Rabindra Nath Upadhyay

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Rabindra Nath Upadhyay
Ballia District, Uttar Pradesh, India
Died12 April 2010
Guwahati, Assam, India
OccupationSocial worker
Known forTamulpur Anchalik Gramdan Sangha
AwardsPadma Shri
Jamnalal Bajaj Award
Friends of North-east Award
National Communal Harmony Award

Rabindra Nath Upadhyay (1923–2010) was an Indian social worker,

non governmental organization working for the social development of the rural people in the Kumarikata village of Assam.[1] He was a recipient of the 2003 Jamnalal Bajaj Award.[2] The Government of India awarded him the fourth highest civilian award of the Padma Shri, in 2000, for his services to the society.[3]

Biography

Upadhyay was born in a small village (Sarayan, Ujiyar Ghat) in

Bhoodan Movement,[6] he joined Shram Bharati, a Gandhian community, in 1951, to work alongside renowned Gandhians such as Jayaprakash Narayan, Dhirendra Majumdar and Acharya Ramamurti.[1] When the Sino-Indian War broke out in 1962, he moved to the Assam border and worked there as a Shanti Sainik.[5][7]

In Assam, he chose Tamulpur village, on advice from

Nalbari District. Under the aegis of these organizations, he established a common granary to act as a food depository for use in times of need and arranged for financial assistance to free up land from the local land owners.[5] Establishment of Creches, low cost sanitation, biogas plants and drinking water facilities were some of the other contributions of Upadhyay in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. He was also involved with relief operations when famine affected the area.[1]

Aligning with

Bodo people exposed him to physical assault by the militants.[1] During the Emergency period, he also suffered incarceration for protesting against the government.[5]

Upadhyay was married to Shakuntala Devi,[1] who was also involved in his social activities.[5] He died on 12 April 2010, at Guwahati, at the age of 87.[1]

Awards and honours

The Government of India included him in the 2000

Republic Day honours list for the civilian award of the Padma Shri for his services to the society.[3] In 2003, he was awarded the Jamnalal Bajaj Award for constructive work by Jamnalal Bajaj Foundation.[2] The next year he received the Friends of North-east Award[1] and the National Foundation for Communal Harmony (NFCH), an autonomous body under the Ministry of Home Affairs honoured him with the National Communal Harmony Award in 2006[6] which he received from A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, the then President of India, on 23 May 2007.[9]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i "M S S E - N E W S L E T T E R" (PDF). Mahila Shanti Sena. 5 May 2010. Retrieved 8 November 2015.
  2. ^ a b "JBF Awards 2003". Jamnalal Bajaj Foundation. 2015. Retrieved 8 November 2015.
  3. ^ a b "Padma Awards" (PDF). Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. 2015. Retrieved 21 July 2015.
  4. ^ "Shri Rabindra Nath Upadhyay". Jamnalal Bajaj Foundation. 2013. Retrieved 8 November 2015.[permanent dead link]
  5. ^ a b c d e f g "Recipient of Jamnalal Bajaj Award for Constructive Work-2003" (PDF). Jamnalal Bajaj Foundation. 2015. Retrieved 8 November 2015.
  6. ^ a b "Assamese Gandhian Rabindra Nath Upadhyay bags 2006 National Communal Harmony Award". Web India`. 26 January 2007. Retrieved 8 November 2015.
  7. ^ Natwar Thakkar (October 2010). "Mahatma Gandhi and the Gandhians in the North-East". Astha Bharati. 12 (2).
  8. ISBN 9788170248569
    .
  9. ISBN 9788172540555
    .

External links
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Rabindra_Nath_Upadhyay&oldid=1175916144"