Omeo Kumar Das
Omeo Kumar Das | |
---|---|
Born | (1895-05-21)21 May 1895 Nagaon, Assam, India |
Died | 23 January 1975(1975-01-23) (aged 79) Guwahati, Assam, India |
Other names | Lok Nayak |
Occupation(s) | Indian independence activist Social reformer Translator Educationist |
Known for | Social reforms |
Spouse | Pushpalata Das |
Awards | Padma Bhushan |
Omeo Kumar Das (21 May 1895 – 23 January 1975), popularly addressed as Lok Nayak, was an Indian social worker, Gandhian, educationist, writer and a former minister at the Government of Assam. He held various ministerial portfolios such as Education, Labour and Food and Civil Supplies, during various periods, in the state of Assam.[1] He translated The Story of My Experiments with Truth, the autobiography of Mahatma Gandhi, into Assamese language and contributed to the implementation of Tea Plantation Worker’s Provident Fund in the state. The Government of India awarded him the third highest civilian honour of the Padma Bhushan, in 1963, for his contributions to society.[2] India Post honoured Das by issuing a commemorative stamp on him on 15 May 1998.[3]
Early life
Das was born on 21 May 1895 at Nagaon district in the Northeast Indian state of Assam and his schooling was at Tezpur High School, Tezpur. He did his higher education at Cotton College, Guwahati and City College, Calcutta during which time he was reported to have been attracted to the activities of Indian independence activists such as Gopal Krishna Gokhale and Bal Gangadhar Tilak and started getting involved in student politics.
Political life
He was one of the leaders of the Civil disobedience movement of 1930 in Assam and was jailed many times during the freedom struggle.[1] He successfully contested the Assam legislative Assembly and the Constituent Assembly elections of 1937 and 1945 respectively and, after the Indian independence, he represented Dhekiajuli Assembly constituency for three consecutive terms, 1951, '57 and '62.[4] During these periods, he served as the minister in various portfolios. It was during his tenure as the Labour minister, the Worker's Provident Fund for the labourers of the tea plantations was instituted, an initiative reported to be among first such instances in Asia.[1] As the minister of Education, his contributions were noted in the implementation of basic education scheme in Assam. He also served as the minister of Food and Civil Supplies for a period of time.[1]
Literary work
Das is credited with the publication of several books, including Mor Satya Aneshwanar Kahini, an Assamese language translation of The Story of My Experiments with Truth, the autobiography of Mahatma Gandhi.[5] Gandhijir Jiboni, Mahatma Gandhik Aami Kidore Bujilu and Asomot Mahatma are some of his other works. He was involved with the activities of several social and Gandhian organisations such as Harijan Sevak Sangh, Bharatiya Adim Jati Sevak Sangha, Bharat Sevek Samaj, Gandhi Smarak Nidhi, Kasturba Smarak Nidhi and Assam Seva Samiti and was a part of their social activities like campaign against substance abuse and rehabilitation of patients afflicted with leprosy and tuberculosis.[1]
Awards and honours
The Government of India included him in the 1993 Republic Day honours list for the civilian award of the Padma Bhushan.[2] He died on 23 January 1975, aged 81, survived by his wife, Pushpalata Das, renowned freedom activist and parliamentarian,[6] and their daughter.[7] Omeo Kumar Das Institute of Social Change and Development (OKD), Guwahati, an autonomous institution funded by the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR), was named after Das, on his birth centenary in 1995.[8] India Post issued a commemorative postage stamp on him in 1998.[3] A college at Dhekiajuli has been named, Lokonayak Omeo Kumar Das College, in his honour.[9]
See also
References
- ^ a b c d e "Lokanayak Omeo Okumar Das on Free India". Free India. 5 February 2003. Archived from the original on 21 April 2016. Retrieved 9 March 2016.
- ^ a b "Padma Awards" (PDF). Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. 2016. Retrieved 3 January 2016.
- ^ a b "Commemorative stamps" (PDF). India Post. 2016. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 January 2013. Retrieved 8 March 2016.
- ^ "Dhekiajuli Assembly Constituency". Maps of India. 2014. Retrieved 9 March 2016.
- ^ "Books and Authors". Joiaaiaxom. 2016. Retrieved 9 March 2016.
- ^ "Puspa Lata Das Biography". Maps of India. 2014. Retrieved 9 March 2016.
