March 28, 2024

Dr. Rajendra Prasad

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 1

Prime Minister paid tributes to India’s first President Rajendra Prasad and lauded him as a legendary leader who epitomized courage and scholarly zeal.

About Dr. Rajendra Prasad

  • Rajendra Prasad was born in Zeradai, District Siwan in Bihar on 3 December 1884.
  • His father Mahadev Sahai was a scholar of Persian and Sanskrit. His mother Kamleshwari Devi was a pious lady.

Education

  • He joined the famed Calcutta Presidency College in 1902.
  • In 1915, Prasad appeared in the examination of master’s in law from the Department of Law, University of Calcutta, passed the examination and won a gold medal.
  • In 1916, he commenced his legal career in the Patna High Court. He completed his Doctorate in Law from Allahabad University in 1937.

Indian National Movement

  • Prasad attended the 1906 Calcutta session of Indian National Congress.
  • He joined the party in 1911 and later elected to the All India Congress Committee after which he met Mahatma Gandhi.
  • He was highly impressed by Mahatma Gandhi and he supported Gandhi during the Satyagraha Movement against Indigo Planters in Champaran, Bihar.
  • He later quit his lucrative career as a lawyer in 1920 and jumped into Freedom Struggle Movement and participated in the Non-Cooperation Movement.
  • He led the Non-Cooperation Movement in Bihar holding meetings, touring state and making speeches. He urged people to boycott government schools, colleges, jobs.
  • Prasad was elected as the President of the Bombay Session of the Indian National Congress in October 1934.
  • He was also elected as the President for second time in 1939 after Subhash Chandra Bose resigned from his post and third time President of INC in 1947 when J.B.Kripalani resigned from his post.
  • Prasad was arrested several times during the national struggle and imprisoned by British authorities during the Salt Satyagraha of 1931 and the Quit India Movement of 1942.

Dr. Prasad & Constituent Assembly:

  • In July 1946, when the Constituent Assembly was established to frame the Constitution of India, he was elected its President.
  • Committees of Constituent Assembly under the chairmanship of Dr. Prasad includes:
  • Ad hoc Committee on the National flag
  • Committee on the Rules of Procedure
  • Finance and Staff Committee
  • Steering Committee
  • Two and a half years after independence, on 26th January 1950, the Constitution of independent India was ratified and he was elected India’s First President.

Question: Write about the contribution of Dr. Rajendra Prasad in the India independence and constitution making.

 

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