Prafulla Chandra Ghosh

Prafulla Chandra Ghosh
Prafullachandra Ghosh at Writers' Building in 1947
1st Chief Minister of West Bengal
In office August 15, 1947 – January 22, 1948
Preceded by	Office established
Succeeded by	B. C. Roy
In office November 2, 1967 – February 20, 1968
Preceded by	Ajay Kumar Mukherjee
Succeeded by	President's Rule
Personal details
Born	1891 Maliakanda, Dohar, Dhaka, British India (Now Bangladesh)[1][2][3][4]
Died	1983 Calcutta, India
Political party	Indian National Congress Progressive Democratic Alliance Front

Prafulla Chandra Ghosh (প্রফুল্ল চন্দ্র ঘোষ; 1891–1983) was the first Chief Minister of West Bengal, India. He was the Chief Minister in two West Bengal governments, first in the Indian National Congress government from August 15, 1947 to August 14, 1948, then in the Progressive Democratic Alliance Front government from November 2, 1967 to February 20, 1968.^[5] Education: Presidency College, Calcutta.Chemistry, B.Sc (Gold Medalist). Occupation: First ASA master, British India, of Indian origin. He also exchanged scientific views with the likes of Madame Marie Curie and Albert Einstein.

Early Life

Prafulla Ghosh was born in a Yadav Family on 24 December, 1891 at a remote village, Malikanda, in Dhaka district, British India (Now Bangladesh) as son of Purna Chandra Ghosh and Binodini Devi. Both the parents are religious devout and simple person . Prafulla Ghosh was a brilliant student throughout his academic life and always stood first with scholarship. Prafulla had very rural upbringing and enjoyed cultural festivals such as Jatra, Kirtan, Padavali Gan, and also participated in agricultural activities ^[6].

Prafulla first attended Jagannath College and then moved to Dhaka where he graduated with B. A. (First Class First) and B. Sc (Chemistry) in 1913. In 1916, he obtained his M. A. and M. Sc (Chemistry) as first class first in both. Immediately, he joined research in Chemistry at Dhaka University and published research papers in the journal of London Chemical Society. In 1919, he joined Presidency College, Calcutta as Demonstrator. In Jan 1920, he started work at Calcutta Mint as ASA master and he was the first Indian to be employed in that position. He was awarded doctorate in 1920 in Chemistry by Calcutta University. ^[7]

Political Life

Prafulla Ghosh got interested in Swadeshi movement and by inspired by armed revolution of Dhaka Anushilan Samiti and joined then in 1909. However, he did not like the activities of raising money by theft and cycle of theft defend in the court and finally quit Anishilan Samity in 1913 and focused on academics. During the same time, while working on Damodar flood relief met Surendranath Banerjee and other moderate leaders. Yogendra Nath Saha introduced Prafulla Ghosh to non-violent principles of Gandhi. At the beginning, Gadhian principles did not impress him but he was moved by Gandhi's speech at Dhaka in December 1920 and soon afterward met with Gandhi in Calcutta. In Jan, 1921 Prafulla Ghosh resigned from his job at Calcutta mint and along with other members of Anami Sangha joined freedom struggle movement led by Gandhi^[8].

Family

His great-granddaughter is Priyanka Yoshikawa, who won the 2016 Miss World Japan contest.^[9]

P. C. Ghosh, Member, Congress Working Committee and External Affairs-Premier, West Bengal broadcasting a talk on Indo-Pakistan Agreement from AIR. Calcutta on July 26, 1950.

Bibliography

• The theory of profits
• India as known to ancient and mediaeval Europe
• Mahatma Gandhi, as I saw him
• West today
• Jībana-smr̥tira bhūmikā
• Mahātmā Gāndhī
• Prācīna Bhāratīẏa sabhyatāra itihāsa

References

 title= Chief Minister of West Bengal