sanchi.6 After Ashoka’s lavish sponsorship of Buddhism, it is perfectly possible that Buddhist institutions fell on slightly harder times under the Sungas, but persecution is quite another matter. The famous historian of Buddhism Etienne Lamotte has observed: “To judge from the documents, Pushyamitra must be acquitted through lack of proof.”

The very same Ashokavadana also attributes similar cruelty to Ashoka:

“At that time, an incident occurred which greatly enraged the king. A follower of the Nirgrantha (Mahâvîra) painted a picture, showing Buddha prostrating himself at the feet of the Nirgrantha. Ashoka ordered all the Ajivikas of Pundravardhana (North Bengal) to be killed. In one day, eighteen thousand Ajivikas lost their lives. A similar kind of incident took place in the town of Pataliputra. A man who painted such a picture was burnt alive with his family. It was announced that whoever would bring to the king the head of a Nirgrantha would be rewarded with a dînâra (a gold coin). As a result of this, thousands of Nirgranthas lost their lives.”

Among the detractors is Romila Thapar, who writes that archaeological evidence casts doubt on the claims of Buddhist persecution by Pushyamitra. Support of the Buddhist faith by the Sungas at some point is suggested by an epigraph on the gateway of Barhut, which mentions its erection “during the supremacy of the Sungas”.

On the other hand, Sir John Marshall noted that the Sanchi stupa was vandalized during the 2nd century before it was rebuilt later on a larger scale, suggesting the possibility that the original brick stupa built by Ashoka was destroyed by Pusyamitra and then restored by his successor Agnimitra. Similarly, the Deokothar Stupas (geographically located between Sanchi and Barhut) suffered destruction during the same period, also suggesting some kind of involvement of Sunga rule. Proponents also point to the proclamations and claim that the Manu Smriti was propagated.

Pusyamitra Shunga was succeeded in 151 BCE by his son Agnimitra.

Not much is known about the personal details of the great king. His mother, Datta Devi, was the chief queen of Samudragupta the Great. After Samudragupta’s death, Ramgupta his brother took over the throne and also married Chandragupta’s fiance ‘Dhruvaswamini by force. The most widely accepted details have been built upon the plot of the play ‘Devi-Chandraguptam’ of Vishakadatta. The play is now lost but fragments have been preserved in other works (Abhinava-bharati, Sringara-prakasha, Natya-darpana, Nataka-lakshana Ratna-kosha). There even exists an Arabic work Mujmalu-t-Tawarikh which tells a similar tale of a king whose name appears to be a corruption of ‘Vikramaditya’.He holds a semi-mythical status in India. It is widely believed that the great poet in Sanskrit, Mahakavi Kalidasa was one of the jewels of his royal court.

The fragment from Natya-darpana mentions the king Ramagupta, the elder brother of Chandragupta, surrendering his queen Dhruvaswamini to the Saka king of the Western Kshatrapas Rudrasimha III, after a defeat at the Saka king’s hands. To avoid the ignominy the Guptas decide to send Madhavasena, a courtesan and a beloved of Chandragupta, disguised as the queen. Chandragupta changes the plan and himself goes to the Saka King disguised as the queen. He then kills Rudrasimha and later his brother Ramagupta. Dhruvaswamini is then married to Chandragupta.

We do not know what liberties Vishakadatta took with the incidents, but Dhruvadevi was indeed the king’s chief queen as seen in the Vaisali terracotta seal that calls her ‘Mahadevi’ Dhruvasvamini. The Bilsad pillar inscription of their son Kumara Gupta I also refers to her as Mahadevi Dhruvadevi. A Ramagupta too is mentioned in inscriptions on Jain figures in the District Archaeological Museum,Vidisha and some copper coins found at Vidisha. The fact that the king and Dhruvadevi are the protagonists of Vishakadatta’s play indicates that marrying his widowed sister-in-law was not given any significance by the playwright. Later Hindus did not view such a marriage with favour and some censure of the act is found in the Sanjan copperplate inscription of Amoghavarsha I and in the Sangali and Cambay plates of the Rashtrakuta king Govinda IV.

The Allahabad pillar inscription mentions the marriage of Chandragupta II the Great with a Naga princess Kuberanaga. A pillar from Mathura referring to Chandragupta (Candragupta) has recently been dated to 388 CE.

Chandragupta’s daughter Prabhavati, by his other queen Kuberanaga, a Naga princess, was married to the powerful Vakataka king Rudrasena II.

