Bharat Ratna For Chaudhary Charan Singh: All About India's 5th PM Hailed as 'Champion of Farmers'

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday announced Bharat Ratna, the highest civilian award of the nation, for two former Prime Ministers PV Narasimha Rao and Chaudhary Charan Singh.

Taking to the microblogging site X, PM Modi wrote, “It is the good fortune of our government that former Prime Minister of the country Chaudhary Charan Singh is being honoured with Bharat Ratna.”

The prime minister said that the honour is dedicated to Charan Singh’s “incomparable contribution to the country”.

Here’s All You Need To Know Chaudhary Charan Singh

1. Leader of the Janata Party, Chaudhary Charan Singh was a leader, politician and freedom fighter who served as the fifth Prime Minister of India.
2. He served as the prime minister from July 1979 and January 1980.
3. Singh’s political career began in 1937 when he was first elected to the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly from Chhaprauli.
4. He represented the constituency in 1946, 1952, 1962 and 1967.
5. Charan Singh was the Parliamentary Secretary in Pandit Govind Ballabh Pant’s Government in 1946.
6. In June 1951, he was appointed Cabinet Minister in the State and was given charge of the Departments of Justice and Information.
7. He was also the Minister for Revenue and Agriculture in the Cabinet of Dr Sampurnanand in 1952.
8. When he resigned in April 1959, he was holding charge of the Department of Revenue and Transport.
9. Singh also served as Minister for Agriculture and Forests in 1962 in Sucheta Kripalani’s Ministry.
10. He became the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh for the second time in February 1970 with the support of the Congress.

Charan Singh: The Author

Chaudhary Charan Singh led a simple life and was a well-known writer. He wrote several books and pamphlets, including ‘Abolition of Zamindari’, ‘Co-operative Farming X-rayed’, ‘India’s Poverty and its Solution’, ‘Peasant Proprietorship or Land to the Workers’ and ‘Prevention of Division of Holdings Below a Certain Minimum’.

Chaudhary Charan Singh: Reformer of Land Laws

Chaudhary Charan Singh was the chief architect of land reforms in Uttar Pradesh. He took a leading part in the formulation and finalisation of the Department Redemption Bill of 1939.

The Janata Party leader also played an instrumental role in bringing about the Land Holding Act of 1960 which was aimed at lowering the ceiling on land holdings to make it uniform throughout the State.