Personalities in News

Source: The post is based on the article “PM pays tributes to Acharya Kripalani on his Jayanti” published in PIB on 13th November 2022

What is the News?

The Prime Minister has paid  tributes to Acharya Kripalani on his Jayanti.

Who was Acharya Kriplani?

Acharya Kriplani was born in 1888 in Hyderabad, Sindh. He was an independence activist, an Indian politician and an Educationist.

Contributions by Acharya Kriplani

Independence movement: He was actively involved in movements like Non-Cooperation Movement, Quit India Movement, and Salt Satyagraha.

– He served in the Interim Government of India (1946–1947) and the Constituent Assembly of India.

As an educationist: Kripalani was also well-known for his work in the field of education, environment and other social movements.

– He earned the moniker ‘Acharya’ title around 1922 when he was teaching at the Gujarat Vidyapith, founded by the Mahatma a couple of years before.

Political Career: He became one of the founders of the Kisan Mazdoor Praja Party (KMPP) after independence leaving congress.

– He was elected to the Lok Sabha in 1952, 1957, 1963 and 1967 as a member of Praja Socialist Party.

– He moved the first-ever No confidence motion in Lok Sabha in 1963, immediately after the India-China War (1962).

– He was arrested during the Emergency in 1975.

– His autobiography “My Times” was published posthumously in 2004.

Source: The post is based on the article “PM unveils 108-feet-long bronze statue of Sri Nadaprabhu Kempegowda in Bengaluru” published in PIB on 10th November 2022.

What is the News?

The Prime Minister has unveiled a 108-feet-long bronze statue of Sri Nadaprabhu Kempegowda in Bengaluru. The statue has been named as the Statue of Prosperity.

Who is Nadaprabhu Kempegowda?

Nadaprabhu Kempegowda is a 16th-century chieftain of the Vijayanagara empire. He belonged to the Vokkaliga community in south Karnataka.

He is credited as the founder of Bengaluru City. It is said that he conceived the idea of a new city while hunting with his minister and later marked its territory by erecting towers in four corners of the proposed city.

He is also known to have developed around 1,000 lakes in the city to cater to drinking and agricultural needs.

One of his social reforms was to prohibit the custom of amputating the last two fingers of the left hand of unmarried women during “Bandi Devaru”, an important custom of Morasu Vokkaligas.

Source: The post is based on the article “PM bows to freedom fighter, Pasumpon Muthuramalinga Thevar on the occasion of his Guru Pooja” published in PIB on 1st November 2022.

What is the News?

The Prime Minister has paid tributes to freedom fighter Pasumpon Muthuramalinga Thevar on the occasion of his Guru Pooja.

Who was Pasumpon Muthuramalinga Thevar?

Pasumpon Muthuramalinga Thevar was born on 30th October 1908 in Pasumpon in the Ramanathapuram district of Tamil Nadu. 

He was a freedom-fighter cum spiritual leader and was seen as a deity among the Mukulathor community. 

The people of the Mukulathor community still make offerings as is done for the deities in temples to the statue on his birthday and guru pooja celebrations. 

He did not accept traditional Hinduism because it supported the ‘Varnashrama’. He regularly fought against the evils of the Hindu religion. 

Thevar became a full-time member of the Congress party and attended the 1927 Congress session at Madras as a volunteer when he was just 19. 

He became a close aide of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. Netaji introduced Thevar to his mother as his younger sibling.

In 1939, he assisted activist A. Vaidyanatha Iyer to take Dalits to the Meenakshi Temple in Madurai.

He was instrumental in getting the Criminal Tribes Act(CTA) repealed after continuous efforts in 1946.

Source: The post is based on the article “U.P. promotes tombs of Muslim devotees of Krishna for tourism” published in The Hindu on 31st October 2022.

What is the News?

The Tourism department of Uttar Pradesh has redeveloped the tombs of Raskhan and Taj Bibi (both devotees of Lord Krishna) as a tourist complex with an open-air theatre.

Who was Raskhan?

Raskhan or Syed Ibrahim Khan was a 16th-century Sufi Muslim poet born either in Amroha or Hardoi in Uttar Pradesh. 

Raskhan was his pen name in Hindi.

He became a follower of Krishna and spent his life in Vrindavan. 

His poetry is in the form of Doha, Padawali and Savayya.

Who was Taj Bibi?

