Bharat Ratna award winners in 1962

Rajendra Prasad – (1884-1963)

Rajendra Prasad was an Indian politician who served as the first President of Independent India. He served in this post from 26th January 1950 to 13th May 1962. He was a member of Congress Party and took active part in the Indian Independence Movement. He served as the President of Constituent Assembly and contributed to the drafting of the first constitution of the Republic. In the interim national government he served as the Food and Agriculture Minister in 1946.

Rajendra Prasad was born on 3rd December 1884 in Ziradei in Bihar and Orissa. His parents are Mahavira Sahai and Kamleshwari Devi. He was called as Rajen. He studied under a Moulavi to learn Persian language, Hindi and arithmetic. Then he attended Chapra District School. When he was 12 years old he married Rajavanshi Devi. He has one elder brother Mahendra Prasad with whom he attended T. K. Ghosh’s Academy in Patna.

He joined Presidency College in the year 1902. He passed intermediate in 1904 and finished his M. A. in Economics in December 1907. He was a member of The Dawn Society. He played an important part to form the Bihari Students Conference in 1906. He started his career as a teacher. He worked as a professor of English at the Bhumihar Brahman College in Muzaffarpur. He studied law in 1915 and completed his Doctorate in Law. He joined the High Court of Bihar and Orissa in 1916.

He was elected as the President of the Indian National Congress in October 1934. He got the Food and Agriculture Ministry on 2nd September 1946 under the leadership of Jawaharlal Nehru. He was elected for the post of President of Constituent Assembly on 11th December 1946. He became Congress President on 17th November 1947. On the Republic Day on January 26, 1950, he was elected as the first President of India. He served in this post for twelve years. He received Bharat Ratna award for his remarkable achievements. He died on 28th February 1963.