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APJ Abdul Kalam

Born - 15 October 1931
Achievements - This eminent scientist and
engineer has also served as the 11th President of
India from the period 2002 to 2007. APJ Abdul
Kalam is a man of vision, who is always full of
ideas aimed at the development of the country. He
firmly believes that India needs to play a more
assertive role in international relations.

Apart from being a notable scientist and engineer,
Dr APJ Abdul Kalam served as the 11th President
of India from the period 2002 to 2007. He is a man
of vision, who is always full of ideas aimed at the
development of the country and is also often also
referred to as the Missile Man of India. People
loved and respected Dr APJ Abdul Kalam so much
during his tenure as President that was popularly
called the People's President. Read more about
the biography of Dr APJ Abdul Kalam here.

APJ Abdul Kalam was born on 15 October 1931 at the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu and received honorary
doctorates from about 30 universities globally. In the year 1981, the Government of India presented him the nation's
highest civilian honor, the Padma Bhushan and then again, the Padma Vibhushan in 1990 and the Bharat Ratna in
1997. Before Kalam, there have been only two presidents - SarvepalliRadhakrishnan and ZakirHussain - to have
received the Bharat Ratna before being appointed to the highest office in India.

Read on about the life history of Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, who are also the first scientist and bachelor to occupy the seat
of the RashtrapatiBhavan. His perspectives on important topics have been enunciated by him in the book 'India
2020'. It highlights the action plans that will help develop the country into a knowledge superpower by the time 2020.
One thing for which he received ample kudos is his unambiguous statement that India needs to play a more assertive
role in international relations.

And Dr APJ Abdul Kalam regards his work on India's nuclear weapons program as a way to assert India's place as a
future superpower. Even during his tenure as President, APJ Kalam took avid interest in the spheres of India's
science and technology. He has even put forward a project plan for establishing bio-implants. He is also an ardent
advocate of open source software over proprietary solutions to churn out more profits in the field of information
technology in India.

Contributed by: - Shubham Kashyap
Amartya Sen

Nobel Prize winner Amartya Sen was born on 3 November 1933 in Santiniketan, West Bengal. Besides being a
world-renowned economist, Amartya Sen is also a philosopher. He served as a Master at the Trinity College at
Cambridge University, the first Asian academic to head an Oxbridge college. Currently the Lamont University
Professor at Harvard University, Amartya Sen traces his roots to an illustrious lineage. His father, Ashutosh Sen,
taught chemistry at the Dhaka University. Amartya completed his high-school education from Dhaka in Bangladesh in
1941. After his family migrated to India in 1947, Sen studied at the Presidency College, Kolkata and at
the Delhi School of Economics before moving over to the United Kingdom to complete his higher studies. He earned
his doctorate from the Trinity College, Cambridge in 1959. He has taught at various reputed Universities including the
University of Calcutta, Jadavpur University, Oxford, London School of Economics, Harvard and many others.

His works helped to develop the theory of social choice. In 1981, he published his famous work Poverty and Famines:
An Essay on Entitlement and Deprivation, where he showed that famine occurs not only due to shortage of food, but
from inequalities in the mechanisms for distributing food. He had personally witnessed the Bengal famine of 1943. He
has done valuable work in the field of development economics, which has had a tremendous influence on the
formulation of the United Nations Development Program's Human Development Report.
He wrote a famous but controversial article in the New York Review of Books titled "More Than 100 Million Women
Are Missing", wherein he analyzed the mortality impact of unequal rights between the genders in the developing
world, mainly Asia, a claim that was contested by many. Thrice married, he is presently married to Emma Georgina
Rothschild, a Fellow of King's College, Cambridge. He was awarded the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian award
in 1999. In the same year, he received the honorary citizenship of Bangladesh. He received the Eisenhower Medal,
for Leadership and Service in USA in 2000. In 2002, he was awarded the International Humanist Award by the
International Humanist and Ethical Union.

