k.

kamarajar
Kumaraswami Kamaraj (15 July 1903[1] – 2 October 1975[2]), was a leader of the INC, widely
acknowledged as the "Kingmaker" in Indian politics during the 1960s. He served as INC
president for two terms i.e. four years between 1964–1967 and was responsible for the elevation
of Lal Bahadur Shastri to the position of Prime Minister of India after Nehru's death and Indira
Gandhi after Shastri's death. Kamaraj was the 3rd Chief Minister of Madras State (Tamil
Nadu) during 1954–1963 and a Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha during 1952–1954 and 1969–
1975. He was known for his simplicity and integrity. He played a major role in developing the
infrastructure of the Madras state and worked to improve the quality of life of the needy and the
disadvantaged.

He was involved in the Indian independence movement.[4] As the president of the INC, he was
instrumental in navigating the party after the death of Jawaharlal Nehru. As the chief minister of
Madras, he was responsible for bringing free education to the disadvantaged and introduced
the free Midday Meal Scheme while he himself did not complete schooling. He was awarded with
India's highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna, posthumously

Early life
kamaraj was born on 15 July 1903 in Virudhunagar, Tamil Nadu, to Kumaraswami Nadar and
Sivakami Ammal. His name was originally Kamatchi, later changed to Kamarajar. His father
Kumarasamy was a merchant. Kamaraj had a younger sister named Nagammal.[6][7] Kamaraj was
first enrolled in a traditional school in 1907 and in 1908 he was admitted to Yenadhi Narayana
Vidhya Salai. In 1909 Kamaraj was admitted in Virudupatti High School. Kamaraj's father died
when he was six years old, his mother was forced to support the family. In 1914 Kamaraj
dropped out of school to support his mother

political life
. He was eager to meet Gandhi, and when Gandhi visited Madurai on 21 September 1921
Kamaraj attended the public meeting and met Gandhi for the first time. He visited villages
carrying Congress propaganda.[9]
In 1922 Congress boycotted the visit of the Prince of Wales as part of the Non-Cooperation
Movement. He came to Madras and took part in the event.[11] In 1923–25 Kamaraj participated in
the Nagpur Flag Satyagraha.[12] In 1927, Kamaraj started the Sword Satyagraha in Madras and
was chosen to lead the Neil Statue Satyagraha, but this was given up later in view of the Simon
Commission boycott.[13]
Kamaraj went to jail for two years in June 1930 for participating in the "Salt Satyagraha".[14] led by
Rajagopalachari at Vedaranyam; he was released before he served the two year sentence as a
result of 1931 Gandhi-Irwin Pact.[citation needed] In 1932, Section 144 was imposed in Madras
prohibiting the holding of meetings and organisation of processions against the arrest of Gandhi
in Bombay. In Virdhunagar, under Kamaraj's leadership, processions and demonstrations
happened every day. Kamaraj was arrested again in January 1932 and sentenced to one year's
imprisonment.[15] In 1933 Kamaraj was falsely charged in the Virudhunagar bomb case.
Varadarajulu Naidu and George Joseph argued on Kamaraj's behalf and proved the charges to
be baseless.[16] At the age of 34, Kamaraj entered the Assembly winning the Sattur seat in the
1937 election
Chief minister

On 13 April 1954, Kamaraj became the Chief Minister of Madras Province. To everyone's
surprise, Kamaraj nominated C. Subramaniam and M. Bhakthavatsalam, who had contested his
leadership, to the newly formed cabinet.
As Chief Minister, Kamaraj removed the family vocation based Hereditary Education
Policy introduced by Rajaji. The State made immense strides in education and trade. New
schools were opened, so that poor rural students had to walk no more than three kilometers to
their nearest school. Better facilities were added to existing ones. No village remained without a
primary school and no panchayat without a high school. Kamaraj strove to eradicate illiteracy by
introducing free and compulsory education up to the eleventh standard. He introduced
the Midday Meal Scheme to provide at least one meal per day to the lakhs of poor school
children. Later it was expanded to four more schools. This was the precursor to the free noon
meal schemes introduced by K. Kamaraj in 1960's and expanded by M. G. Ramachandran in the
1980s.[citation needed]. He introduced free school uniforms to weed out caste, creed and class
distinctions among young minds.

