India celebrates the 118th birth anniversary of Lal Bahadur Shastri, the nation’s second Prime Minister. Shastri, who succeeded Jawaharlal Nehru, was respected for his forthrightness and honesty, and after his passing, he was awarded the Bharat Ratna, making him the first posthumous laureate of this prestigious award. Shastri has the same birthday (2 October) as Mahatma Gandhi even though he was born in 1904, 35 years later. He is also remembered for composing the slogan of “Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan”.
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Lal Bahadur Shastri birth anniversary 2022: Early life history
- Lal Bahadur Shastri was born on October 2, 1904, to Sharada Prasad Srivastava, who was a clerk at the revenue office in Allahabad, and mother Ramadulari Devi in Mughalsarai.
- Lal Bahadur Shastri was a student in the East Central Railway Inter College in Mughalsarai and Varanasi. In 1926 he successfully completed his graduation from the Kashi Vidyapeeth.
- At the age of 16, Shastri joined the non-cooperation movement to fight against the British. His Prime ministership was for a short term of 19 months, but he has served the nation for 30 years by being a part of India’s struggle for independence.
- He was a life member of the servants of the people’s society (Lok Sevak Mandal) founded by Lala Lajpat Rai. There he started working for the upliftment of the backward classes and later became the President of that society.
- Around the 1920s, Shastri joined the Indian independence movement and was sent to jail for a period of time by the Britishers.
- In the 1930s, he participated in salt satyagraha and was sent to jail for more than two years.
- In 1937, he was the organising secretary of the Parliamentary Board of UP and, later in 1942, was again sent to jail when Mahatma Gandhi delivered the Quit India speech in Mumbai. His imprisonment continued till 1946, with an average of nine years in total in jail. His time in jail was utilised by reading books and understanding the work of western philosophers, revolutionaries, and social reformers.
- He was also awarded India’s highest civilian award posthumously in 1966.
- He promoted the white and green revolution in India that helped in increasing the production of milk by supporting the Amul milk co-operative in Gujrat and creating the National Dairy Development Board.
- In 1965, his boost to the green revolution helped in the productivity of food grain in places like Haryana, Punjab, and Uttar Pradesh.
- He received the highest civilian award, Bharat Ratna, posthumously in 1966.
Lal Bahadur Shastri’s death anniversary:
- Shastri died on January 11, 1966, in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, just a day after the peace treaty was signed for the end of the 1965 Indo-Pakistan War.
- The cause of death was reported as a cardiac arrest but the Shastri family claimed it to be poisoned.
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