Happy Teachers Day (Dr Radha Krishnan)

"A life of joy and happiness is possible only on the basis of knowledge and science":- Dr Krishnan

Born: September 5, 1888
Died: April 17, 1975
Achievements: First Vice President and second President of India. Placed Indian philosophy on world map.

Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan was first Vice President of India and second President of India. He was also a philosopher and introduced the thinking of western idealist philosophers into Indian thought. He was a famous teacher and his birthday is celebrated as Teacher's Day in India.

Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan was born on September 5, 1888 at Tirutani, Madras in a poor Brahmin family. As his father was poor Radhakrishnan supported most of his education through scholarships. Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan had his early education at Gowdie School, Tiruvallur and then went to the Lutheran Mission School in Tirupati for his high school. He joined the Voorhee's College in Vellore and later switched to the Madras Christian College. He chose Philosophy as his major subject and did his B.A. and M.A. in it.

After completing his M.A., Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, accepted an Assistant Lectureship at the Madras Presidency College in 1909. In college, he mastered the classics of Hindu philosophy, namely the Upanishads, Bhagvad Gita, Brahmasutra, and commentaries of Sankara, Ramunuja and Madhava. He also acquainted himself with Buddhist and Jain philosophy and philosophies of Western thinkers such as Plato, Plotinus, Kant, Bradley, and Bergson.

In 1918, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan was selected as Professor of Philosophy by the University of Mysore. In 1921, Radhakrishnan was nominated as Professor of Philosophy at the Calcutta University, 1921. In 1923, Dr. Radhakrishnan's book "Indian Philosophy" was published. The book was hailed as a "philosophical classic and a literary masterpiece."

Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan was called to Oxford University, to deliver lectures on Hindu philosophy. He used his lectures as a platform to further India's cause for freedom. He also argued that Western philosophers, despite all claims to objectivity, were biased by theological influences from their wider culture. He showed that Indian philosophy, once translated into standard academic jargon, is worthy of being called philosophy by Western standards. He thus placed Indian Philosophy on world map.

In 1931, Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan was elected Vice Chancellor of the Andhra University. In 1939, Radhakrishnan became the Vice Chancellor of the Benaras Hindu University. In 1946, he was appointed as Ambassador to UNESCO. After Independence Dr. Radhakrishnan was requested to Chair the University Education Commission in 1948. The Radhakrishnan Committee's suggestions helped mould the education system for India's needs.

In 1949, Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan was appointed ambassador to the Soviet Union. He helped laid the foundation for a strong relationship with Soviet Union. Radhakrishnan was elected first Vice-President of India in 1952. He was honored with the Bharat Ratna in 1954. After serving two terms as Vice-President, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan was elected President of India in 1962. During his tenure as President India fought wars with China and Pakistan. As President he helped see India through those trying years safely. He retired as President in 1967 and settled in Madras.

Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan died on April 17, 1975.

Biography of Rajiv Gandhi (Sadbhawana Divas)

"And now, after the end of colonial servitude, our young nation is showing afresh the vitality of Endeavor to build a new, fuller life for our people." Rajiv Gandhi

Born: August 20, 1944
Martyrdom: May 21, 1991
Achievements: Became Prime Minister of India at the age of 40. Led Congress to its greatest victory in the Lok Sabha elections, winning about 80 per cent of seats. Played a key role in the introduction of computers in India.

Rajiv Gandhi was the youngest Prime Minister of India. He became Prime Minister at the age of 40. Rajiv Gandhi came from a family that had great political lineage. He was the eldest son of Indira and Feroze Gandhi. Her mother Indira Gandhi and grandfather Jawaharlal Nehru were Prime Ministers of India. As a Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi made a valuable contribution in modernizing Indian administration. He had the vision and foresight to see that information technology will play a key role in the 21 century and worked actively to develop India's capacity in this realm.

Rajiv Gandhi was born on August 20, 1944 in Bombay (Mumbai) in India's most famous political family. His grandfather Jawaharlal Nehru played a stellar role in India's freedom struggle and became independent India's first Prime Minister. His parents lived separately and Rajiv Gandhi was raised at his grandfather's home where her mother lived. Rajeev Gandhi did his schooling from the elite Doon school and then studied at the University of London and at Trinity College, Cambridge in Britain. At Cambridge, Rajiv Ghandi met and fell in love with an Italian student Sonia Maino and they got married in 1969.

Returning to India, Rajeev Ghandi became a commercial airline pilot. His younger brother Sanjay Gandhi entered politics and became a trusted lieutenant of her mother Indira Gandhi. After Sanjay's death in a plane crash in 1980, Rajiv reluctantly entered politics at the instance of his mother. He won his first Lok Sabha election in 1981 from Amethi-the erstwhile constituency of his brother. Soon he became the General Secretary of the Congress Party. After the assassination of Indira Gandhi in October 1984 he became the Prime Minister of India at the age of 40. He called for general elections in 1984 and riding on a massive sympathy wave led Congress to a thumping victory. Congress garnered 80 percent of the seats in the lower house and achieved its greatest victory since independence.

In his initial days as Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi was immensely popular. During his tenure as Prime Minister of India, he brought a certain dynamism to the premiership, which had always been occupied by older people. He is credited with promoting the introduction of computers in India. Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi began leading in a direction significantly different from Indira Gandhi's socialism. He improved bilateral relations with the United States and expanded economic and scientific cooperation. He increased government support for science and technology and associated industries, and reduced import quotas, taxes and tariffs on technology-based industries, especially computers, airlines, defence and telecommunications. He worked towards reducing the red tape in the governance and freeing administration from bureaucratic tangles. In 1986, Rajiv Gandhi announced a national education policy to modernize and expand higher education programs across India.

