Bidhan Chandra Roy (1 July 1882 – 1 July 1962) was an Indian

physician A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the Medical education, study, Med ...

and politician who served as

Chief Minister of West Bengal The chief minister of West Bengal (IAST: Paścim Baṅgēr Mukhya Mantrī) is the '' de facto'' head of the executive branch of the Government of West Bengal, the subnational authority of the Indian state of West Bengal. The chief minister is ...

from 1950 until his death in 1962. He played a key role in the founding of several institutions and cities like

Salt Lake A salt lake or saline lake is a landlocked body of water that has a concentration of salts (typically sodium chloride) and other dissolved minerals significantly higher than most lakes (often defined as at least three grams of salt per liter). I ...

(now a part of

Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation is the local government responsible for the civic infrastructure and administration of Salt Lake and Rajarhat areas in Greater Kolkata. Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation was headed by Administrator Pawan K ...

), Kalyani, and

Durgapur Durgapur (), is an industrial hub and a planned urban agglomeration in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is stands on the northern bank of the Damodar river and located in Paschim Bardhaman district. Durgapur is a major centre for producin ...

. In India, the National Doctors' Day is celebrated in his memory every year on 1 July. He was awarded the

Bharat Ratna The Bharat Ratna (; ) is the highest Indian honours system, civilian award of the Republic of India. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is conferred in recognition of "exceptional service/performance of the highest order", without distin ...

, India's highest civilian honour in 1961.

Early life and education

Bidhan Chandra Roy was born on 1 July 1882 to a

Bengali Kayastha Bengali Kayastha is a Bengali Hindu caste that originated from the Bengal region of Indian subcontinent, and is one of the main subgroups of the Kayastha community. The historical caste occupation of Kayasthas throughout India has been that of ...

family in

Bankipore Bankipur is a neighbourhood and residential area in Patna, in the Indian state of Bihar. It is located on the bank of the river Ganges. The prime attraction is the Khuda Bakhsh Oriental Library built by Khan Bahadur Khuda Bakhsh in 1891 and ...

Patna Patna (; , ISO 15919, ISO: ''Paṭanā''), historically known as Pataliputra, Pāṭaliputra, is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and largest city of the state of Bihar in India. According to the United Nations, ...

, where his father, Prakash Chandra Roy coming from a wealthy family of Satkhira,

Khulna Khulna (, ) is the third-largest city in Bangladesh, after Dhaka and Chittagong. It is the administrative centre of the Khulna District and the Khulna Division. It is the divisional centre of 10 districts of the division. Khulna is also the seco ...

district,

Bengal Presidency The Bengal Presidency, officially the Presidency of Fort William in Bengal until 1937, later the Bengal Province, was the largest of all three presidencies of British India during Company rule in India, Company rule and later a Provinces o ...

(now in

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

), was serving as an excise inspector. His mother, Aghorkamini Devi, was religious and a devoted social worker. Roy was the youngest of five siblings, with 2 sisters (Susharbashini and Sarojini) and 2 brothers(Subodh and Sadhan). His parents were ardent

Brahmo Samaj Brahmo Samaj ( ) is the societal component of Brahmoism, which began as a monotheistic reformist movement during the Bengal Renaissance. It was one of the most influential religious movements in India and made a significant contribution to ...

ists. Prakash Chandra was a descendant of the family of Maharaja Pradapaditya, the rebel Hindu king of

Jessore Jessore (, ), officially Jashore, is a city of Jessore District in Khulna Division. It lies in southwestern Bangladesh. It is home to the first flight training school of the Bangladeshi Air Force, established in 1971. Jessore city consists of 9 wa ...

, but did not inherit much wealth from his

ancestor An ancestor, also known as a forefather, fore-elder, or a forebear, is a parent or ( recursively) the parent of an antecedent (i.e., a grandparent, great-grandparent, great-great-grandparent and so forth). ''Ancestor'' is "any person from ...

s. He earned a moderate salary for most part of Roy's childhood, but he and Aghorkamini supported the education and upbringing of both their own children and a number of other poor children, mostly orphans. Roy left Patna in June 1901 to study at the Medical College and Hospital, Kolkata. While at medical school, he came upon an inscription which read, "Whatever thy hands findeth to do, do it with thy might." These words became a lifelong source of inspiration for him. Intending to enroll at

St Bartholomew's Hospital St Bartholomew's Hospital, commonly known as Barts, is a teaching hospital located in the City of London. It was founded in 1123 by Rahere, and is currently run by Barts Health NHS Trust. History Early history Barts was founded in 1123 by ...

to complete further studies in medicine, Roy left for Britain in February 1909 with 1,200. The then dean of St. Bartholomew's Hospital was reluctant to accept an Asian student and rejected his application. Roy submitted several additional applications until the dean, after 30 admission requests, admitted him.