Contributed by:- Sweta Gupta
Anna Hazare

His only motive in life lies in service of his fellow humans. His fight against corruption has been basically targeted at
uplifting the poor and downtrodden conditions prevailing in rural India. His supporters call him "Second Gandhi". He is
Anna Hazare, an ex-army man and a social activist, recognized and celebrated for his undying support for the
citizens of India to serve them and fight for them against greed and corruption. His journey of four decades, right from
a tenacious army soldier to a social reformer, is regarded as an unprecedented campaign of resurrecting India as a
strong nation. By upgrading the ecology and economy of the Ralegan Siddhi village, sited in drought-prone
Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra state, Hazare has played a significant role in transforming this poverty clad
hamlet into one of the richest villages in India. Recently, he has earned name and fame for fighting for the
implementation of the Jan Lokpal Bill, the anti-corruption bill drafted by his crusaders to deal with the corruption
prevalent in the government of India at the highest level.

Early Life
Anna Hazare was born as Kisan Baburao Hazare to Baburao Hazare, an unskilled laborer in Ayurveda Ashram
Pharmacy, in the village of Bhingar near Hinganghat city in Bombay Province, presently in Maharashtra. After his
grandfather's death in 1945 who served in the Indian army, his father continued working in Bhingar till 1952, after
which he resigned and returned to his ancestral home in Ralegan Siddhi. Due to financial hardships, Anna Hazare
was looked after by his childless aunt who took him to Mumbai and funded his education. Here in Mumbai, he studied
till class seven and took up employment to support his family. A job that started as selling flowers in Dadar
culminated into owning a flower shop and calling upon two other brothers to Mumbai.

Service in the Indian Army
The Indian soldiers who turned martyrs in the Indo-China War of 1962 urged the government to recruit young Indians
in the Indian army on emergency basis. Highly inspired by patriotism and love for his country, Anna Hazare joined the
Indian Army in 1963, despite not fulfilling the physical requirements. Here began his career as an Indian army soldier,
starting as a truck driver, after successful training at Aurangabad in Maharashtra. When Pakistan attacked India in
1965, he was posted at Khem Karan border, where all his comrades turned martyrs, but Anna managed to survive a
close shave as a bullet just passed by his head. This incident forced him to think upon the existence of humans and
meaning of life and death. Swami Vivekananda proved to be a great inspiration for him, post reading the small
booklet "Call to the youth for nation building" he found at a book stall at the New Delhi railway station. It was at this
point that he decided to dedicate his entire life for serving humanity. He was just 26 at that time. However, having
completed only three years in the army would not have made him eligible for the pension scheme, which is why he
continued to serve in the army for 13 long years, after which he took voluntary retirement from the army in 1975 and
returned to his native place, Ralegan Siddhi. During his tenure as a soldier, he served in different states, like Sikkim,
Bhutan, Jammu & Kashmir, Assam, Mizoram, Leh, and Ladakh.

Upliftment of Ralegan Siddhi
During his tenure in the Indian Army, Anna Hazare visited Ralegan Siddhi every year for two months and was highly
moved by the miserable condition of the farmers residing there. On retirement, he went back to this drought-prone
and rain-shadow zone of Ahmednagar district and pledged to develop the village. He came across the novel project
of water management through watershed development undertaken by Vilasrao Salunke, a resident of Saswad near
Pune. Motivated by the project, he decided to implement the same in his village to eradicate water scarcity. The
project was successful in increasing the ground water level and providing water to 1500 acres of land, instead of the
meager 70 acres previously. As a result, the farmers produced good yield of food grains and the village became self-
sufficient. Eventually, Anna Hazare brought about several economic changes leading to establishment of a school, a
temple, a hostel, and other buildings. Mass marriages, Grains Bank, dairy, cooperative society, self-help group for
women, and youth mandals followed next to give the village a new and improved face. This village became a model
village for numerous other oppressed villages, and has been regarded as a tourist spot for people from across the
country till date.

Social Life
Bhrashtachar Virodhi Jan Aandolan (BVJA), or People's Movement against Corruption, was started by Anna Hazare
in 1991 as an attempt to fight against corruption that was blocking rural development in India. Hunger strikes became
his tool of protest with high-profile politicians being his target. The movement found 42 forest officers guilty for duping
hundreds of crores through corruption. Even though Anna Hazare handed over the evidences to the government, the
government was reluctant in taking action against the culprits since some officers of the ruling party were themselves
involved in the scam. Distressed and heart-broken, Anna Hazare protested and was imprisoned, a step that was
supported by all social activists and political leaders of all parties, except BJP and Shiv Sena. To force the
government raise charges against another set of political leaders, he began his fast unto death on August 9, 2003,
which ended on August 17, 2003 with the then chief minister Sushil Kumar Shinde forming a one-man commission to
find evidence against the convicts.

