101 Inspiring Essays

Savitribai Jyotirao Phule (January 3, 1831—March 10, 1897) was a social reformer, who, along with her husband, Mahatama Jyotirao Phule, played an important role in improving women’s rights in India during the British Rule.Savitribai was the first female teacher of the first women’s school in India and also considered as the pioneer of modern Marathi […]

Lakshmi Sahgal (24 October 1914—23 July 2012) was a revolutionist of the Indian Independence movement, an officer of the Indian National Army, and the Minister of Women’s Affairs in the Azad Hind government. Sahgal is commonly referred to in India as Captain Lakshmi, a reference to her rank when taken prisoner in Burma.Sahgal was born

Ganesh Vasudev Mavalankar (27 November 1888—27 February 1956), popularly known as Dadasaheb, was an independence activist, the President (from 1946 to 1947) of the Central Legislative Assembly, then Speaker of the Constituent Assembly of India, and later the first Speaker of the Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Parliament of India. His son Purushottam

Purushottam Das Tandon (1st August 1882—1st July 1962) was born at Allahabad. After obtaining a degree in law and an M.A. in history, he started practising in 1906 and joined the bar of Allahabad High Court in 1908 as a junior to Tej Bahadur Sapru. He gave up practise in 1921 to concentrate on public

K. Kamaraj (15 July 1903—20 Oct. 1975) played a crucial role in the appointment of India’s two Prime Ministers—Lal Bahadur Shastri in the year 1964 and Indira Gandhi in the year 1966. All throughout his reign as chief minister of Tamil Nadu, K. Kamaraj strived to provide free meals and education to people. This was

Mahadev Desai was born on New Year’s Day in 1892 in the village of Saras in Surat District of Gujarat to Haribhai Desai a school teacher and his wife Jamnabehan. Jamnabehan died when Desai was only seven years of age. In 1905, aged 13, Mahadev was married to Durgabehan. He was educated at the Surat

Kamlapati Tripathi, the writer, journalist, editor and freedom fighter, was a senior Indian National Congress leader from Varanasi. He served as Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh as well as the Union Minister for Railways.His father’s name was Pandit Narayanpati Tripathi. He started his career as a journalist working for the daily Hindi newspaper Aaj and

Jivatram Bhagwandas Kriplani was born on 11th November, 1888 in Hyderabad, Sind (presently in Pakistan) to an upper middle-class Hindu Kshatriya Amil family. His father, Kaka Bhagwandas was a Tehsildar (revenue and judicial officer) in government service. It was in Sind itself that Jivatram completed his matriculation and moved to Bombay for further education from

Allama Iqbal was the great poet-philosopher and active political leader born at Sialkot, Punjab, in 1877. He descended from a family of Kashmiri Brahmans, who had embraced Islam about 300 years earlier.Allama Iqbal received his early education in the traditional Madarsa. Later he joined the Sialkot Mission School, from where he passed his matriculate examination.

Begum Hazrat Mahal (1820—1879) was the wife of Nawab Wajid Ali Shah. She was a real graceful lady, whose beauty had an unbeatable charm. She was also known as the Begum of Awadh. When her husband was exiled to Calcutta (now Kolkata), she took the responsibility of managing the affairs of the state of Awadh

Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj was the founder of the Maratha Empire in western India. Shivaji was born on 19th February 1630, to Sahaji and his wife, Jijabai, in the Shivneri fort, situated at the north of Pune. He was named Shiva, after the local Goddess Shivai, to whom his mother Jijabai had prayed for a son.After

Medha Patkar is a well known social activist of India. She was born on 1st December 1954, in Maharashtra in a freedom fighter’s family to Indu and Vasant Khanolkar. Her father actively fought in the Indian Independence Movement. Her mother was a member of Swadar, an organization set up to help and assist women suffering

Baba Ramdev was born on 11th January, 1971 to Gulab Devi and Ram Niwas, in Alipur village of Mahendragarh district in Haryana. He was named as Ramkrishna Yadav. He took formal school education up to 8th standard. After that he studied Indian scriptures and yoga and Sanskrit in various gurukuls. The prominent one was the

Anna Hazare was born on 15th January, 1940 in Bhingar village in Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra state to Babu Rao Hazare and Laxmi Bai. His parents christened him as Kisan Bapat Baburao Hazare.Anna Hazare was raised up by his childless aunt. He couldn’t pursue his studies beyond 7th standard due to family reasons. He started

Chanakya (370-283 BCE) was an Indian teacher, philosopher, and royal advisor.Originally a professor of economics and political science at the ancient Takshashila University, Chanakya managed the first Maurya Emperor Chandragupta’s rise to power at a young age. He is widely credited for having played an important role in the establishment of the Maurya Empire, which