Career

Upon returning to India, Roy joined the Provincial Health Service. In addition to a private practice, he served as a nurse when necessary. He taught at the Medical College and Hospital, Kolkata and later at the Campbell Medical School (now NRS Medical College) and the Carmichael Medical College (now R. G. Kar Medical College). He served as the first president of Cardiological Society of India from 1948 to 1950. Roy believed that

swaraj Swarāj (, IAST: , ) can mean generally self-governance or "self-rule". The term was used synonymously with "home-rule" by Maharishi Dayanand Saraswati and later on by Mahatma Gandhi, but the word usually refers to Gandhi's concept of Indian ...

(the call to action for India's freedom) would remain a dream unless the people were healthy and strong in mind and body. He made contributions to the organisation of medical education. He played an important role in the establishment of the Jadavpur T.B. Hospital, Chittaranjan Seva Sadan, Kamala Nehru Memorial Hospital, Victoria Institution (college), and Chittaranjan Cancer Hospital. In 1926, the Chittaranjan Seva Sadan for women and children was opened by Roy. Roy was also

Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (2October 186930January 1948) was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalism, anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethics, political ethicist who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful Indian ...

's personal doctor and friend. In 1925, Roy ran for elections from the

Barrackpore Barrackpore (), also known as Barrackpore,is a city and municipality in North 24 Parganas district in the India, Indian state of West Bengal. It is the headquarters of the Barrackpore subdivision. The city is a part of the area covered by Ko ...

constituency as an independent candidate for the

Bengal Legislative Council The Bengal Legislative Council ( was the legislative council of Bengal Presidency. It was the legislature of the Bengal Presidency during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. After reforms were adopted in 1937, it served as the upper house of ...

and defeated the "Grand Old Man of Bengal", Surendranath Banerjee. Though an independent, he voted with the

Swaraj Party The Swaraj Party, established as the Congress-Khilafat Swaraj Party, was a political party formed in India on 1 January 1923 after the Gaya annual conference in December 1922. Chauri Chaura The Swaraj Party was formed on 1 January 1923 by Indi ...

(the Parliamentary wing of the Congress party in the 1920s). As early as 1925, Roy tabled a resolution recommending a study of the causes of pollution in Hooghly and suggested measures to prevent pollution in the future. Roy was elected to the

All India Congress Committee The All India Congress Committee (AICC) is the presidium or the central decision-making assembly of the Indian National Congress. It is composed of members elected from States and union territories of India, state-level Pradesh Congress Commit ...

in 1928. Roy conducted

Civil Disobedience Civil disobedience is the active and professed refusal of a citizenship, citizen to obey certain laws, demands, orders, or commands of a government (or any other authority). By some definitions, civil disobedience has to be nonviolent to be cal ...

in Bengal in 1929 and prompted Pandit Motilal Nehru to nominate him as a member of the

Congress Working Committee The Congress Working Committee (CWC) is the executive committee of the Indian National Congress. It was formed in December 1920 at Nagpur session of INC which was headed by C. Vijayaraghavachariar. It is composed of senior party leaders and is r ...

(CWC) in 1930. The CWC was declared an unlawful assembly and Roy along with other members of the committee were arrested on 26 August 1930 and detained at Alipore Central Jail. During the Dandi March in 1931, many members of the Calcutta Corporation were imprisoned. Congress requested Roy to remain out of prison and discharge the duties of the Corporation. He served as the

Alderman An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law with similar officials existing in the Netherlands (wethouder) and Belgium (schepen). The term may be titular, denotin ...

of the Corporation from 1930 to 1931 and as the

Mayor of Calcutta The Mayor of Kolkata is the chief executive of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, one of the civic authorities in the Indian city of Kolkata. He is the ''First Citizen'' of the city of Kolkata. There have been 38 mayors of Kolkata in total ti ...

from 1931 to 1933. Under him, the Corporation expanded schemes for free education, free medical aid, improved roads and lighting, and water supply. He set up a framework for dispensing grant-in-aid to hospitals and charitable

dispensaries A dispensary is an office in a school, hospital, industrial plant, or other organization that dispenses medications, medical supplies, and in some cases even medical and dental treatment. In a traditional dispensary set-up, a pharmacist dispense ...

