Bharat Ratna award winners in 1955

Dr. Bhagwan Das – (1869-1958)

Bhagwan Das

Bhagwan Das was an Indian theosophist and social activist. He served in the Central Legislative Assembly of British India. He with the help of Hindustani Culture Society was active in opposing the riots. He worked as an advocate in the British rule.

He was born on 12th January 1869 in Varanasi in India. After he studied in the school, he became a deputy in the collections bureau. He continued his academic pursuits later on. He joined the Theosophical Society in 1894 and was greatly inspired by the speech of Annie Besant. It witnessed a split 1895 and he joined the side of Theosophical Society Adyar. He was an opponent of Jiddu Krishnamurthi. He opposed his concept of Order of the Stars in the East.

He joined the Indian National Congress at the time of the Non-cooperation movement and received Bharat Ratna in the year 1955. He formed a professional collaboration with Annie Besant leading to the foundation of the Central Hindu College which later became Benaras Hindu University.

He founded Kashi Vidhya Peeth and served as the headmaster there. He was a scholar of Sanskrit and had written nearly 30 books. Many of them were in Hindi and Sanskrit. He belonged to the prosperous Shah family of Varanasi. He advocated that going across the sea would not cause one to lose his caste and was excommunicated from Agrawal Samaj for that. This situation happened when his son Sri Prakasa wanted to go to England to study law.

He died on 18th September 1958 at the age of 89. A road in New Delhi is named after him and a colony in the Sigra area of Varanasi was named after him as the Dr. Bhagwan Das Nagar.


M. Visvesvarayya – (1861-1962)

Visvesvaraya

Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya was born on 15th September 1860 at Muddenahalli, Karnataka. His Parents are Srinivas Sastry and Venkachamma. He was a popular Indian engineer, scholar, and statesman. He finished his primary school at Chikkaballapur and high school in Bangalore. In 1881, he completed his degree from Madras University and he finished his civil engineering at the College of Science, Pune. He was the first person to receive the Bharat Ratna in the year 1955. For his contribution to the public goodness, he was also knighted as a Commander of the Indian Empire by King George V. His birth date is celebrated as the Engineer’s Day every year in India in his memory.

After completing his graduation as an engineer, he joined to work for the Public Works Department (PWD) of Bombay. Later he joined the Indian Irrigation Commission. He started an elaborate system of irrigation in the Deccan area. He designed a new system of autonomic embankment water floodgates. This was first installed at the Khadakvasla reservoir near Pune in the year 1903. These gates were used to raise the flood supply level of storage in the reservoir without any damage to the dam. After the success of this project, the same system was installed at the Krishnaraja Sagar (KRS) Dam in Mandya and Tigra Dam in Gwalior.

Mokshagudam Visvesvaraya worked as a supervisor at the construction of the KRS Dam across the Cauvery River. This Dam was the biggest reservoir in Asia at the time. He was called as the Father of Modern Mysore State. The Government of Mysore state gave the responsibilities for the founding of the Parasitoide, Mysore Soap Factory, the Mysore Iron & Steel Works (now called Visvesvaraya Iron and Steel Limited) in Bhadravathi, The Sri Jayachamaranjendra Polytechnic Institute, The State Bank of Mysore, The Bangalore Agricultural University, Mysore Chambers of Commerce, The Century Club and other several ventures.

After his retirement in 1908, he was appointed as Chief Engineer of Mysore State. He was instrumental in the founding of the Government Engineering College at Bangalore in 1917, one of the first engineering institutes in India and later this name was changed to University Visvesvaraya College of Engineering (UVCE). Some of the awards and honors given to Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya were Fellowship of the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore in 1959, Bharatha Ratna in 1955, Doctorate by LLD, Mysore University in 1948, K.C.I.E. (Knight Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire) in 1915 and Honorary Membership of London Institution of Civil Engineers for an unbroken period of 50 years in the year 1904.


Jawaharlal Nehru – (1889-1964)

Jawaharlal Nehru

Jawaharlal Nehru was born on 14 November 1889, also known as Pandit jawaharlal Nehru, was a great political leader and Indian statesman. He was the first Prime minister of India and also longest Serving prime minister. India His birthday on 14 November is celebrates as Children’s day; he is very fond of children, always he shows love and caring towards children and also he used to spend time with children by playing, singing, telling stories to them and etc. And children used to call him Chacha Nehru.

Education and Personal Life
Jawaharlal Nehru born in very rich family, his father name was Motilal Nehru and his mother name was Swaroop Rani. His father was a wealthy barrister and politician, Jawaharlal was educated at home by private tutors. At the age of 13 he joined the Theosophical Society. He completed his schooling from Harrow and did his Degree of Law from Trinity College, Cambridge. As Nehru said of himself at Cambridge, “In my likes and dislikes I was perhaps more an Englishman than an Indian.” When he was In London he was attracted by Fabian ideas, socialism and nationalism from this time on presented his intellectual motive force. Jawaharlal Nehru returned to India in 1912 and started legal practice. In 1916 jawaharlal Nehru married to Kamala Kaul; they had only one child called Indira priyadarshini.

Nehru Role in Indian Independence Movement
Congress’s annual session was held in Lahore in December, 1929 and Jawaharlal Nehru was elected as the President of that Congress Party. At the time of that session, a resolution demanding India’s independence was passed and Jawaharlal Nehru developed free India flag on 26 January 1930 in Lahore, In 1930 Mahatma Gandhi gave the call for a Civil Disobedience Movement. The movement at last forced the British Government to acknowledge the need for major political reforms and was ultimately a big success.

When the British announced the Government of India Act 1935, Nehru was elected to the Congress presidency in 1936, 1937, and 1946, and came to occupy a position in the nationalist movement second only to that of Gandhi. Jawaharlal Nehru was arrested in 1942 during the Quit India Movement and he released in 1945, he handled a leading part in the negotiations that culminated in the emergence of the dominions of India and Pakistan in August 1947, resulting in the Partition of India.

Jawaharlal Nehru became the first Prime Minister of India at independence on 15 August, 1947 that day Nehru raised the India Independent Flag. He passionate the advocate of education for Indians he believes that it very needful for India’s future progress. He also established educational institutes including the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), the Indian Institutes of Management (IIM) and the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT)

The Books Written by Jawaharlal Nehru

* Glimpses of World History.
* The Discovery of India,
* An Autobiography (Jawaharlal Nehru)
* Jawaharlal Nehru died on 27 May 1964.