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Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan
Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan was born on 5th September 1888. He was a great statesman and an Indian philosopher. Dr. SV Radhakrishnan was also the first Vice President of the country from 1952 to 1962 and later, he became the second President of the country from 1962 to 1967.
Dr. Radhakrishnan’s wife was Sivakamu who was also his distant cousin. He got married at an early age of 16. It was an arranged marriage. Dr. Radhakrishnan and Sivakamu had six children that included five daughters and one son. His son’s name was Sarvepalli Gopal who later pursued his education in history. Dr. Radhakrishnan’s wife Sivakamu died in 1956. The couple were married for almost 51 years.
Dr. SV Radhakrishnan received Bharat Ratna in 1954 which is the highest award for any civilian in the country. The other awards received by him were British Knight Bachelor in 1931. He also became the honorary member of British Royal Order of Merit in 1963. He also received an award of Templeton Prize in 1975.
Dr. Radhakrishnan also believed that whosoever be a teacher must be the best minds for others in the country. His birthday, 5th September, has been marked as Teacher’s Day in India.
Before the independence of India, Dr SV Radhakrishnan contributed as a social worker to the society. He opened Krishnarpan Charity Trust with the support of Ghanshyam Das Birla and few other social supporters who wanted to contribute to the society.
Early Life
His birth was in Brahmin Niyogi Telugu family and he was born in a village very near to Tiruttani that located at a distance of 84 km in the north western area of Madras. Sarvepalli Veeraswami was his father while his mother’s name was Sitamma. His childhood was spent in the areas of Tiruttani and also in Tirupati. His father worked as a subordinate revenue officer for the local zamindar. He completed his elementary education from Primary Board High School located in Tiruttani. Later to pursue his further education, he shifted to Hermansburg Evangelic Lutheral Mission School in 1896.
Education
In his entire educational career, he received scholarship at each level. At age of 17 years, he first joined Voorhees College in the city of Vellore but later he moved to Madras Christian College. He completed his graduation in Masters of Philosophy in 1906.
His education in Philosophy was not his choice rather it was by chance that he completed his education in philosophy. Due to lack of finances, he had to opt for this career, since he only had some old books on Philosophy to study, that too was passed down to him from one of his cousin who just completed his education from the same college in the subject of Philosophy.
For his thesis during his master’s degree, he chose the topic on “The Ethics of Vedanta and its Metaphysical Presuppositions”. But Radhakrishnan always feared that his thesis would not be accepted since there was no mention of ethics in Vedanta but to his surprise Dr. Alfred George Hogg responded to his thesis by declaring it as one of the most unusual and excellent piece of work. Later, this thesis was published when he was just at an age of 20. Later, after this incident, he took the step on studying about Hinduism to get knowledge about the remains and abolishment’s in the culture. He studied the teachings of Swami Vivekananda to accomplish this task.
Political Career
His political career was started a little late in his life after he completed his educational career. His political career began in 1931 when he was nominated for League of Nations Committee for International Cooperation. He was the face for India in UNESCO from 1946 to 1952 after India became Independent and further, he was also elected as an Ambassador of India in Soviet Union from 1949 to year 1952. In 1952, he was also elected to be the first Vice President of the country and in 1962, he was elected to be the second President of the country.
Other Positions Held
1967–72 | Deputy Minister, Public Health, Prohibition, Tourism, Housing & Parliamentary Affairs, Government of Maharashtra |
1972–74 | Cabinet Minister, Social Welfare, Government of Maharashtra |
1974–75 | Cabinet Minister, Public Health & Social Welfare, Government of Maharashtra |
1975–76 | Cabinet Minister, Prohibition, Rehabilitation and Cultural Affairs, Government of Maharashtra |
1977–78 | Cabinet Minister, Education, Government of Maharashtra |
1979–1980 | Leader of the Opposition, Maharashtra Legislative Assembly |
1982–85 | Cabinet Minister, Urban Development and Housing, Government of Maharashtra |
1983–85 | Cabinet Minister, Civil Supplies and Social Welfare, Government of Maharashtra |
1986–1988 | Deputy Chairman, Rajya Sabha |
1986–88 | Chairman, Committee of Privileges, Rajya Sabha; Member, Business Advisory Committee, Rajya Sabha |
1991–1996 | Chairman, House Committee, Lok Sabha |
8 November 2004 – 23 June 2007 | Governor of Rajasthan |
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