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Rastriya Kishan Diwas
● The birth anniversary (December 23) of Chaudhary Charan Singh, the former Prime Minister of India, is celebrated across the country as 'Kisan Diwas'.
● Shri Charan Singh was born on December 23, 1902 in a middle-class farmer family at Noorpur in Meerut district of Uttar Pradesh. He graduated from science in 1923 and obtained his master's degree in 1925 from Agra University. Trained in law, Mr. Singh started his career from Ghaziabad. He came to Meerut in 1929 and later joined the Congress.
● He was first elected to the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly from Chhaprauli in 1937 and represented his constituency in the Legislative Assembly in 1946, 1952, 1962 and 1967.
● He became the Parliamentary Secretary in the government of Pandit Govind Ballabh Pant in 1946 and worked in various departments like Revenue, Medical and Public Health, Justice, Information etc. In June 1951, he was appointed as a cabinet minister of the state and given charge of the Justice and Information departments.
● Later in 1952 he became the Minister of Revenue and Agriculture in the cabinet of Dr. Sampurnanand. When he resigned from the post in April 1959, he was holding the charge of the Revenue and Transport Departments.
● He was Home and Agriculture Minister (1960) in Mr. C.B. Gupta's ministry. He was the Minister of Agriculture and Forests (1962-63) in the ministry of Smt. Sucheta Kriplani. He left the Agriculture Department in 1965 and took charge of the Local Self Government Department in 1966.
 ● After the Congress split, he became the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh for the second time in February 1970 with the support of the Congress party. However, President's rule was imposed in the state on 2 October 1970.
● Mr. Charan Singh served Uttar Pradesh in various capacities and earned a reputation as a tough leader who did not tolerate inefficiency, nepotism and corruption in administration. A gifted parliamentarian and pragmatist, Shri Charan Singh is known for his eloquence and conviction.
● Full credit goes to him for land reform in Uttar Pradesh. He had an important role in preparing and finalizing the Departmental Debt Relief Bill, 1939, which provided relief to rural debtors.
● The result of the initiative taken by him was that the salaries and other benefits received by the ministers in Uttar Pradesh were greatly reduced. He was also instrumental in bringing in the Tenure Act, 1960 as Chief Minister. This act was brought with the objective of reducing the maximum limit of holding land so as to make it uniform across the state.
● Chaudhary Charan Singh was the Prime Minister of India from July 28, 1979 to January 14, 1980 in the Janata Party government.
● There have been only a few politicians in the country who have gained so much popularity by living among the people and working easily. A dedicated public worker and a firm believer in social justice, Mr. Charan Singh was greatly strengthened by the confidence he gained by living among lakhs of farmers.
● Mr. Chaudhary Charan Singh led a very simple life and used to read and write in his spare time.
● He wrote many books and pamphlets including 'Zamindari Unmulan', 'India's Poverty and its Solution', 'Kisan Ki Bhusampati or Land for Farmers', 'Prevention of Division of Holdings Below a Certain Minimum', 'Co-operative Farming X-Rayed' etc. are prominent.

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