DR.

RAJENDRA PRASAD
Date of Birth : Dec 3, 1884

Date of Death : Feb 28, 1963

Place of Birth : Zeradei, Bihar

Tenure Order : 1st President

Dr. Rajendra Prasad was the first President of India. Rajendra Prasad was a great freedom-fighter,
and the architect of the Indian Constitution, having served as President of the Constituent Assembly
that drafted the Constitution of the Republic from 1948 to 1950. He had also served as a Cabinet
Minister briefly in the first Government of Independent India. He was a crucial leader of the Indian
Independence Movement. Prasad was born in Jiradei, in the Siwan district of Bihar. His father,
Mahadev Sahay, was a Persian and Sanskrit language scholar; his mother, Kamleshwari Devi, was a
devout lady who would tell stories from the Ramayana to her son. At the age of 5, the young
Rajendra Prasad was sent to a Maulavi for learning Persian. After that he was sent to Chapra Zilla
School for further primary studies

He was married at the age of 12 to Rajvanshi Devi. He then went on to study at R.K. Ghosh's
Academy in Patna to be with his older brother Mahendra Prasad. Soon afterward, however, he
rejoined the Chapra Zilla School, and it was from there that he passed the entrance examination of
Calcutta University, at the age of 18. He stood first in the first division of that examination. He then
joined the Presidency College, Calcutta. He was initially a student of science and his teachers
included J.C.Bose and Prafulla Chandra Roy. Later he decided to switch his focus to the arts. Acharya
Prafulla Chandra Roy, who was impressed by his intellect and dedication asked him on the occasion
"Why have you deserted your class?." Prasad lived with his brother in the Eden Hindu Hostel. A
plaque still commemorates his stay in that room. He had been initiated into the Swadeshi movement
by his brother. He then joined the Dawn Society run by Satish Chandra Mukherjee, and Sister
Nivedita. In 1911, he joined the A.I.C.C. However, his family estate was in bad condition. He was
looked upon as the provider. But he sought permission from his brother in a letter to join the Indian
freedom movement. He wrote, "Ambitions I have none, except to be of some service to the
Motherland". The shock of his brother, however, held him to the family. In 1916, Rajendra Prasad
joined the High Court of Bihar, and Orissa. Such was his intellect and his integrity, that often when
his adversary failed to cite a precedent, the judges asked Rajendra Prasad to cite a precedent against
himself. After meeting Mahatma Gandhi, he quit as a Senator of the University, much to the regret
of the British Vice-Chancellor.He also responded to the call by the Mahatma to boycott Western
education by asking his son Mrityunjaya Prasad, a brilliant student to drop out of the University and
enroll himself in Bihar Vidyapeeth, an institution he had along with his colleagues founded on the
traditional Indian model. He wrote articles for Searchlight and the Desh and collected funds for these
papers. He toured a lot, explaining, lecturing and exhorting. When the earthquake of Bihar occurred
on January 15, 1934, Rajendra Prasad was in jail. He was released two days later. He set himself for
the task of raising funds. The Viceroy had also raised a fund. However, while Rajendra Prasad's fund
collected over 38 Lakhs (Rs. 3,800,000), the Viceroy could only manage one-third of that amount.
The way relief was organized left nothing to be desired. Nationalist India expressed its admiration by
electing him to the President of the Bombay session of the Indian National Congress.
JAYAPRAKASH NARAYAN

