Amartya Kumar Sen (born November 3, 1933) is an Indian economist best known for his work on famine, human develop-ment theory, welfare economics, and the underlying mechanisms of poverty. He received the Nobel Prize in Economics for his work in welfare economics in 1998 and the Bharat Ratna in 1999.Sen first studied in India at […]
Ravi Shankar (born April 7, 1920) is best known for being a virtuoso at the sitar. A disciple of Ustad Allauddin Khan (founder of the Maihar Gharana of Hindustani classical music), Pandit Ravi Shankar is one of the best-known Indian musician.He was generally unknown outside of India until the musician George Harrison, a member of
Jaiprakash Narayan (October 11, 1902-October 8, 1979), widely known as JP, was an freedom fighter and political leader.He was born in village Diara in Bihar, and completed his higher studies in the UnitedStates. After returning to India, he joined the Indian National Congress in 1929 with blessings from Gandhiji. During the Indian independence movement, he
Chidambaram Subramaniam (commonly known as CS) known as the Father of the Green Revolution in India, held ministerial positions at the State and the Centre. He was born on January 30, 1910 in village Pollachi in Coimbatore district. He finished hishigher studies from Madras University. In 1932 he qualified for Bar at law.He was the
The one-line commu-nique of the then President K.R. Narayanan that the President is pleased to award the ‘Bharat Ratna’ to M.S. Subbulakshmi, was greeted by doyens of Indian music.She was in fact the first musician to be awarded this distinction. When the President spoke to her over the phone before making the announcement, eye-witnesses said
Born on 15th October, 1931 at Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu, Dr. Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam, specialized in Aeronautical Engineering from Madras Institute of Technology.Dr. Kalam made significant contribution as Project Director to develop India’s first indigenous Satellite Launch Vehicle (SLV-III) which successfully injected the Rohini satellite in the near earth orbit in July 1980
Subhash Chandra Bose was the most visionary and fierce activist in the pre-independence era. Known as Netaji, he followed the path which no one even could have thought of.Subhash was born on January 23rd 1897 in Cuttack (in present day Orissa) as the ninth child among fourteen, of Janakinath Bose, an advocate, and Prabhavati Devi,
Aruna Asaf Ali was born into an orthodox Hindu Bengali family and was educated at the Sacred Heart Convent in Lahore and then sent to a Protestant school in Nainital. After graduating she got a job in the Gokhale Memorial School in Calcutta.In Allahabad she met her husband, M. Asaf Ali, a prominent Congressman, and
Gulzarilal Nanda was born on July 4, 1898, in Sialkot now in Pakistan. He was educated at Lahore, Agra and Allahabad. He worked as a research scholar on labour problems at Allahabad University and became Professor of Economics at the National College Bombay.He joined the Non-Cooperation Movement and in 1922, he became Secretary of the
Satyajit Ray (May 2 1921-April 23 1992) was a Bengali film director whose films are perhaps the greatest testament to Bengali and Indian cinema. He has a large collection of works that are accliaimed among the world film industry. He has been called one of the four greatest director-producers of cinema in the world.Satyajit Ray
Jehangir Ratanji Dadabhoy Tata (July 29, 1904-November 29, 1993) was a pioneer aviator and leading businessman.J.R.D. Tata was born to an Indian father and a French mother in Paris.He was educated in France, Japan and England before being drafted into the French army for a mandatory one-year period.JRD then set his mind on securing an
Maulana Abul Kalam Azad (11 Novermber 1888 – August 1958) was a freedom fighter in India’s struggle for Indepen-dence from Britain. He had an illustrious career being a journalist, a cabinet minister in Free India’s government.He was born in Mecca. Azad was a descendent of a lineage of learned Muslim scholars. His father was Maulana
Morarji Desai was born on February 29, 1896 in Bhadeli village, in the Bulsad district of Gujarat. His father was a school teacher and a strict disciplinarian. From his childhood, young Morarji learnt from his father the value of hard work and truthfulness under all circumstances.He was educated in St. Busar High School and passed
Vallabhbhai Jhaverbhai Patel (October 31, 1875-December 15, 1950), popularly referred to as Sardar Patel, was an Indian statesman, an important leader of the Congress and the deputy Prime Minister in the first cabinet of Independent India.Vallabhbhai Patel was born into a farmer family on October 31, 1875, in Nadiad, Gujarat. He was the fourth son
Rajiv Gandhi was born on August 20, 1944, in Bombay. He was just three when India became independent and his grandfather became Prime Minister. His parents moved to New Delhi from Lucknow. His father, Feroze Gandhi, became an M.P., and earned a reputation as a fearless and hard-working Parliamentarian.At 40, Mr. Rajiv Gandhi was the