Taj Bibi, also known as the ‘Mughal Mirabai’ was the daughter of a Muslim nobleman named Padna Khan.

Taj Bibi was married to Emperor Akbar and was appointed by the Mughals to protect the Gokul area.

She wrote poetry during the Mughal time when the ruling class belonged to the Muslim religion.

Source: The post is based on the article “A golden memory of Rajahmahendravaram” published in The Hindu on 5th September 2022.

What is the News?

Seven Gold coins that date back to the Eastern Chalukya dynasty including the rule of Rajaraja Narendra are preserved at the Rallabandi Subbarao Government Museum in Rajahmundry in Andhra Pradesh.

Who was Rajaraja Narendra?

Rajaraja Narendra(1019 – 1061 AD) was the Eastern Chalukya king of the Vengi kingdom in South India. 

He established the city Rajahmahendravaram (Rajahmundry) on the banks of the Godavari during his reign.  

His period was famous for its Social and Cultural heritage. 

Rajaraja Narendra asked his court poet Nannayya to transcreate Mahabharata written in Sanskrit by Veda Vyas into the Telugu language to make it more comprehensible to the Telugus in his kingdom. 

Nannayya could do so for three parvas. This was followed by the efforts of two other poets — Tikkanna and Yerrapragada – who completed the whole exercise to transcreate the greatest epic into Telugu.

Source: The post is based on the article “Explained: Who was Pandurang Khankhoje, Ghadarite revolutionary and a hero of Mexico?” published in Indian Express on 23rd August 2022.

What is the News?

Lok Sabha Speaker will be travelling to Mexico where he will unveil statues of Swami Vivekananda and Maharashtra-born freedom fighter and agriculturalist Pandurang Khankhoje (1883-1967).

Who was Pandurang Khankhoje?

Pandurang Khankhoje(1884 – 1967) was an Indian revolutionary, scholar and agricultural scientist.

He was one of the founding members of the Ghadar Party, established by Indians living abroad in 1914, mostly belonging to Punjab. Its aim was to lead a revolutionary fight against the British in India.

What was the connection between Pandurang Khankhoje and Mexico?

Pandurang Khankhoje decided to go abroad for further training in revolutionary methods and militaristic strategy. He joined the Mount Tamalpais Military Academy in the US.

At the military academy, he met many people from Mexico. The Mexican Revolution of 1910 had led to the overthrow of the dictatorial regime and this inspired Khankhoje.

Along with the Indian workers, militant action was planned by Khankhoje in India, but the outbreak of the First World War halted these plans. He then reached out to Bhikaji Cama in Paris, and met with Vladimir Lenin in Russia among other leaders, seeking support for the Indian cause. 

However, as he was facing possible deportation from Europe and could not go to India, he sought shelter in Mexico.

In Mexico, he was appointed as a professor at the National School of Agriculture. He researched corn, wheat, pulses and rubber, developing frost and drought-resistant varieties and was part of efforts to bring in the Green Revolution in Mexico.

Source: The post is based on the article “Explained: The revolutionaries whom PM mentioned in his Independence Day speech” published in Indian Express on 16th August 2022.

What is the News?

In his Independence Day speech, the Prime Minister paid tribute to a range of personalities from India’s freedom struggle including fearless revolutionary heroes and several others who fought colonial rule outside the mainstream national movement.

Which are the revolutionaries the PM referred to in his speech?

Mangal Pandey: He was a soldier with the British Indian army. He is believed to have sparked off the mutiny of Indian soldiers at Meerut that eventually became the great revolt of 1857 and spread to other parts of North India. 

Tantya Tope: He was a trusted lieutenant of Nana Sahib, the adopted son of Peshwa Baji Rao II of the Maratha empire. Nana Sahib lost his ancestral rights under the ‘Doctrine of Lapse’ that disallowed adopted heirs of Indian rulers from ascending to the throne.

– In 1857, he brought together armed forces to declare Nana Sahib the ruler of Kanpur and attempted to protect the seat of power for over five months. 

Bhagat Singh: He was inspired by communist thought, anti-colonialism, and anti-communalism, and was involved in the symbolic bombing of the Central Legislative Assembly. 

– He was hanged by the British at the age of 23. Along with Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru were also hanged to death.

