Babu Banarsi Das

December 31, 2013

A commemorative postage stamp on Babu Banarasi Das, 11^th Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh (1979-80) :

Issued by India

Issued on Dec 31, 2013

Issued for : Department of Posts is happy to release a Commemorative Postage Stamp on Babu Banarsi Das.

Credits :
Stamp/FDC : Anuj Kurnar
Cancellation : Nenu Gupta

Type : Stamp, Mint Condition

Colour : Multi colour

Denomination : 500 Paise

Stamps Printed : 0.41 Million (0.1 Million for the proponent)

Printing Process : Wet Offset

Printer : India Security Press, Nashik

Name : Babu Banarasi Das

Born on Jul 8, 1912 at Utarawli, Bulandshahr, Uttar Pradesh, India

Died on Aug 3, 1985

About :

Babu Banarsi Das, popularly known as Babuji, was born on 8^th July, 1912 in village Utarawli, District Bulandshahr in Uttar Pradesh.
He participated in the freedom struggle from a young age as a result of which he could not have much formal education. He had complete command over many languages such as Sanskrit, Urdu, Hindi and English. During the freedom struggle, he faced severe hardships due to his opposition to the British government. He was jailed several times but never gave up his struggle for India‘s independence. He actively participated in the Non-cooperation movement.
After independence of the country in 1947, he was elected unopposed to the State Legislative Assembly of Uttar Pradesh. Thereafter, he was elected to the State Assembly several times during which he headed various departments as minister, and became Speaker and Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh. Babuji sowed the seeds of true economic self reliance and independence for the common farmer in the state by spearheading the cooperative movement and sustaining it to empower its people. As a result of his efforts, Cooperative Act was enacted in 1965. As a Cooperative Minister, he ensured constitution of various cooperative societies in the entire State of U.P. He initiated the idea of starting agro-processing units at a time when people were even unaware of it. He was also elected to the Rajya Sabha in the year 1972 and later represented Bulandshahar in Lok Sabha.
He strongly advocated female education. Due to his efforts, in Bulandshahar alone, more than 150 schools were opened. Babu Banarsi Das‘s enthusiasm for life and capacity for hard work manifested in his being a great organizational worker, a scholar of several languages and a visionary for his state and its people.
He left for heavenly abode on 03.08.1985.
Text : Based on the material furnished by the proponent.