Right to Information Movement
Envisioning that action against fraudulent ministers and officers was not sufficient to fight back corruption, Anna
Hazare campaigned for the Right to Information Act in 1997 which was turned down by the state government. To
protest against the result, he agitated at Azad Maidan in Mumbai and then traveled across the state to create mass
public awareness. Realizing that the government has turned blind, he went on an indefinite hunger strike in July
2003. His protest compelled the President of India to sign the draft of the Right to Information Act after 12 days of
hunger strike. The act was put to order with effect from 2002 and formed the base for the National Right to
Information Act, 2005.

Lokpal Bill Movement
The most touted protest among all the remonstrations campaigned by Anna Hazare against the Indian government is
the Lokpal Bill Movement, or People's Ombudsman Bill, which was initiated in April 2011. This anti-corruption bill was
drafted by N. Santosh Hegde, a former justice of the Supreme Court of India and Lokayukta of Karnataka; Prashant
Bhushan, a senior lawyer at the Supreme Court; and Arvind Kejriwal, a social acitivist, along with other members of
the India Against Corruption movement. The bill included more stringent provisions and wider power than the Lokpal
Bill prepared by the government in 2010. In support of getting the bill approved, Anna Hazare began his fast unto
death on April 5, 2011 at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi, after his demand for a more independent Jan Lokpal Bill was
rejected by the Indian Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh.

Hazare's hunger strike and anti-corruption campaign was supported by thousands of people and social activists, such
as Medha Patkar, Arvind Kejriwal, former IPS officer Kiran Bedi, and Jayprakash Narayan. The hunger strike ended
on April 8, 2011 after the government agreed to give into the demands. Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh stated that
the bill would be re-introduced in the monsoon session of the Parliament. This resulted in the issue of a notification in
the Gazette of India on April 9, 2011 to form a joint committee, comprising of five nominee ministers of the
Government of India and five nominees of the civil society. The five nominee ministers of the Government of India
included Pranab Mukherjee, P. Chidambaram, M. Veerappa Moily, Kapil Sibal, and Salman Khursheed. From the civil
society Anna Hazare, N. Santosh Hegde, Shanti Bhushan, Prashant Bhushan, and Arvind Kejriwal, represented as
the five nominees.

Meanwhile, on 5 June 2011, Swami Ramdev and his followers went on a hunger strike against the issues of black
money and corruption, doubting seriousness of the government in taking measures to eradicate corruption. But they
were forcibly evicted from the Ramlila Maidan by Delhi Police. As a retort, Anna Hazare and other civil society
members boycotted the meeting of the joint Lokpal Bill drafting committee scheduled on June 6, 2011. They even
asked the government to make its stand on the contentious issues related to the proposed draft legislation public.
The group also declared that the future meetings would be attended only if they were telecast live. What followed
next was the grand march on June 8, 2011 at Rajghat, wherein Anna Hazare threatened to go on an indefinite hunger
strike, if the government tried to discredit the joint Lokpal Bill drafting committee and did not pass the bill.

On July 28, 2011, the union cabinet approved a draft of the Lokpal Bill, but what came out was a weak version of the
original proposed bill. Not only did the government version kept the Prime Minister, judiciary and lower bureaucracy
out of the ambit of the proposed corruption ombudsman Lokpal, but the drafted bill limited the powers of Lokpal to
being just an Advisory Board. It stated that the Lokpal would have no police powers and no ability to register an FIR
or proceed with criminal investigations. Furthermore, the drafted Lokpal bill affirmed that the Lokpal would have no
power to initiate suo motu action or receive complaints of corruption from the general public. It could only probe
complaints forwarded by the Speaker of the Lok Sabha or the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha. Eventually, as expected,
Hazare rejected the government version of the bill and avowed that he would go on an indefinite fast from August 16,
2011 at Jantar Mantar if the government introduced its own version of the bill in Parliament without taking
suggestions from civil society members

