National Farmers Day (Kisan Diwas) was celebrated on 23 December 2024 to honor farmers and to commemorate the birth anniversary of Shri Chaudhary Charan Singh. Known as the ‘farmer leader’, his birth anniversary is celebrated as ‘Kisan Diwas’ since the year 2001 for his contribution to Indian agriculture and rural development.
Key facts related to Chaudhary Charan Singh
- Born in 1902 in Noorpur, Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, he was an Indian politician and freedom fighter who served as the fifth Prime Minister of India (1979–80).
- He also served twice as Deputy Prime Minister (January–July 1979) and Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh.
- He represented Chhaprauli (1937, 1946, 1952, 1962, 1967) and later as an MP from Baghpat in the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly.
Major Contributions
- He promoted decentralisation, grassroots governance and local economic autonomy.
- He drafted the Debt Relief Bill, 1939, which freed farmers from moneylenders and played a key role in reducing the maximum limit of land in the Ceiling on Landholdings Act, 1960.
- He advocated Minimum Support Price (MSP), introduced the Consolidation of Holdings Act (1953) and the Uttar Pradesh Zamindari and Land Reforms Act (1952) to benefit the landless.
- He proposed the Agricultural Produce (Grading and Marketing) Act (1938), creating agri-market infrastructure.
- He gave ministry status to the Rural Development Department and played an important role in the establishment of NABARD.
Social Contribution
- He led a non-violent movement for independence from the British government along with Mahatma Gandhi and went to jail several times.
- He advocated social justice by opposing caste divisions, promoting inter-caste marriages and supporting quotas for the dependents of farmers, which was in line with B.R. Ambedkar’s vision of integrated social and economic reforms.
- He wrote influential books like ‘Zamindari Abolition’, ‘Cooperative Farming X-rayed’, ‘India Poverty and its Solution’, ‘Kisan Swamitva or Land for Labour’ and ‘Prevention of Division of Holding Below a Certain Minimum’.
Relevance
- Current initiatives like doubling the income of farmers, MSME promotion, Panchayati Raj and ethical governance are inspired by his visionary ideas.
- Recently, in 2024 the government honoured him with the prestigious Bharat Ratna along with 4 other awardees- Karpoori Thakur, Mankombu Sambasivan (MS) Swaminathan, Pamulaparthi Venkat (P. V.) Narasimha Rao, Lal Krishna Advani.
- The government renamed the Lucknow airport as Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport in 2008 in his honour.
- He died on 29 May 1987. His memorial is located in New Delhi called Kisan Ghat.