essay on kamaraj in English
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Answer:
Kamaraj was born 15 July, 1903, to Kumarasamy Nadar and Sivakami Ammal at Virudhunagar near Madurai in Tamil Nadu. His parents were from a trading family. His real name was Kamakshi Kumaraswamy, but was affectionately shortened to Raja by his mother, Sivakami Ammal. His father, Kumarswamy Nadar, was a coconut merchant. Kamaraj was enrolled at the local elementary school, the Enadhy Nayanar Vidyalaya, but was later shifted to the high school Kshatriya Vidyalaya. Unfortunately his father died within a year of Kamaraj's enrollment in school. Kamaraj's mother sold all jewelry except her earrings and deposited the money with a local merchant and cared for the entire family on the monthly interest that the money earned.
BODY
On April 13, 1954, K. Kamaraj reluctantly 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. Kamaraj removed the family vocation based Hereditary Education Policy introduced by Rajaji. He reopened the 6000 schools closed by previous government for financial reasons and also added 12000 more schools. The State made immense strides in education and trade. New schools were opened, so that poor rural students were to walk no more than 3 miles 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 Mid - Day Meal Scheme to provide at least one meal per day to the lakhs of poor school children (first time in the whole world). He introduced free school uniforms to weed out caste, creed and class distinctions among young minds. Kamaraj remained Chief Minister for three consecutive terms. On October 2, 1963, he resigned from the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Post.
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 for power. Kamaraj was elected President, Indian National Congress, on October 9, 1963. Well impressed by the achievements and acumen of Kamraj, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru felt that his services were needed more at the national level. In a swift move he brought Kamaraj to Delhi as the President of the Indian National Congress. Nehru realised that if he had wide learning and vision, Kamaraj possessed enormous common sense and pragmatism
Conclusion
On October 2, 1975, Gandhi Jayanti day, K. Kamaraj died in his sleep. He was honoured with the highest civilian honour, the 'Bharat Ratna' posthumously in 1976. Apart from all works he undertook for the development for the state, he also set an example for a political leader . He voluntarily gave up power, denied all privileges that were bestowed on him, demanded others in power not to seek for special treatment, denied his own mother basic necessities because others in the state did not have them, rarely visited her, did not marry, did not make any money, did not yearn for power and turned down the offer to be India’s PM, respected everyone irrespective of their position, caste or religion, did not make any money and died alone. The most important reason for Kamaraj’s success was his genuine concern for the poor.