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| Name: | Dr. Sampurnanand |
| Born: | 01 January 1891 Benares, Uttar Pradesh, India |
| Death: | 10 January 1969 (aged 78) Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India |
| Political Party: | Indian National Congress |
| Positions Held: |
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Amid the clanging bells, chants of hymns, environment scented by the fragrance of incense sticks of Varanasi a freedom fighter and scholar Dr. Sampurnanand was born on January 1, 1891. Being the holiest city of Hinduism, the impact of the religion is found everywhere in the city. He was an eminent scholar and teacher of Sanskrit and astronomy. He was extremely interested in phalit Jyotish. Dr. Sampurnanand was also a fervent freedom fighter.
He participated in the Non-cooperation Movement; edited Maryada, a Hindi monthly and also contributed to the National Herald. He joined All-India Congress Committee in 1922.
He fought the assembly elections of Uttar Pradesh legislative assembly and was elected as first chief minister of the state from 1954 to 1960. Dr. Sampurnanand had the longest tenure among any of the Uttar Pradesh’s Chief Ministers.
He was Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister from 28 December 1954 to 07 December 1960. Dr. Sampurnanand succeeded Govind Ballabh Pant as the education and finance minister of India on March 04, 1947 and continued till February 26, 1948. He presented annual budget for 1947 – 1948 and 1948 – 1949.
As a Chief Minister Sampurnanand promoted Hindi and also insisted a ban on cow slaughter. Department of Culture, Govt. of Uttar Pradesh established State Lalit Kala Akademi on 8 February, 1962; Dr. Sampurnanand was appointed its first Chairman.
Dr. Sampurnanand was asked to resign as Chief Minister following the political crisis in Uttar Pradesh and sent to Rajasthan as the Governor of Rajasthan. Babu Sampurnanand became the Governor of Rajasthan on 16 April 1962 and continued till 16 April 1967. As a crusader governor of Rajasthan he promoted the idea of open prison of Sanganer. These prisons house convicts along with their families, they go out to work and pay all the taxes. He said that crime should be looked as an act of reformation and not as an act of revenge. He was also the opponent of life imprisonment; saying, it is like a death sentence for a convict as it separates him from family and friends. The open jail established on experimental basis in 1963 in Rajasthan is named after him as ‘Sri Sampurnanand Khula Bandi Shivir‘.
Government of India released a postal stamp of Rs. 1.00 on January 10, 1994 in his remembrance. Dr. Sampurnanand’s birthday is celebrated as ‘Sampurnanand Jayanti‘ every year on January 01. Every educational institute recognizes his contribution towards education and celebrates the day as the founder day. Many activities are held on this day like convocation, blood donation camp etc.
Celebrating Dr. Sampurnanand Jayanti:
Sampurnanand Jayanti marks the birthday of Dr. Sampurnanand and is celebrated on January 1 every year.
