MAULANA ABUL KALAM AZAD - MODERN HISTORY
News:
Maulana Azad reference omitted in NCERT textbook
What's in the news?
● He
was a freedom fighter and India’s first Education Minister, but any mention of
Maulana Abul Kalam Azad has been deleted from a revised political science
textbook published by the National Council for Educational Research and
Training (NCERT).
Key takeaways:
● Last
year, the Ministry of Minority Affairs
chose to discontinue the Maulana Azad Fellowship, which was launched in 2009
and provided financial assistance for five years to students from six notified
minorities - Buddhists, Christians, Jains, Muslims, Parsis and Sikhs to pursue
M.Phil and Ph.D.
Maulana Abul Kalam Azad:
● Born
on 11 November 1888 and died on 22 February 1958.
● He
was senior Muslim leader of Indian National Congress during Indian independence
movement.
● He
is commonly remembered as Maulana Azad (word Maulana is honorific meaning ‘Our
Master’) and he had adopted Azad (Free) as his pen name.
Freedom Movement:
● During
his young age, he rose to prominence through his work as journalist, publishing
works critical of British Raj and espousing causes of Indian nationalism.
● He
became leader of Khilafat Movement,
during which he came into close contact with Mahatma Gandhi.
● He
later became an enthusiastic supporter of Gandhi’s ideas of non-violent civil
disobedience and worked to organize the non-co-operation movement in protest of
the 1919 Rowlatt Act.
● He
was committed to Gandhi’s ideals,
including promoting Swadeshi (indigenous) products and the cause of Swaraj
(Self-rule) for India.
● He
was one of main organizers of the Dharasana Satyagraha in 1931 and emerged as
one of the most important national leaders of the time, prominently leading
causes of Hindu-Muslim unity as well as espousing secularism and socialism.
Azad and Congress:
● In 1923, at age of 35, he
became the youngest person to serve as President of Indian National Congress.
● Azad
served as president of the 1924 Unity
Conference in Delhi, using his position to work to reunite the Swarajists and the Khilafat leaders under the common
banner of the Congress.
● He
served as Congress president from 1940
to 1945, during which the Quit India rebellion was launched.
Azad and Educational development:
● He
had played an important role in the foundation of Jamia Millia Islamia at Aligarh in Uttar Pradesh.
● He
assisted in shifting the campus of the University from Aligarh to New Delhi in
1934.
● He
was the first Minister of Education of
Independent India.
● Under
Maulana Azad's tenure, a number of measures were undertaken to promote primary
and secondary education, scientific education, establishment of universities
and promotion of avenues of research and higher studies.
● National Education Day of
India is celebrated every year on 11 November to commemorate the birth
anniversary of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, the first education minister of
independent India.
Established Institutions under his tenure:
● The
first IIT, IISc, School of Planning and Architecture and the University Grants
Commission were established under his tenure as the education minister.
● Indian Council for
Cultural Relations, for introduction of
Indian culture to other nations.
● Sahitya Academy for
development of literature; Sangeet Natak Akademi
for the development of Indian music and dance; Lalit Kala Akademi for the
development of painting.
Literary Works:
● He
worked for Hindu-Muslim unity through the Al-Hilal
newspaper.
● He
also developed literary works such as Ghubar-e-Khatir
(1942-1946) and India Wins Freedom (1978).
Educational schemes in the name of Azad:
● The
Ministry of Minority Affairs of the Central Government of India set up the Maulana Azad Education Foundation in
1989 on the occasion of his birth centenary to promote education amongst
educationally backward sections of the Society.
● The
Ministry also provides the Maulana Abul Kalam Azad National Fellowship, an
integrated five-year fellowship in the form of financial assistance to students
from minority communities to pursue higher studies such as M. Phil and PhD.
(Discontinued from 2022).
For
his invaluable contribution to the nation, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad was
posthumously awarded India's highest civilian honor, the ‘Bharat Ratna’ in 1992.