. In 1942,

Rangoon Yangon, formerly romanized as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar. Yangon was the List of capitals of Myanmar, capital of Myanmar until 2005 and served as such until 2006, when the State Peace and Dev ...

fell to the Japanese bombing and caused an exodus from Calcutta fearing a Japanese invasion. Roy, then serving as the

Vice-Chancellor A vice-chancellor (commonly called a VC) serves as the chief executive of a university in the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Australia, Nepal, India, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Kenya, other Commonwealth of Nati ...

of the

University of Calcutta The University of Calcutta, informally known as Calcutta University (), is a Public university, public State university (India), state university located in Kolkata, Calcutta (Kolkata), West Bengal, India. It has 151 affiliated undergraduate c ...

, acquired air-raid shelters for schools and college students to have their classes in, and provided relief for students, teachers and employees alike.

Chief Minister of West Bengal

The Congress Party proposed Roy's name for Premier of West Bengal. Although Roy sought to continue with his profession, he accepted the position and took office on 23 January 1948 upon Gandhi's advice. Bengal at the time had been torn by

communal violence Communal violence is a form of violence that is perpetrated across ethnic or communal lines, where the violent parties feel solidarity for their respective groups and victims are chosen based upon group membership. The term includes conflicts, ri ...

, shortage of food, unemployment and a large flow of

refugee A refugee, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), is a person "forced to flee their own country and seek safety in another country. They are unable to return to their own country because of feared persecution as ...

s in the wake of the creation of

East Pakistan East Pakistan was the eastern province of Pakistan between 1955 and 1971, restructured and renamed from the province of East Bengal and covering the territory of the modern country of Bangladesh. Its land borders were with India and Burma, wit ...

. In an address to the people of West Bengal, Roy said: On 26 January 1950, Roy took oath as the first Chief Minister of West Bengal in

Independent India Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

. Under his leadership, the Congress party won the legislative assembly elections in West Bengal in

1952 Events January–February * January 26 – Cairo Fire, Black Saturday in Kingdom of Egypt, Egypt: Rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses. * February 6 ** Princess Elizabeth, ...

and

1957 Events January * January 1 – The Saarland joins West Germany. * January 3 – Hamilton Watch Company introduces the first electric watch. * January 5 – South African player Russell Endean becomes the first batsman to be Dismissal (cricke ...

. The 22-member Sarkar Committee, headed by industrialist Nalini Ranjan Sarkar, recommended the formation of technical institutions for higher education in India. Roy successfully petitioned then Prime Minister

Jawaharlal Nehru Jawaharlal Nehru (14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat, and statesman who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20th century. Nehru was a pr ...

to setup the first institute in West Bengal, on the grounds that the state had the highest concentration of industries at that time. The Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur was thus established in May 1950, with Roy serving as the first Chairman of the Board of Governors. He was credited for the development of cities like

Bidhannagar Bidhannagar (ISO 15919, ISO: ''Bidhānanagar''), also known as Salt Lake City, is a city and a municipal corporation of North 24 Parganas district in the States and union territories of India, Indian state of West Bengal. It is the headquarters ...

, Kalyani, and

, which were crucial for the growth of West Bengal's economy at a time when it was ravaged by the ill consequences of partition.

Death

Bidhan Chandra Roy died on 1 July 1962, coincidentally on his 80th birthday. His house was later converted into a nursing home named after his mother, Aghorkamini Devi. He had also constituted a trust for his properties at

to carry out social service, with eminent nationalist

Ganga Sharan Singh (Sinha) Ganga Sharan Singh (Sinha) (1905 Bihta, Patna, Bengal Presidency – 1988) was a member of the Rajya Sabha, the Upper House of the Parliament of India, for three terms (1956–1962 and 1962–1968 from Bihar, and then a nominated member in 1968� ...

being its first trustee.

Legacy

The Indian Government honoured Roy with the

on 4 February 1961. The B.C. Roy National Award was instituted in 1962 in his memory and has been awarded annually since 1976. The award recognises excellent contributions in the areas of medicine, politics, science, philosophy, literature and arts. The Dr. B. C. Roy Memorial Library and Reading Room for Children in the Children's Book Trust, New Delhi, was opened in 1967. Today, his private papers are part of the Archives at the

Nehru Memorial Museum & Library The Prime Ministers' Museum and Library Society previously known as the Nehru Museum and Library Society is a museum and library in New Delhi, India, which aims to preserve and reconstruct the history of the Indian independence movement. Housed ...

, at Teen Murti House, Delhi. India celebrates National Doctors' Day on 1 July every year to honour his birthday and deathday.

References