T. S. Soundaram
T. S. Soundaram | |
---|---|
Member of the Madras State Assembly | |
In office 1952–1957 | |
Preceded by | V. S. S. Mani Chettiyar |
Constituency | Athoor |
Member of the Madras State Assembly | |
In office 1957–1962 | |
Preceded by | V. Madanagopal |
Constituency | Vedasandur |
Personal details | |
Born | (1904-08-18)18 August 1904 Thirunelveli, Madras Presidency, British India |
Died | (1984-10-21)21 October 1984 Dindigul, Tamil Nadu, India |
Political party | Indian National Congress |
Spouse | Dr. G. Ramachandran |
Parent | T. V. Sundaram Iyengar (father) |
Relatives | TVS family |
Occupation | Doctor, Politician, Social Worker |
T. S. Soundaram Ramachandran (18 August 1904 – 21 October 1984) was an Indian physician, social reformer and politician was the daughter of T. V. Sundaram Iyengar, the founder of T V Sundaram Iyengar and Sons Limited, popularly known as TVS Group of companies, one of India's largest industrial conglomerates. She was married young barely at the age of 14 in 1918, her husband Dr. Soundararajan, encouraged her to study. But when he died when she was in her teens, it was her parents who urged her to continue with her studies. It was at Lady Hardinge Medical College in Delhi that she did her medicine degree.
Freedom struggle and remarriage
During her college days in Delhi, she became friends with Sushila Nayyar and through her she met Gandhiji. She was immediately drawn to the freedom struggle, but she did not give up her studies. She was 32 years old in 1936 when she was graduated as a doctor. She then involved herself wholeheartedly into the freedom struggle and through Gandhiji met G.Ramachandran, a keralite, who was active in the Harijan movement. They fell in love and decided to get married, but her parents were vehemently opposed to the alliance. Gandhi advised them not to keep in touch with each other for a year. After that separation, when they still felt the same way about each other, Gandhiji gave them his blessings and they got married on 7 November 1940. T.S.Soundaram and her husband were soon in the thick of the Quit India Movement, but as freedom neared Gandhi thought she would serve India better by not getting involved in politics. He made her the representative in South India of the Kasturba Gandhi National Memorial Trust and entrusted her with setting up an institution in a rural area that would improve the lot of the poorest of the poor. So was born the idea of Gandhigram, where villagers were taught skills and provided support to revive village industries and the economy of the rural community. Dr.T.S.Soundaram threw herself wholeheartedly into this project that focused on healthcare, education, economic development and social welfare in the rural communities in the surrounding area.
Social work
In 1947, Soundaram started the Kasturba Hospital as a two-bed clinic in a house in Chinnalapatti, a small town on the Madurai Dindigul highway. Under the visionary leadership of Dr Soundaram, the hospital made several inroads into rural health and family welfare which is now a 220-bed hospital. Along with her husband, Dr. G. Ramachandran, she notably founded the Gandhigram Rural Institute in 1947 as a memorial to Kasturba Gandhi, the deceased wife of Mahatma Gandhi, with a fund of national donations. This was set up as a rural institution, in a remote place in Dindigul district, Tamil Nadu to serve the most deprived of people.
The Gandhigram Rural Institute became a deemed university in 1976.
Political life
Soundaram was elected Member of the Legislative Assembly (India) twice from then Madras State, first in 1952 from Athoor (State Assembly Constituency) and in 1957 from Vedasandur (State Assembly Constituency) representing Indian National Congress, then an MP in 1962 representing Dindigul (Lok Sabha constituency). With her move again to Delhi, she was appointed the Union Deputy Minister for Education. It was during her tenure as Deputy Minister that she introduced compulsory and free primary education throughout India.[citation needed] She also helped start the National Service Scheme (NSS), that still has a strong rural service element to it. In the year 1962 she was awarded Padma Bhushan for her contribution towards social work. Soundaram lost the 1967 general election from Dindigul (Lok Sabha constituency) to N. Anbuchezhian a young student leader of DMK with a margin of more than one lakh votes, subsequently she went back to social work and retired from politics.
