GS PAPER I: Modern Indian History from about the middle of the eighteenth century until the present- significant events, personalities, issues.

Context: Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid tributes to Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore on his 160th birth anniversary.

The Prime Minister also paid tributes to freedom fighter Gopal Krishna Gokhale and celebrated warrior-king Maharana Pratap, both born on this day.

Gopal Krishna Gokhale

• He was an Indian liberal political leader and a social reformer during the Indian Independence Movement.
• Gokhale was a senior leader of the Indian National Congress and the founder of the Servants of India Society.
• He was moderate in his views and attitudes, and sought to petition the British authorities by cultivating a process of dialogue and discussion which would yield greater British respect for Indian rights.
• Gokhale was famously a mentor to Mahatma Gandhi in the latter's formative years.
• In 1912, Gokhale visited South Africa at Gandhi's invitation.
• As a young barrister, Gandhi returned from his struggles against the Empire in South Africa and received personal guidance from Gokhale, including a knowledge and understanding of India and the issues confronting common Indians.
• By 1920, Gandhi emerged as the leader of the Indian Independence Movement. In his autobiography, Gandhi calls Gokhale his mentor and guide.
• Gokhale's mentor, justice M.G. Ranade started the Sarvajanik Sabha Journal. Gokhale assisted him.
• In 1899, Gokhale was elected to the Bombay Legislative Council. He was elected to the Imperial Council of the Governor-General of India on 20 December 1901, and again on 22 May 1903 as non-officiating member representing Bombay Province.

Mahrana Pratap Singh

• Pratap Singh I, popularly known as Maharana Pratap, was a king of Mewar, a region in north-western India in the present-day state of Rajasthan.
• He was titled as "Mewari Rana" and was notable for his military resistance against the expansionism of the Mughal Empire and was known for his participation in the Battle of Haldighati and Battle of Dewair.
• The Battle of Haldighati was fought on 18 June 1576 between Pratap Singh and Akbar's forces led by Man Singh I of Amer.
• The Mughals were victorious and inflicted significant casualties among the Mewaris but failed to capture the Maharana.

Rabindranath Tagore

• Rabindranath Tagore was an Indian polymath – poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer and painter.
• He reshaped Bengali literature and music, as well as Indian art with Contextual Modernism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
• Author of the "profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse" of Gitanjali, he became in 1913 the first non-European as well as the first lyricist to win the Nobel Prize in Literature.
• Gitanjali (Song Offerings), Gora (Fair-Faced) and Ghare-Baire (The Home and the World) are his best-known works.
• His compositions were chosen by two nations as national anthems: India's "Jana Gana Mana" and Bangladesh's "Amar Shonar Bangla".
• The Sri Lankan national anthem was inspired by his work.

https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/pm-modi-pays-tributes-to-tagore-gokhale-maharana-pratap/article34519272.ece

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