Kamaraj Statue in Marina Beach, Chennai depicting his contribution to education in the state

During the British regime the education rate was only 7%. But after Kamaraj's reforms it reached
37%. Apart from increasing the number of schools, steps were taken to improve standards of
education. To improve standards, the number of working days was increased from 180 to 200;
unnecessary holidays were reduced; and syllabi were prepared to give opportunity to various
abilities. Kamaraj and Bishnuram Medhi (Governor) took efforts to establish IIT Madras in
1959.[citation needed]
Major irrigation schemes were planned in Kamaraj's period. Dams and irrigation canals were built
across higher Bhavani, Mani Muthar,
Aarani, Vaigai, Amaravathi, Sathanur, Krishnagiri, Pullambadi, Parambikulam and Neyyaru
among others. The Lower Bhavani Dam in Erode district brought 207,000 acres (840 km2) of land
under cultivation. 45,000 acres (180 km2) of land benefited from canals constructed from
the Mettur Dam. The Vaigai and Sathanur systems facilitated cultivation across thousands of
acres of lands in Madurai and North Arcot districts respectively. Rs 30 crores were planned to be
spent for Parambikulam River scheme, and 150 lakhs of acres of lands were brought under
cultivation; one third of this (i.e. 56 lakhs of acres of land) received a permanent irrigation facility.
In 1957–61 1,628 tanks were de-silted under the Small Irrigation Scheme, and 2,000 wells were
dug with outlets. Long term loans with 25% subsidy were given to farmers. In addition farmers
who had dry lands were given oil engines and electric pump sets on an installment basis.
Industries with huge investments in crores of Rupees were started in his period: Neyveli Lignite
Corporation, BHEL at Trichy, Manali Refinery, Hindustan raw photo film factory at Ooty, surgical
instruments factory at Chennai, and a railway coach factory at Chennai were established.
Industries such as paper, sugar, chemicals and cement took off during the period.

Kamarajar plan
Kamaraj remained Chief Minister for three consecutive terms, winning elections
in 1957 and 1962. Kamaraj noticed that the Congress party was slowly losing its vigour.

Kamaraj statue at East Tambaram, Chennai

On Gandhi Jayanti day, 2 October 1963, he resigned from the post of the Chief Minister. He
proposed that all senior Congress leaders should resign from their posts and devote all their
energy to the re-vitalization of the Congress.
In 1963 he suggested to Nehru that senior Congress leaders should leave ministerial posts to
take up organisational work. This suggestion came to be known as the Kamaraj Plan, which was
designed primarily to dispel from the minds of Congressmen the lure of power, creating in its
place a dedicated attachment to the objectives and policies of the organisation. Six Union
Ministers and six Chief Ministers including Lal Bahadur Shastri, Jagjivan Ram, Morarji Desai, Biju
Patnaik and S.K. Patil followed suit and resigned from their posts. Impressed by Kamaraj's
achievements and acumen, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru felt that his services were needed
more at the national level[25]. In a swift move he brought Kamaraj to Delhi as the President of the
Indian National Congress. Nehru realized that in addition to wide learning and vision, Kamaraj
possessed enormous common sense and pragmatism. Kamaraj was elected the President of
Indian National Congress on 9 October 1963.[26]

National politics
1975 After Nehru's death in 1964, Kamaraj successfully navigated the party through turbulent
times. As the president of INC, he refused to become the next Prime Minister himself and was
instrumental in bringing to power two Prime Ministers, Lal Bahadur Shastri in 1964 and Nehru's
daughter Indira Gandhi in 1966.[27] For this role, he was widely acclaimed as the "kingmaker"
during the 1960s.[citation needed]
When the Congress split in 1969, Kamaraj became the leader of the Indian National Congress
(Organisation) (INC(O)) in Tamil Nadu. The party fared poorly in the 1971 elections amid
allegations of fraud by the opposition parties. He remained the leader of INC(O) until his death in
1975