Chunkath Joseph Varkey (1891–1953), was an Indian professor, journalist and a former Minister for Education of the

Madras Presidency The Madras Presidency, or the Presidency of Fort St. George, also known as Madras Province, was an administrative subdivision (presidency) of British India. At its greatest extent, the presidency included most of southern India, including the ...

Biography

Varkey was born in a

Syro-Malabar Catholic lat, Ecclesia Syrorum-Malabarensium mal, മലബാറിലെ സുറിയാനി സഭ , native_name_lang=, image = St. Thomas' Cross (Chennai, St. Thomas Mount).jpg , caption = The Mar Thoma Nasrani Sl ...

family in 1891. He was a professor of History

St. Aloysius College, Mangalore St Aloysius College is a private, coeducational, Jesuit college located in Mangaluru, Karnataka, India. With a 2016–2017 enrollment of 4183 undergraduate students and 1532 postgraduate students and 69 research scholars, the college specialize ...

. He was also the Secretary of the All India Catholic League, now the

All India Catholic Union The All India Catholic Union (AICU) represents almost 16 million Catholics in India: followers of the Latin Rite, the Syro-Malabar Catholics and the Syro-Malankara Catholics. It has 120 diocese and district units. The AICU was established in 1 ...

. He represented the West Coast Indian Christian Constituency in the

Madras Legislative Assembly The Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly is the unicameral legislature of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It has a strength of 234 members of whom are democratically elected using the First-past-the-post system. The presiding officer of the Assembl ...

during 1937–42. He was also the founder-editor of ''The Catholic Educational Review''. When the C. Rajagopalachari led Indian National Congress took power in the Madras Presidency after winning the 1937 elections, Varkey became Secretary for Education. In 1939 he succeeded Subbarayan as the Minister of Education - a post he held till the resignation of the Congress ministry the same year. He organised the All India Catholic League and was made a

Knight of St. Gregory The Pontifical Equestrian Order of St. Gregory the Great ( la, Ordo Sancti Gregorii Magni; it, Ordine di San Gregorio Magno) was established on 1 September 1831, by Pope Gregory XVI, seven months after his election as Pope. The order is one of ...

Pope Pius XI Pope Pius XI ( it, Pio XI), born Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti (; 31 May 1857 – 10 February 1939), was head of the Catholic Church from 6 February 1922 to his death in February 1939. He was the first sovereign of Vatican City fro ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Varkey, Chunkath Joseph 1891 births Syro-Malabar Catholics Indian Eastern Catholics Saint Thomas Christians Politicians from Thrissur University of Madras alumni Roman Catholic activists Indian independence activists from Kerala Indian National Congress politicians from Kerala Indian National Congress politicians from Tamil Nadu Indian anti-communists Malayali politicians Tamil Nadu ministers Knights of St. Gregory the Great 1953 deaths Malayalam-language journalists Journalists from Kerala