Indian Stamp On Maulana Abul Kalam Azad

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Died This Day In 1958

In 1958 on this day of February 22 saw end of an era of one of the architects of Indian independence,Maulana Abul Kalam Azad.The Stamp for the day pays rich tribute to the man who lead from forefront the educational reforms of Independent India.

Maulana Abul Kalam Muhiyuddin Ahmed (Depicted On Indian Stamp Of 1988) was an Indian Muslim scholar and a senior political leader of the Indian independence movement.He was born on 11 November 1888 in Holy City Of Mecca

The wealth of the nation, according to Maulana Azad, was not in the country's banks but in primary schools. Maulana was also a great votary of the concept of Neighborhood schools and the Common School System. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad is one of those rare personalities through whom the distinctions of the 20th century can be recognized and possibilities of the 21st century determined.

Maulana Azad was free India's first Education Minister and guided the destinies of the Nation for eleven years.

At the age of 20 he went on a tour of Iraq, Syria and Egypt and met the young Turks and Arab nationalists including Christians. The tour proved very useful to Azad to crystallize his thoughts on the neo-colonialists who were exploiting those countries and how India could help them.

On return he started a journal in Urdu named 'Al Hilal' in 1912. It was this journal where he aired his liberal views, 'Rationalist in outlook and profoundly versed in Islamic lore and history'. The journal 'Al-Hilal' became extremely popular and in two years its circulation rose to 30,000. The inevitable happened when in 1914 the British Government confiscated the press and banned the journal under the Defence of India Act. Azad was arrested and sent to Ranchi jail where he suffered untold hardships.

Among the new institutions he established were the three National Academies viz the Sangeet Natak Academy (1953), Sahitya Academy (1954) and Lalit Kala Academy (1954), the Indian Council for Cultural Relations having been established by him earlier in 1950.

Maulana established the University Grants Commission (UGC) in 1956 by an Act of Parliament for disbursement of grants and maintenance of standards in Indian universities.