His greatest victory was his victory over the Shaka-Kshatrapa dynasty and annexation of their kingdom in Gujarat, by defeating their last ruler Rudrasimha III.

His son-in-law, the Vakataka king Rudrasena II, died fortuitously after a very short reign in 390 AD, following which Prabhavatigupta ruled the Vakataka kingdom as a regent on behalf of his two sons. During this twenty-year period the Vakataka realm was practically a part of the Gupta empire. The geographical location of the Vakataka kingdom allowed Chandragupta to take the opportunity to defeat the Western Kshatrapas once for all. Many historians refer to this period as the Vakataka-Gupta age.

Chandragupta II the Great controlled a vast empire, from the mouth of the Ganges to the mouth of the Indus River and from what is now North Pakistan down to the mouth of the Narmada. Pataliputra continued to be the capital of his huge empire but Ujjain too became a sort of second capital. The large number of beautiful gold coins issued by the Gupta dynasty are a testament to the imperial grandeur of that age. Chandragupta II also started producing silver coins in the Shaka tradition.

Faxian (Wade-Giles Fa-hsien) was the first of three great Chinese pilgrims who visited India from the fifth to the seventh centuries AD, in search of knowledge, manuscripts and relics. He arrived during the reign of Chandragupta II and gave a general description of North India at that time. Among the other things, he reported about the absence of capital punishment, the lack of a poll-tax and land tax. Most citizens did not consume onions, garlic, meat, and wine.

Culturally, the reign of Chandragupta II marked a Golden Age. This is evidenced by later reports of the presence of a circle of poets known as the Nine Gems in his court. The greatest among them was Kalidasa, who authored numerous immortal pieces of literature including The Recognition of Shakuntala. The others were the Sanskrit grammarian Amara Sinha and the astronomer-mathematician Varahamihira.

The next day after the Hindu festival Diwali is called Padwa or Varshapratipada, which marks the coronation of King Vikramaditya. The Hindu Vikram-Samvat calendar was apparently started on this day and this day is celebrated as New Year’s Day in Nepal where Vikram Sambat is the official calendar there, and some places in India. But, Vikram-Samvat calender is from 57 BCE. So, there was someother king by name Vikram, who started this calender.

Shak-Samvat is synchronised with the Shak-Samvat calendar, which starts around April. This calendar was initiated by Gautamiputra Satakarni who defeated the Saka king Vikramaditya, thus starting the Shalivahana era or Shaka Calendar

Close to the Qutub Minar is one of Delhi’s most curious structures, an iron pillar, dating back to 4th century CE. The pillar bears an inscription which states that it was erected as a flagstaff in honour of the Hindu god Vishnu, and in the memory of Chandragupta II (A derivation of the play by Vishakadata states that the pillar had been put up by Chandragupta himself after defeating the Vahilakas who had once defeated Alexander the Great.After this great feat,he put up this pillar as a memory of this victory) . The pillar also highlights ancient India’s achievements in metallurgy. The pillar is made of 98% wrought iron and has stood more than 1,600 years without rusting or decomposing. This iron pillar is similar to the Pillars of Ashoka found mostly in northern India. From Chandragupta II kings were known as Parama Bhagavatas, or Bhagavata Vaishnavas. The Bhagavata Purana entails the fully developed tenets and philosophy of the Bhagavata tradition wherein Krishna gets fused with Vasudeva and transcends Vedic Vishnu and cosmic Hari to be turned into the ultimate object of bhakti.

India has many interesting stories about King Vikramaditya, his guru named ‘Manva-Patwa’ and his queen(s).

Chandragupta continued issuing most of the gold coin types introduced by his father Samudragupta, such as the Sceptre type (rare for Chandragupta), the Archer type, and the Tiger-Slayer type. However, Chandragupta also introduced several new types, such as the Horseman type and the Lion-slayer type, both of which were used a lot by his son Kumaragupta. In addition, Chandragupta was the first Gupta king to issue silver coins, such as the one illustrated at right. These coins were intended to replace the silver coinage of the Western Kshatrapas after Chandragupta defeated them, and were modeled on the Kshatrapa coinage. The main difference was to replace the dynastic symbol of the Kshatrapas (the three-arched hill) by the dynastic symbol of the Guptas (the mythic eagle Garuda). Further, Chandragupta also issued lead coins based on Kshatrapa prototypes and rare copper coins probably inspired by the coins of another tribe he defeated, the Nagas.

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