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HomeForgotten Founders

Forgotten Founders

Balkrishna Sharma: A freedom fighter & poet admired by Atal Bihari Vajpayee

Balkrishna Sharma campaigned vigorously for Hindi to be declared a national language of India. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 1960.

Lokanath Misra: Politician who opposed freedom to propagate religion as fundamental right

Lokanath Misra served as governor of three 3 northeastern states. As member of the Constituent Assembly, he highlighted need to protect Hindu culture & religion.

VT Krishnamachari: India’s master planner who laid the foundation of panchayati raj system

A civil servant, Krishnamachari donned many hats in pre- and post-Independent India, with the most notable being his stint at the Planning Commission.

Algu Rai Shastri: The socialist who vociferously denounced English as a foreign language

Algu Rai Shastri, a member of the Constituent Assembly, was against forced religious conversions and known for denouncing views of religious minorities.

Durgabai Deshmukh: The brave woman from Andhra who ended her own child marriage

Durgabai Deshmukh, one of 15 women in the 299-member Constituent Assembly, was a feisty individual who studied law to help the wrongfully convicted.

Sardar Hukam Singh, a minority rights champion in Constituent Assembly

Sardar Hukam Singh, who served in first three Lok Sabhas, refused to sign draft of the constitution as he felt it failed to secure...

The Kerala governor who openly pushed Indira’s case for PM

Ajith Prasad Jain also served in a Nehru Cabinet and backed the abolition of the zamindari system.

Gokulbhai Bhatt, the Constituent Assembly member who called the Constitution ‘un-Indian’

Gokulbhai Bhatt, who quit college to join the non-cooperation movement, was a staunch proponent of the Gandhian Panchayati Raj.

Muhammad Ismail, Indian Muslim League pioneer who wanted Hindustani as official language

During Constituent Assembly debates, Ismail pushed for Hindustani because it was the most spoken and understood language in India.

Hiralal Shastri, the man who pushed for equal rights within Constituent Assembly

The first chief minister of Rajasthan, Shastri also co-founded the all-women Banasthali Vidyapith.

On Camera

YourTurn

Bhutanese Prime Minister Lotay Tshering and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi | Adnan Abidi/Reuters

Bhutan desperate to settle dispute with China. It will change how...

Surely, the Bhutanese would have thought that if Delhi still hasn’t been able to resolve its dispute with Beijing, what chance did Thimphu have?
Union Minister for Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal releases Foreign Trade Policy 2023 along with Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Anupriya Patel and Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal in New Delhi Friday | Twitter | @PiyushGoyal

Focus on rupee trade, e-commerce exports: Key highlights of Foreign Trade...

New FTP expects e-commerce exports to grow up to $200-300 billion by 2030. It also proposes reduced licence fees for MSMEs, provisions for merchanting trade & more.

Defence

Representational image | An Indian Air Force aircraft manufactured by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited | Photo: ANI

HAL records highest-ever revenue of Rs 26,500 cr for 2022-23 but...

HAL’s orderbook stood at around Rs. 82,000 crore at the end of March 2023 after liquidation of the supplies during 2022-23.
Illustration: Soham Sen | ThePrint

Four reasons the Sikhs are hurting. And it’s not about the...

'Causes' of anger are dera threat to Sikhism, incarceration of ‘Bandi Singhs’, inaction in sacrilege cases, & ‘if BJP-RSS want Hindu Rashtra, what’s wrong with Sikh Rashtra?’