Just four hours before the planned hunger strike on August 16, 2011. Anna Hazare was arrested and imprisoned at
Tihar Jail, though he started his fast inside the jail itself. Although he was granted judicial detention after 24 hours, he
refused to come out, asking the government to approve of his demands for an unconditional permission to fast at
Jaiprakash Narain Park. Also, he accepted neither of the two proposals laid down by Delhi Police, which were either
stage a fast for a maximum of three days with a limited number of supporters (5, 000) or return to his hometown in
Maharashtra. Rejecting both the proposals, Hazare preferred to remain in the Tihar Jail until his demands were met,
saying he would leave the jail only if the government unconditionally allowed his protest for a stronger Lokpal Bill.
Succumbing to the mounting pressure, the government of India has agreed for a 15-day fast at the Ramlila Ground,
with no limitation on the number of supporters. Reportedly, a huge mass of supporters is expected to be at the
Ramlila Ground to proffer their support towards this willful and determined social activist and India's "second freedom
struggle" in terms of Anna Hazare.

Awards & Recognition
Indira Priyadarshini Vrikshamitra Award, 1986
Krishi Bhushana Award, 1989
Padma Shri, 1990
Padma Bhushan, 1992
Shiromani Award, 1996
Mahaveer Award, 1997
CARE International Award by CARE relief agency, 1998
Integrity Award by Transparency International, 2003
Honorary doctorate by Gandhigram Rural University, 2005
Jit Gill Memorial Award by World Bank, 2008

Timeline
1937: Born in Bhingar, Bombay Province
1952: Went to Bombay with his aunt
1963: Selected as a truck driver in the Indian Army
1965: Survived the air attack by Pakistan during Indo-Pakistani War
1975: Voluntarily retired from the Indian Army
1990: Felicitated with the Padma Shri
1991: Launched the Bhrashtachar Virodhi Jan Aandolan (BVJA)
1992: Received the Padma Bhushan
1997: Campaigned for the Right to Information Act (RTI Act)
2003: Began an indefinite hunger strike to get the RTI Act approved
2003: Went on a fast unto death from August 9 to August 17 as a protest against corrupt political leaders
2011: Initiated the Jan Lokpal Bill in April
2011: Arrested on August 16 before heading for the indefinite fast and imprisoned

Contributed by :- Shivam Srivastava

AR Rahman

Born - 6 January 1967
Achievements - AR Rahman holds the credit for
totally overhauling the style in which music was
being made in India. Though with a career
spanning just over a decade, Rahman has already
sold over one hundred million records world-wide
and more than two hundred million cassettes. This
has brought AR Rahman into the category of the
world's top 25 all-time top selling recording artists.

Allah Rakha Rahman, who is better known as AR
Rahman, is a world-class musician of India. Born
as A. S. Dileep Kumar on 6 January 1967 at
Chennai in Tamil Nadu, AR Rahman holds the
credit for totally overhauling the style in which
music was being made in India. Soundtracks and
scores composed by him for Indian films have a
strong impression of classical, folk, jazz, reggae,
soft rock and other genres. Due to his creative brilliance, AR Rahman is often referred to as the Mozart of Madras by
his fans in India and abroad.

The biography of AR Rahman's career spans somewhere over a decade, but he has already sold over one hundred
million records world-wide and more than two hundred million cassettes. This has brought Rahman into the category
of the world's top 25 all-time top selling recording artists. Though AR Rahman is the undisputed leader in Indian
contemporary music in the present times, he has seen his share of struggle in the professional life.

His father, R K Shekhar, who was a composer, arranger and conductor for Malayalam films died when Rahman was
just 9 years-old and his family rented out musical equipment as a source of income. Later there was a turning point
when Dileep Kumar decided to rechristen himself as A R Rahman. This incident happened when Rahman's sister
was very ill once. A Muslim friend suggested if he prayed in a particular mosque, his sister would recover and so did
happen. This caused the entire family to convert to Islam.

The life history of AR Rahman's music career started scaling upwards 1991 onwards when began his own studio and
started making music for advertisements, television channels and so on. Rahman got his very first break into the
Indian film industry when film director, Mani Ratnam offered him a chance to compose music for his Tamil film, Roja
at mere Rs 25,000. This movie turned out to be blockbuster hit and then there was no looking back for A.R. Rahman.

Roja debut made AR Rahman bag the Rajat Kamal award for best music director at the National Film Awards. This
was a historic moment as for the first time ever in Indian film industry, this award was being handed to a first-time film
composer. There was no looking back for AR Rahman after this as film offers just started pouring in. There are now
an impressive number of music tracks created by Rahman and all of them have sold like hot cakes across India and
even abroad. He has made songs for super hit films like Rangeela, Dil Se Taal, Rang De Basanti, Bombay et al.

