Question: Former Prime Minister, Bharat Ratna Atal Bihari Vajpayee passed away on 16 august, 2018. Consider the following statements related to him-
(i) He was born on December 25, 1936.
(ii) He was honored with Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian honor, in the year 2015.
(iii) His famous poetry collection is ‘Meri Ekyavan Kavitayein’.
(iv) ‘National Good Governance Day’ is celebrated on December 25 every year on the occasion of his birthday.
Which of the above mentioned statements is/are correct?
(a) Only (i), (ii) and (iii)
(b) Only (ii), (iii) and (iv)
(c) Only (iii) and (iv)
(d) All of the above
Answer- (b)
Related facts-
- On August 16, 2018, former Prime Minister Bharat Ratna Atal Bihari Vajpayee passed away. He was 93 years old.
- He was born on December 25, 1924 (Gwalior State; Madhya Pradesh, British India).
- He remained a member of parliament for four decades.
- He was elected to the Lok Sabha for 10 times and Rajya Sabha for 2 times.
- He was first elected to Lok Sabha from Balrampur (Gonda, UP) in 1957.
- He represented Lucknow from 1991 to 2009 in 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, and 14th Lok Sabha.
- During the second and fourth Lok Sabha, he represented Balrampur.
- He was elected from Gwalior for the fifth Lok Sabha, while in the sixth and seventh Lok Sabha, he represented New Delhi.
- He was elected to the Rajya Sabha in the year of 1962 and 1986.
- He became the founder member of the Indian Jana Sangh (B.J.S) founded in 1951 by Shyama Prasad Mukherjee.
- He was the External Affairs Minister of the Janata Party’s Morarji Desai Government from 1977-1979.
- As Foreign Minister, he delivered a speech in Hindi in the United Nations General Assembly (UN) for the first time in 1977.
- He was the President of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from 1980-86.
- He was the Prime Minister of the country three times between 1996 and 2004.
- For the first time in 1996, for 13 days, then for 13 months between 1998 and 1999 and then from 1999 to 2004 for 5 years.
- He formed a government with coalition of 24 parties, which consisted 81 ministers.
- He was the first person to become Prime Minister from the Bharatiya Janata Party.
- Apart from this, he was the first non-Congress Prime Minister to complete the five-year term.
- Successful nuclear tests were carried out in Pokhran in 1998 during his 13 months tenure as Prime Minister.
- During his tenure, India involved in Kargil war with Pakistan in 1999.
- He initiated peace talks with Pakistan again after the war.
- He started the Delhi-Lahore bus service in February 1999 with the then-Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
Some major works done during his tenure
(i) Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan– It was launched in year 2001 to provide free education to children of 6-14 years of age. For this, his government had done 86th constitutional amendment.
(ii) Golden Quadrilateral project – This project was launched in 2001 to connect four major metros i.e. Delhi in the north, Chennai in the south, Kolkata in the east and Mumbai in the west, in addition to this ‘Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana’ was launched on 25 December 2000 to connect the villages from roads.
(iii) Antyodaya Anna Yojana – This scheme was launched on December 25, 2000 to provide wheat and rice at subsidized rates to poorest people.
- He retired from active politics in the year 2005.
- He was a successful politician as well as a famous poet and writer.
- Some of his major works include ‘My Ekyavan Kavitayein’, ‘Shrestha Kavitayein’, ‘Nayi Disha-an album with Jagjit Singh’, ‘Kya Khoya Kya Paya’, etc.
- Among the major books written by him are the India’s Foreign Policy: New Dimensions, ‘National Integration’, ‘Shakti se Shanti’ and ‘Rajneeti Ki Rapteeli Rahein’, etc.
- He was honored with the highest civilian honor ‘Bharat Ratna’ in the year 2015.
- Before this he was awarded Padma Vibhushan in 1992, ‘Bangladesh Liberation War Honor’ etc. in 2015.
- National Good Governance Day is celebrated on December 25 every year on the occasion of his birthday.
References
https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/former-prime-minister-atal-bihari-vajpayee-passes-away-at-93/article24704802.ece
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atal_Bihari_Vajpayee
https://hindi.thequint.com/news/india/atal-bihari-vajpayee-best-poem-geet-nahi-gata-hun