Sardar V. Patel - The Iron Man of India

Sardar Patel - The Iron Man Of India

Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel was born in 1875 and died in 1950. He was one of the three main leaders of the Indian Congress when India became independent in 1947. He shared power with Jawaharlal Nehru and Mohandas K. Gandhi. Patel became deputy prime minister in 1947, a position he held until his death. He also held the positions of home minister, minister of states, and minister of information. As a governing politician, he is remembered largely for his role in the speedy incorporation of the Indian princely states into the new nation. this incorporation was mostly accomplished peacefully by diplomatic means, but Patel was not afraid to use force when necessary, as he did against the nizam of Hydrabad. Patel was a devout Hindu. He represented the more conservative wing of the Indian National Congress. Patel was a talented politician who looked only for the most practical solutions to political problems. he opposed violence in the struggle against British rule not because it was immoral, as Gandhi thought, but because he thought that it would be ineffective and that it would provoke the British to more repressive. Patel also accepted the partition of India, again mainly for practical reasons. he worked for the orderly transfer of power from British to Indian hands, keeping intact the administrative structure of the old British government, or Raj, in order to cope with turmoil and weakness in the early post-partition years.

Vallabhbhai Jhaverbhai Patel was born in Nadiad, Gujurat, On October 31, 1875. He went to London in 1910 to study law. upon his return to India, he began working as a lawyer in Ahemdabad, Gujurat. Patel entered local politics in Ahemdabad in 1917, becoming the first commisioner in Ahemdabad. the name Sardar (leader) was first applied to him after he led the Bardoli Satyagraha (nonviolent campaign of resistance), a peasants' campaign against increased taxes, in 1928. He was imprisoned several times during the struggle for India's Independence. He died in Bombay (Mumbai) on December 15, 1950.

India

Facts of IndiaØ India is a country in southern Asia that ranks as the second largest country in the world in population. Only China has more people. India is also one of the most densely populated countries in the world and one of the largest in area. Its capital is New Delhi. Mumbai, formerly called Bombay, is its largest city.

Ø Much of India forms a peninsula that extends southward into the Indian Ocean. India is bordered on the west by the Arabian Sea and Pakistan; on the north by China, Nepal, and Bhutan; and on the east by Myanmar, Bangladesh, and the Bay of Bengal. India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, and Pakistan are sometimes said to make up a region called the Indian subcontinent.

Ø India is a land of great variety and contrast. The mighty snow-capped Himalaya, the world's tallest mountain system, rises along its northern border. A vast, scorching desert lies in the west, but parts of eastern India receive some of the highest rainfall in the world. The country also has broad plains, winding rivers, lush rain forests, and tropical lowlands.

Ø The people of India belong to a variety of ethnic groups and speak hundreds of dialects and languages. Hindi is the national language and is widely spoken in north and central India.

Ø Most Indians are farmers, and they depend on seasonal rains to grow their crops. These farmers live in villages throughout the land. On the other hand, a growing number of Indians work in offices and factories in the country's cities. The urban centers of Delhi, Kolkata, and Mumbai are among the largest in the world.

States & Territories

Ø

Land & Climate

Government

Economy

Literature

Ø All of India's major languages have written literatures, many of which are at least 1,000 years old. The earliest Indian written works—the Vedas—are about 3,000 years old. Composed in an early form of Sanskrit, these Hindu scriptures are poetical compositions that discuss God, the universe, and the nature of life.

Ø India's two great epics, the Mahabharata and Ramayana, were also composed in Sanskrit. Parts of the Mahabharata, which includes the Bhagavad-Gita, are probably more than 2,500 years old. The Ramayana was likely begun about the same time. These poems have inspired Indian literature through the centuries. Today, they are generally read not in Sanskrit but in other Indian languages and English.

Ø Many of the world's fables and folk tales come from India. The oldest collection of fables in India, the Panchatantra, may date from as early as the 200's B.C.

Ø From about A.D. 500 to 1600, a social and religious movement called bhakti swept across India. Bhakti influenced the development of regional languages because it emphasized people's everyday speech. Many bhakti poets, including Jnanadeva, Kabir, Mira Bai, Surdas, and Tulsidas, are still among the most widely read authors in India. Their hymns are also set to music.

Ø Later Indian literature continued to be written in all the major Indian languages and English. For example, Bankim Chandra Chatterji, sometimes called the father of the Indian novel, wrote in Bengali. His historical novels about Indian heroes helped spread Indian nationalism in the 1800's. Bengali-language writers of the early 1900's include Rabindranath Tagore, whose spiritual poetry won the Nobel Prize in literature in 1913, and Saratchandra Chatterji (also spelled Saratcandra Chattopadhyaya), whose novels emphasize social issues. Several well-known Indian-born writers in the late 1900's wrote in English. These included R. K. Narayan, whose novels depict Indian village life, and Salman Rushdie, whose writings combine fantasy, satire, and Hindu and Islamic lore.