Chandrashekhar Azad: He was a comrade and intellectual fellow traveller of Rajguru, Sukhdev, Bhagat Singh, Ramprasad Bismil and Ashfaqulla Khan. He gave himself the name ‘Azad’ and vowed never to be held captive; when cornered by police in his final moments, he chose to shoot himself.

Ashfaqulla Khan: He helped form the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association(HSRA) and was part of the Kakori incident. In April 1927, Bismil, Khan, Rajendra Lahiri, and Roshan Singh were sentenced to death.

Ramprasad Bismil: He was associated with the Arya Samaj from an early age. He started writing powerful patriotic poems in Urdu and Hindi under the pen names ‘Bismil’, ‘Ram’, and ‘Agyat’. The patriotic song “Mera rang de Basanti chola” is attributed to him. He was executed at the age of 30.

Source: The post is based on the article “Explained: Women heroes of India’s freedom struggle, mentioned by PM in his I-Day speech” published in Indian Express on 16th August 2022.

What is the News?

During 75th Independence Day anniversary speech, the Prime Minister hailed “nari shakti”, and urged people to pledge to not do anything that lowers the dignity of women. He also paid tribute to women freedom fighters for showing the world the true meaning of India’s “nari shakti”.

Who are the women freedom fighters mentioned by PM in his speech?

Rani Laxmibai: Rani Laxmibai is known for her role in the First War of India’s Independence in 1857. 

She was born in 1835. She got married to the king of Jhansi. The couple adopted a son before the king’s death which the British East India Company refused to accept as the legal heir and decided to annex Jhansi.

Refusing to cede her territory, the queen decided to rule on behalf of the heir and later joined the uprising against the British in 1857.

Cornered by the British, she escaped from Jhansi fort. She was wounded in combat near Gwalior’s Phool Bagh where she later died. 

Sir Hugh Rose, who was commanding the British army, is known to have described her as “personable, clever and one of the most dangerous Indian leaders”.

Jhalkari Bai: She was a soldier in Rani Laxmibai’s women’s army.

She rose to become one of the queen’s most trusted advisers. She is known for putting her own life at risk to keep the queen out of harm’s way. 

To date, the story of her valour is recalled by the people of Bundelkhand, and she is often presented as a representative of Bundeli identity.

Durga Bhabhi: Durgawati Devi was popularly known as Durga Bhabhi. She was a revolutionary who joined the armed struggle against colonial rule. 

She was born in Allahabad in 1907 and married to Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (HSRA) member Bhagwati Charan Vohra.

She was a member of the Naujawan Bharat Sabha. She helped Bhagat Singh escape in disguise from Lahore after the 1928 killing of British police officer John P Saunders.

During the train journey that followed, Durgawati and Bhagat Singh posed as a couple and Rajguru as their servant. 

Later, as revenge for the hanging of Bhagat Singh, Rajguru, and Sukhdev, she made an unsuccessful attempt to kill the former Punjab Governor, Lord Hailey.

Click Here to read about: Kittur Chennamma, Rani Gaidinliu and Rani Velu Nachiyar.

Source: The post is based on the article “PM inaugurates and lays foundation stone of various projects of Shrimad Rajchandra Mission in Valsad district of Gujarat” published in AIR on 5th August 2022.

What is the News?

The Prime Minister of India inaugurated and laid the foundation stone of various projects of the Shrimad Rajchandra Mission at Dharampur in Gujarat. 

About Shrimad Rajchandra Mission

Shrimad Rajchandra Mission Dharampur is a spiritual movement for inner transformation through wisdom, meditation and selfless service.

Founded by Pujya Gurudevshri Rakeshji, the organization works through 196 centers on five continents.

Who was Shrimad Rajchandra?

Shrimad Rajchandra (1867 – 1901) was a Jain poet, philosopher, scholar and reformer.

Honoured as Yugpurush, he gave the world a rich heritage that continues to guide generations of seekers, in a short span of 34 years. 

He wrote a large number of philosophical poems including Atma Siddhi.

He is best known for his teachings on Jainism and his spiritual guidance to Mahatma Gandhi.

Source: The post is based on the article “Ministry of Culture releases the third Comic book on stories of 20 Tribal Freedom Fighters” published in PIB on 4th August 2022.

What is the News?

The Ministry of Culture has released the third Comic book on stories of 20 Tribal Freedom Fighters at Tiranga Utsav celebration in New Delhi.

What are the important tribal freedom fighters mentioned in the book?