Date of Birth : Oct 11, 1902

Date of Death : Oct 8, 1979

Place of Birth : Uttar Pradesh

Jayaprakash Narayan, widely known as JP, was an Indian freedom fighter and political leader. He was
one of the few leaders of modern India who fought for its independence and took part in active
politics for a long time after it became independent. He was born in Sitabdiara, village in Ballia
district of Uttar Pradesh, and did his higher studies including his phd in politics and sociology in the
United States. He adopted Marxism while studying at the University of Wisconsin in Madison,
Wisconsin under Edward Ross; he was also deeply influenced by the writings of M. N. Roy. After
returning to India, JP joined the Indian National Congress on the invitation of Jawaharlal Nehru in
1929; M. K. Gandhi would be his mentor in the Congress. 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. JP married Prabhavati Devi, a freedom fighter in her own right and
a staunch disciple of Kasturba Gandhi in October 1920; she stayed in Sabarmati ashram while JP was
abroad and became a devoted Gandhian; she often held opinions which were not in agreement with
JP's views, but JP respected her independence. She was the older daughter of Brajkishore Prasad,
one of the first Gandhians in Bihar and one who played a major role in Gandhi's campaign in
Champaran. After being jailed in 1932 for civil disobedience against British rule, he was imprisoned
in Nasik Jail, where he met Ram Manohar Lohia, Minoo Masani, Achyut Patwardhan, Ashok Meta,
Yusuf Desai and other national leaders. After his release, the Congress Socialist Party, a left-wing
group within the Congress, was formed with Acharya Narendra Deva as President and JP 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.
PURUSHOTTAM DAS TANDON

Date of Birth : Aug 1, 1882

Date of Death : Jul 1, 1962

Place of Birth : Uttar Pradesh

Purushottam Das Tandon was a freedom fighter from Uttar Pradesh in India, of Punjabi Khatri
descent. He is widely remembered for his efforts in achieving the Official Language of India status for
Hindi. He was revered as Rajarshi. Purushottam Das Tandon was born at Allahabad. After obtaining a
degree in law and an MA in history, he started practising in 1906 and joined the bar of Allahabad
High Court in 1908 as a junior to Tej Bahadur Sapru. He gave up practise in 1921 to concentrate on
public activities.

He was a member of Congress Party since his student days in 1899. In 1906, he represented
Allahabad in the AICC. He was associated with the Congress Party committee that studied the
Jallianwala Bagh incident in 1919. He was also a part of the Servants of the People Society. In the
1920s and 1930s he was arrested for participating in the Non-Cooperation movement and Salt
Satyagraha respectively. He and Nehru were among the people arrested even before Mahatma
Gandhi returned from the Round Table Conference at London in 1931. He was known for his efforts
in farmers' movements and he served as the President, Bihar Provincial Kisan Sabha in 1934. He
worked as the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of the present-day Uttar Pradesh for a period of
13 years, from July 31, 1937 to August 10, 1950. He was elected to the Constituent Assembly of India
in 1946. He was elected to the Lok Sabha in 1952 and the Rajya Sabha in 1956. He retired from active
public life after that due to indifferent health. He was awarded the Bharat Ratna, India's highest
civilian award in 1961.
HAKIM AJMAL KHAN
Date of Birth : 1863

Date of Death : 1927

Place of Birth : Delhi

Dr. Hakim Ajmal Khan was a noted Indian freedom fighter, renowned physician and educationalist.
He was the founder of the Jamia Millia Islamia in Delhi. Hakim Ajmal Khan was born in 1863 in Delhi.
His family, a distinguished line of physicians descended from the army of Babur, the founder of the
Mughal Empire in India. Khan studied the Qur'an and traditional Islamic knowledge, before studying
medicine at home, under the tutelage of his relatives. After launching himself in practise, Khan was
appointed chief physician to the Nawab of Rampur from 1892 to 1902. In Rampur he met Syed
Ahmed Khan and was appointed a trustee of the Aligarh college, now the Aligarh Muslim University.

