Remembering Partap Singh Kairon

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Prime VIP
Oct 1, was the birthday of Late Partap Singh Kairon, former CM of Punjab, a statesman whose rule brought Green Revolution, Punjab Agriculture University and also brought Punjab (Punjab, Haryana and Himachal) on the industrial map of India.
None other political leader in Punjab has matched his caliber and it seems there will not be anyone with a vision like him.
Salute to him.

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Pratap was born on October 1, 1901, into a Sikh family in the village of Kairon,the Amritsar district, province of Punjab during the British Raj. His father, Nihal Singh Kairon, was a pioneer in initiating women's education in the province. Pratap studied at the Khalsa College, Amritsar and then went to the U.S., where he supported himself with work on farms and factories. He did his Masters in political science from the University of Michigan.He also did his Masters in Economics from University of California at Berkeley before going to Michigan. He was influenced by farming methods practised in the U.S.A and hoped to replicate the same in India later.

Entry into politics and contribution to Indian independence movement
Kairon returned to India in 1929. On April 13, 1932 he started an English weekly paper The New Era in Amritsar. He joined politics and the newspaper eventually shut down. He was at first, a member of the Shiromani Akali Dal and later of the Indian National Congress. He was jailed in 1932 for five years for participating in the Civil disobedience. He entered the Punjab Legislative Assembly as an Akali nominee in 1937, defeating the Congress candidate, Baba Gurdit Singh of Sarhali.
From 1941 to 1946, he was the general secretary of the Punjab Provincial Congress Committee. He was jailed again in the 1942 Quit India Movement and was elected to the Constituent Assembly in 1946.
After Independence in 1947, Pratap Singh Kairon held various offices in the elected state government including Rehabilitation Minister, Development Minister(1947–1949) and Chief Minister(1952–1964).

Chief Minister
Pratap Singh Kairon was a man of vision. He laid the base on which Punjab prospered. In his role in implementing land reforms, the late leader established the Punjab Agricultural University, which played a key role in the Green Revolution. He also placed Punjab on the industrial map of the country. He was behind the creation of the city of Chandigarh and the industrial township of Faridabad(in present-day Haryana). Kairon made primary and middle school education free and compulsory. He opened three engineering colleges and a polytechnic in each district. He was responsible for establishing much of the state's basic infrastructure in terms of irrigation, electrification and roads. Punjab was the first state in the Indian Union to have all its villages electrified.

In 1964, following the publication of the report of the commission of enquiry which had exonerated him of the bulk of the allegations made against him by his political adversaries, Partap Singh Kairon resigned from his position as chief minister of the Punjab. On February 6, 1965, he was assassinated by Sucha Singh, in his car on the main highway (the G.T. Road) from Delhi to Amritsar. Sucha Singh was later hanged.
 

Ginny

VIP
kairon pind ch jo kuch hega aajkal ehna karke hi a like hospital , women collg

nalle kairon ch kise time 1 min da bati da kat vi ni siga lagda ohvi ehna karke :gig
 

Angel_Eyes

Done Deal !
Thanks for sharing the information pps paaji. Its always good to know about great personalities and how their existence influenced the times. His vision and efforts helped Punjab grew, he did what was feasible for a common man in punjab, a farmer.

Sardar Partap Singh Kairon's grand-daughter is married to Jassi Khagura, the present MLA from Kila Raipur, and What an incidence that Mr. khagura shares somwehat of a similar vision. I hope he carries the legacy of his great-grand father-in-law.
 
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