Kundan Lal
Kundan Lal | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Ludhiana, Punjab |
Kundan Lal (1893 – 1966) was an Indian businessman, freedom fighter, philanthropist and founder of Kundan Vidya Mandir, one of the first girls' schools in Ludhiana.[1][2][3]
Early life
[edit]Kundan Lal was born in the year 1893 in Ludhiana, Punjab, to a Patwari father. He completed his BSc degree from Government College, Punjab University, Lahore, in pre-partition India. He was directly admitted to the Provincial Civil Service in 1915 and appointed as a Sub Divisional Magistrate in Nagpur. In 1920, he met Jawaharlal Nehru during the non-cooperation movement was launched by the Congress Party.
Freedom Fighter
[edit]In 1926 Kundan Lal joined the Congress Party to support Indian independence and hosted the landmark All India States People Conference Ludhiana, in February 1939, better known as the “Ludhiana Session”.[4]
Philanthropy
[edit]With India's independence in 1947, Kundan Lal turned his attention to educating a generation of Indians. He started a charitable trust, Shri Kundanlal Trust, and donated most of his assets to it.[5][6] He started Kundan Vidya Mandir in 1941, initially as a girls-only school, and converted to a co-educational school around 1958.[7][8]
Humanitarian
[edit]On a trip to Vienna, Austria, for a medical procedure in 1938 he saw the plight of Jews under Hitler's tyranny and helped rescue 14 Jews out of Austria.[9]
References
[edit]- ^ "Kundan Lal Gupta". AnyPursuit Knowledge Network. Retrieved 2019-08-06.
- ^ "The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Ludhiana Stories". www.tribuneindia.com. Retrieved 2019-08-06.
- ^ bansalmanav (2018-12-29). "Top Ten Schools in Ludhiana and their Contact Details". The Hush Post. Retrieved 2019-08-06.
- ^ McLeod, John (1999). Sovereignty, Power, Control: Politics in the States of Western India, 1916-1947. BRILL. ISBN 9789004113435.
- ^ "KVM students win hearts with musical power". Hindustan Times. 2019-07-29. Retrieved 2019-08-06.
- ^ "Gupta, Vijya and Vinay". Holocaust Memorial Center. Retrieved 2019-08-06.
- ^ "KVM holds programme in memory of founder". The Times of India. October 18, 2011. Retrieved 2019-08-06.
- ^ "From Austria to Australia via India" (PDF).
- ^ Viswanath, Meylekh. "From the Reich to the Raj". jewishstandard.timesofisrael.com. Retrieved 2019-08-08.