Hakim Ajmal Khan took much interest in the expansion and development of the indigenous system
of medicine, Tibb-i-Yunani, or Unani. Khan's family established the Tibbiya school in Delhi, in order to
expand the research and practise of Unani. In recognition of his services in this field the Government
of India conferred on him, in 1907 the title of 'Haziq-ul-Mulk'. But in 1910, Dr. Khan was organizing
Indian physicians in protest of a Government decision to revoke official recongition for the
practioners of Indian systems of medicine, of Unani and Ayurveda. Dr. Khan's involvement in politics
began with writing for the Urdu weekly 'Akmal-ul-Akhbar', which was founded in 1865-70 and was
run by his family. Dr. Khan was in the deputation of Muslims that met the Viceroy of India in Shimla
in 1906, presenting him a memorandum on behalf of the community, and in 1907 was present in
Dhaka where the All India Muslim League was created. Dr. Khan also backed the British during World
War I, encouraging Indians to support the government, but the situation changed with the entry of
Turkey. Upon the arrest of many Muslim leaders, Dr. Khan came to Mahatma Gandhi for support,
who joined Khan and other Muslim leaders like Maulana Azad, Maulana Mohammad Ali and
Maulana Shaukat Ali in the Khilafat movement. Dr. Khan resigned from the AMU when the
authorities refused to endorse or participate in the Non-Cooperation Movement launched by
Mahatma Gandhi and the Indian National Congress. He was elected the President of the Congress in
1921, and fiercely condemned the Amritsar Massacre and the British response to the Khilafat. He
was imprisoned for many months by police authorities. Dr. Khan had left the AMU owing to its
historic resistance to the Indian National Congress. Along with many prominent Muslim nationalists
like Dr. Mukhtar Ahmed Ansari, he laid the foundations of the Jamia Millia Islamia (Islamic National
University) in Aligarh in 1920, in response to Mahatma Gandhi's call for Indians to boycott
government institutions. The JMI grew into a prominent and prestigious university, and was moved
to Delhi, where it stands today. Dr. Khan served as its first Chancellor, and was a key patron of the
institution.

Dr. Khan died of heart problems on December 29, 1927. Dr. Khan had renounced his government
title, and many of his Indian fans awarded him the title of 'Masih-ul-Mulk' (Healer of the Nation). He
was succeeded in the position of JMI Chancellor by Dr. Mukhtar Ahmed Ansari.
PANDIT MADAN MOHAN MALAVIYA

Date of Birth : Dec 25, 1861

Date of Death : 1946

Place of Birth : Allahabad

Madan Mohan Malaviya (1861–1946) was an Indian politician, educationist, and freedom fighter
notable for his role in the Indian independence movement and his espousal of Hindu nationalism.
Later in life, he was also addressed as 'Mahamana'.

He was the President of the Indian National Congress on four occasions and today is most
remembered as the founder of the largest residential university in Asia and one of the largest in the
world[citation needed], having over 12,000 students across arts sciences, engineering and
technology, Banaras Hindu University (BHU) at Varanasi in 1916, of which he also remained the Vice
Chancellor, 1919–1938 Pandit Malaviya was one of the founders of Scouting in India. He also
founded a highly influential, English-newspaper, The Leader published from Allahabad in 1909.

Malaviya ji also graced the position of Chairman of “Hindustan Times” from 1924 to 1946. His efforts
resulted in the launch of its Hindi edition in 1936.

Pandit Malaviya was born in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh on 25 December 1861, in a Brahmin family of
Brijnath and Moona Devi. He was the fifth child in a family of five brothers and two sisters. His
ancestors, known for their Sanskrit scholarship, originally hailed from Malwa and hence came to be
known as 'Malaviyas'. His father Pandit Brijnath was also a learned man in Sanskrit scriptures, and
used to recite the Bhagvat Katha to earn a living.

Pandit Malaviya's education began at age five in Sanskrit, when he was sent to Pandit Hardeva's
Dharma Gyanopadesh Pathshala, where he completed his primary education and later another
school run by Vidha Vardini Sabha. He then joined Allahabad Zila School (Allahabad District School),
where he started writing poems under the pen name Makarand which were published in journals
and magazines. Pandit Malaviya e matriculated in 1879 from the Muir Central College, now known
as Allahabad University. Harrison College's Principal provided a monthly scholarship to Pandit
Malaviya, whose family had been facing financial hardships, and he was able to be complete his B.A.
at the University of Calcutta.