Contributed by: - Usha Patel

Baba Amte

Born - 26 December 1914
Achievements - Baba Amte is one of the greatest
social reformers India's ever had. He gave his
lucrative career as barrister for social service. He
was so great a person that he dedicated his entire
life to the care and rehabilitation of leprosy
patients. Often Baba Amte allowed his body to be
used for carrying out experiments to grow leprosy
germs.

Hailing from a well-to-do family of Jagirdars and
born on 26 December in 1914 at Hinganghat in the
Wardha district of the Maharashtra state,
Murlidhar Devidas Amte is one of the most
remembered Indian social reformers. Even though
he was trained as a barrister and was operating a
successful practice at Warora, yet he gave it all up
to dedicate himself totally into social service when
he noticed the poverty all around him. He was lovingly called Baba Amte.

Infact, the life history of Murlidhar Devidas Amte is full of touching incidents. He was so great a person that he
dedicated his entire life to the care and rehabilitation of leprosy patients. Often Baba Amte allowed his body to be
used for carrying out experiments to grow leprosy germs. His social project at Anandwan adjacent to Nagpur in the
Indian state of Maharashtra is world renowned because it has done a lot to dismiss injustices against leprosy
patients.

Read on more about the biography of Murlidhar Devidas Amte or Baba Amte. In the year 1985, Baba Amte started
the Bharat Jodo or the Unite India movement beginning from Kanyakumari to Kashmir and then again from Gujarat to
Arunachal Pradesh in the year 1988. The main objective was to reinstate peace and whip up environmental
awareness. In the year 1990, Baba left Anandwan to reside alongside river Narmada with the objective to fight
against social injustice to local inhabitants there.

Baba Amte was honored with numerous national and international awards for his selfless service to the society his
entire life. The Government of India presented him with the Padma Shree Award in the year 1971 and then the
Padma Vibhushan in the year 1986. The Welfare of the Disabled award was presented to him in the year 1986 and
Gandhi Peace Prize in 1999. Among the host of international awards Baba Amte got were Damien-Dutton Award in
1983, the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Public Service in 1985 and so on.

Contributed by: - Muzammil Khan
Birju Maharaj

Born: February 4, 1937
Achievement: Well-known exponent of Kathak;
Recipient of Sangeet Natak Academy Award,
Padma Vibhushan, Kalidas Samman, Soviet Land
Nehru Award, SNA Award, Sangam Kala Award.

Pandit Birju Maharaj is a legendary Kathak
dancer. He belongs an illustrious family of dance
masters of the Lucknow gharana. His two uncles
Shambu and Lacchu Maharaj, and his father
Acchan Maharaj were all well-known Kathak
dancers. Apart from Kathak, Pandit Birju Maharaj
is also an accomplished vocalist

Pandit Birju Maharaj alias Brij Mohan Nath Mishra
was born on February 4, 1937. He took training in
Kathak under the guidance of his father, Achchan
Maharaj and uncles Lacchu Maharaj and
Shambhu Maharaj. Birju Maharaj gave his first performance at the young age of seven at Lucknow and after that
there was no looking back.

Birju Maharaj is a multi-faceted personality. Besides his mastery over Kathak, he is also a superb musician,
percussionist, composer, teacher, director, choreographer and a poet. Birju Maharaj has composed many dance
dramas like 'Gobardhan Leela', 'Makhan Chori', 'Malti-Madhav', 'Kumar Sambhav', and 'Phag Bahar'. Birju Maharaj
has also dabbled in films. He composed two classical dance sequence for Satyajit Ray's film 'Shatranj Ke Khiladi' and
choreographed a song for Sanjay Leela Bhansal's film 'Devdas'.

Birju Maharaj is a recipient of several honors and awards. These include: Sangeet Natak Academy Award, Padma
Vibhushan, Kalidas Samman, Soviet Land Nehru Award, SNA Award, Sangam Kala Award etc. He was also
conferred with two honorary doctorate degrees and the Nehru Fellowship.

Birju Maharaj taught at Sangeet Bharati, Bharatiya Kala Kendra and headed the teaching faculty Kathak Kendra in
Delhi till his retirement in 1998.

Contributed by: - Dr. S K Singh