- ^ "Freedom fighter Pushpalata Das passes away". Times of India. 10 November 2003. Retrieved 9 March 2016.
- ^ "Visit to the Omeo Kumar Das Institute of Social Change and Development". Swedish South Asian Studies Network. 24 November 2005. Retrieved 9 March 2016.
- ^ "Lokonayak Omeo Kumar Das College". Lokonayak Omeo Kumar Das College. 2016. Retrieved 9 March 2016.
External links
- "Personalities on Postage Stamps". Web listing. Stamp Sathi. 2016. Retrieved 9 March 2016.
- "Omeo Kumar Das Institute of Social Change and Development". Karmayog. 2016. Archived from the original on 20 July 2018. Retrieved 9 March 2016.
- v
- t
- e
- Ramchandra Narayan Dandekar
- Prem Chandra Dhanda
- Asaf Ali Asghar Fyzee
- Bade Ghulam Ali Khan
- Daulat Singh Kothari
- Mithan Jamshed Lam
- Sudhansu Sobhan Maitra
- Sisir Kumar Mitra
- Tarabai Modak
- Niaz Fatehpuri
- Jal Ratanji Patel
- Narayan Sitaram Phadke
- V. Raghavan
- Dukhan Ram
- T. S. Soundram
- Mahankali Seetharama Rao
- Moturi Satyanarayana
- Sitaram Seksaria
- Santosh Kumar Sen
- Tarlok Singh
- Raja Radhika Raman Sinha
- Sheikh Abdullah
- Nuruddin Ahmed
- Rafiuddin Ahmed
- Jacob Chandy
- Kunji Lal Dubey
- Tushar Kanti Ghosh
- Dara Nusserwanji Khurody
- Anukul Chandra Mukherjee
- Jnanendra Nath Mukherjee
- Bhola Nath Mullik
- R. K. Narayan
- Chintaman Govind Pandit
- Tribhuvandas Kishibhai Patel
- Bal Gandharva
- T. N. Ramachandran
- Khushwant Lal Wig
- Joginder Singh Dhillon
- Bhalchandra Babaji Dikshit
- Narasinh Narayan Godbole
- Nawang Gombu
- Sonam Gyatso
- Akbar Ali Khan
- S. L. Kirloskar
- Mohan Singh Kohli
- Harbaksh Singh
- P. O. Dunn
- Kashmir Singh Katoch
- Pratap Chandra Lal
- Ramaswamy Rajaram
- Mohammad Mujeeb
- Jayant Narlikar
- K. R. Ramanathan
- Satyajit Ray
- Triguna Sen
- Vrindavan Lal Verma
- Manikya Lal Verma
- Acharya Vishva Bandhu
- Prabhu Lal Bhatnagar
- Mary Clubwala Jadhav
- K. Shivaram Karanth
- Bismillah Khan
- Vishnu Sakharam Khandekar
- Sam Manekshaw
- Mansukhlal Atmaram Master
- M. G. K. Menon
- Waman Bapuji Metre
- Gujarmal Modi
- Murugappa Channaveerappa Modi
- Benjamin Peary Pal
- Brahm Prakash
- Manikonda Chalapathi Rau
- C. R. Rao
- Radhanath Rath
- Mariadas Ruthnaswamy
- Firaq Gorakhpuri
- Shripad Damodar Satwalekar
- G. Sankara Kurup
- Periyasaamy Thooran
- Mamidipudi Venkatarangayya
- Tarasankar Bandyopadhyay
- Rahim-ud-in Khan Dagar
- Mohanlal Lallubhai Dantwala
- Keshavrao Krishnarao Datey
- Keshav Prasad Goenka
- Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer
- Vithalbhai Jhaveri
- Prithviraj Kapoor
- Kesarbai Kerkar
- Krishna Kripalani
- Adinath Lahiri
- Gobind Behari Lal
- Kasturbhai Lalbhai
- Lata Mangeshkar
- V. K. Narayana Menon
- Saghar Nizami
- Nanasaheb Parulekar
- Yashwant Dinkar Pendharkar
- Vitthal Laxman Phadke
- Raja Rao
- Niharranjan Ray
- Prafulla Kumar Sen
- Haroon Khan Sherwani
- Naval Tata
- S. S. Vasan
- 1954–1959
- 1960–1969
- 1970–1979
- 1980–1989
- 1990–1999
- 2000–2009
- 2010–2019
- 2020–2029