Rajiv Gandhi authorised an extensive police and army campaign against the militants in Punjab. Rajiv's government suffered a major setback when its efforts to broker peace between the Government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE rebels backfired. As per the peace accords signed in 1987, the LTTE would disarm to the Indian Peace Keeping Force which was sent to Sri Lanka. But distrust and a few incidents of conflict broke out into open fighting between the LTTE militants and Indian soldiers. Over a thousand Indian soldiers were killed, and at last Rajiv Gandhi had to pull out Indian forces from Sri Lanka. It was a failure of Rajiv's diplomacy.

Although Rajeev Gandhi promised to end corruption, he and his party were themselves implicated in corruption scandals. The major scandal being Bofors Gun scandal involving alleged payoffs by the Swedish Bofors arms company. The scandal rapidly eroded his popularity and he lost the next general elections held in 1989. A coalition comprising government came to the power but it could not last its full term and general elections were called in 1991. While campaigning for elections in Sriperumbudur, Tamil Nadu, Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated on May 21, 1991 by a suicide bomber belonging to LTTE .

Ever Year India Celebrates his Birth Day as a "Sadbhawana Diwas" in the memory of Late Rajiv Gandhi.

Subhash Chandra Bose (113th Birth day Anniversary)

Yesterday we celebrated 113th birthday anniversary of Founder of Indian National Army "Subash Chandra Bose".

History:-

Subhash Chandra Bose was born on January 23, 1897 at Cuttack, in Orissa. He was the sixth son of Janakinath and Prabhavati Bose.To please his father, Netaji went to England to appear for the Indian Civil Service (I.C.S.) Examination, and achieved fourth place on the Merit list. But he had no intention of serving the British. Instead he wanted to participate in the Nationalist Movement and liberate his Motherland.There were many great heroes born at the time of the freedom movement. Each with his own method of attaining one goal - Independence for India. Some believed in non-violent means, whereas others did not. One such hero was Subhash Chandra Bose,Popularly known as 'Netaji'.

Political History:-

He participated in the freedom movement along with 'Deshbandhu' C.R. Das. He was thrown into jail but that only made him more determined. Subhash joined the congress and rose to its President ship in 1938 a post he held for 2 years.

He did not agree with Gandhiji's methods of achieving Independence through non-violence. Rana Pratap and Shivaji were Netaji's heroes and he believed that the only way to liberate his people was by shedding blood.

World War II:-

During world war II, Netaji meets Hitlar. British were in a tight spot due to the pressure from Hitler. Netaji was under detention in Calcutta at that time, and decided to take advantage of the situation. Dressed as a Pathan, he escaped to Peshawar and then moved on to Kabul and Moscow. Next was Germany. Here he approached Hitler with his cause. Hitler was impressed and promised to help him. He then organized all the Indian Prisoners of War to form the Liberation Army and the Free Indian Army.

Bose went to Italy, Germany and even Russia to seek help but without much use. Subash decided to organize Indians on his own. He landed in Singapore and grouped Indians there into the Indian National Army or the Azad Hind Fauj and declared himself the temporary leader of the free Indian government. Japan, Germany and Italy recognizied Subhash's government and the whole of India rejoiced.

Indian National Army (INA):-

In 1941, Netaji went to Japan and formed the I.N.A. in 1943. 1945 witnessed the I.N.A. waging a war from the North - West of our country. He inspired his army with the battle cry 'Delhi Chalo'. Even though he did not succeed in this battle, he had driven home his message. The Britishers realised that the Indians were serious about gaining independence, and would assume any means towards that end.

On August 17, 1945, Bose died in a plane crash while flying from Bangkok to Tokyo. He did not live to see the Indian Independence, but his spirit still lives through his words - JAI HIND.

National Youth Day (Swami VivekaNand)

"Beware of everything that is untrue. Stick to truth and we shall succeed. Fifty centuries are looking on you, the future of India depends on you. Work on.." - Swami Vivekananda

The day 12th January, the National Youth Day is commemorated in India. This is the birthday of Swami Vivekananda. He is born on 12th Jan 1863. He lived merely 39 years.

Swami Vivekananda is a colossal philosopher. He is motivation to the youth, the incarnation of Indian ethnicity and astuteness.

Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, the Master of Swami Vivekananda. Sri Ramakrishna teaches Swami Vivekananda to give lectures and writings about Indian Spiritual Culture. He wants to incite plentiful youth associations, learning surrounds and overhaul assignments concerning the youth.

In the year 1984, the Government of India is proclaimed that Swami Vivekananda birthday is renowned as ‘National Youth Day’ from 1985. The Government of India stated that the allusion ‘the attitude of Swamiji and the principles that he stayed alive and worked could be an enormous source of appreciation for the Indian Youth’.

Some Famous Quotes By Swami Vivekananda

• Choose the highest ideal and live your life upto that. Look at the "ocean" and not at the wave.
• Religion is the manifestation of the Divinity already in man.
•  Struggle hard to get money, but don't get attached to it.
•  Work, work, work - let this be your motto. 
•  Be a hero. Always say, "I have no fear".
•  Feel that you are great and you become great. 
•  Death being so certain, it is better to die for a good cause. 
• Your country reqires heroes, be heroes!