Commemoration
- A commemorative stamp was issued on 2 October 2005.[1]
References
- ^ Stamp on Dr T.S. Soundram released. blonnet.com. 2 October 2005
Further reading
- Dr. Sushila Nayar, Women Pioneer — In India's Renaissance, National Book Trust, 2002 ISBN 81-237-3766-1
External links
- Simple and selfless, centenary article in The Hindu, 18 February 2005
- Bio details on Gandhigram website
- v
- t
- e
- Ramchandra Narayan Dandekar
- Prem Chandra Dhanda
- Asaf Ali Asghar Fyzee
- Bade Ghulam Ali Khan
- Daulat Singh Kothari
- Mithan Jamshed Lam
- Sudhansu Sobhan Maitra
- Sisir Kumar Mitra
- Tarabai Modak
- Niaz Fatehpuri
- Jal Ratanji Patel
- Narayan Sitaram Phadke
- V. Raghavan
- Dukhan Ram
- T. S. Soundram
- Mahankali Seetharama Rao
- Moturi Satyanarayana
- Sitaram Seksaria
- Santosh Kumar Sen
- Tarlok Singh
- Raja Radhika Raman Sinha
- Sheikh Abdullah
- Nuruddin Ahmed
- Rafiuddin Ahmed
- Jacob Chandy
- Kunji Lal Dubey
- Tushar Kanti Ghosh
- Dara Nusserwanji Khurody
- Anukul Chandra Mukherjee
- Jnanendra Nath Mukherjee
- Bhola Nath Mullik
- R. K. Narayan
- Chintaman Govind Pandit
- Tribhuvandas Kishibhai Patel
- Bal Gandharva
- T. N. Ramachandran
- Khushwant Lal Wig
- Joginder Singh Dhillon
- Bhalchandra Babaji Dikshit
- Narasinh Narayan Godbole
- Nawang Gombu
- Sonam Gyatso
- Akbar Ali Khan
- S. L. Kirloskar
- Mohan Singh Kohli
- Harbaksh Singh
- P. O. Dunn
- Kashmir Singh Katoch
- Pratap Chandra Lal
- Ramaswamy Rajaram
- Mohammad Mujeeb
- Jayant Narlikar
- K. R. Ramanathan
- Satyajit Ray
- Triguna Sen
- Vrindavan Lal Verma
- Manikya Lal Verma
- Acharya Vishva Bandhu
- Prabhu Lal Bhatnagar
- Mary Clubwala Jadhav
- K. Shivaram Karanth
- Bismillah Khan
- Vishnu Sakharam Khandekar
- Sam Manekshaw
- Mansukhlal Atmaram Master
- M. G. K. Menon
- Waman Bapuji Metre
- Gujarmal Modi
- Murugappa Channaveerappa Modi
- Benjamin Peary Pal
- Brahm Prakash
- Manikonda Chalapathi Rau
- C. R. Rao
- Radhanath Rath
- Mariadas Ruthnaswamy
- Firaq Gorakhpuri
- Shripad Damodar Satwalekar
- G. Sankara Kurup
- Periyasaamy Thooran
- Mamidipudi Venkatarangayya
- Tarasankar Bandyopadhyay
- Rahim-ud-in Khan Dagar
- Mohanlal Lallubhai Dantwala
- Keshavrao Krishnarao Datey
- Keshav Prasad Goenka
- Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer
- Vithalbhai Jhaveri
- Prithviraj Kapoor
- Kesarbai Kerkar
- Krishna Kripalani
- Adinath Lahiri
- Gobind Behari Lal
- Kasturbhai Lalbhai
- Lata Mangeshkar
- V. K. Narayana Menon
- Saghar Nizami
- Nanasaheb Parulekar
- Yashwant Dinkar Pendharkar
- Vitthal Laxman Phadke
- Raja Rao
- Niharranjan Ray
- Prafulla Kumar Sen
- Haroon Khan Sherwani
- Naval Tata
- S. S. Vasan
- 1954–1959
- 1960–1969
- 1970–1979
- 1980–1989
- 1990–1999
- 2000–2009
- 2010–2019
- 2020–2029