THIS DAY IN HISTORY

3 - December – 1884: Dr Rajendra Prasad, first President of India, was born in Jeradei village of Bihar.

About Dr Rajendra Prasad

• He played a significant role in shaping the Indian Constitution.
• He was deeply influenced by Mahatma Gandhi and was jailed multiple times by the British. In 1931, during the Salt Satyagraha Movement and in 1942, for participating in the Quit India Movement.
• He was unanimously elected the President of India of the interim government during the last session of the Constituent Assembly.
• He was the President of India from 1950 to 1962.
• He stepped down after being the president for two terms, in 1962.
• In 1962, he was awarded the highest civilian award – Bharat Ratna.
• During Indian Independence Movement, Dr Rajendra Prasad joined the Indian National Congress.
• He served as the president of the Constituent Assembly that drafted the first constitution of the Republic of India, which lasted from 1948 to 1950.
• He also became the first Minister of Food and Agriculture in 1946 in the interim national government. 

3 - December - 1882: Nandalal Bose, great Indian painter and master, was born in Bengal.

• He was born in 1882, Kharagpur in the Bengal Presidency of pre-independence India.
• He studied at Calcutta’s Government School of Art under the tutelage of Rabindranath Tagore.
• He went on to become the principal of Kala Bhavana, (Fine Arts Department) at Rabindranath Tagore’s Visva-Bharati University at Santiniketan in 1922.
• He was among the founding fathers of linocut in India.
• His classic works include paintings of scenes from Indian mythologies, women, and village life.
• He was also famously asked by Jawaharlal Nehru to sketch the emblems for the Government of India’s awards, including the Bharat Ratna and the Padma Shri.
• He selected a team of artists who made 22 images for the manuscript of the Indian Constitution.