Chaudhary Ishwar Singh (1926-1998) was a leader of the Congress Party and served as the speaker of

Haryana Vidhan Sabha The Haryana Legislative Assembly or the Haryana Vidhan Sabha is the unicameral state legislature of Haryana state in India. The seat of the Vidhan Sabha is at Chandigarh, the capital of the state. The Vidhan Sabha comprises 90 Members of L ...

from 1991–1996. He was elected as MLA for four times by the electorates of

Pundri Pundri is a City and a municipal committee, near Kaithal City in Kaithal district of the Indian state of Haryana. Pundri along with Pundrak was named after the sage Pundarik, who is highly revered by all Hindus. Pundri is the seat of a Tehsil ...

constituency of

Haryana Haryana (; ) is an Indian state located in the northern part of the country. It was carved out of the former state of East Punjab on 1 Nov 1966 on a linguistic basis. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with less than 1.4% () of India's land ...

. He is well know for his contribution to uplift the poor and oppressed people in the society and for uplifting girls to get higher education by building 3 degree colleges in the constituency of Pundri.

Background

Chaudhary Ishwar Singh was born on 5th November 1926 in the house of a poor farmer of village Staundi of Karnal District, Haryana. He received early education in his native village and then moved to Panipat from where he came out in his matriculation examination with flying colors. Then he moved to Rohtak and obtained his degree in Bachelors of Arts. to obtain his license of teaching degree he moved to Meerut. During his stay at these centers of learning certain incidents occurred which in a way determined the future course of Chaudhary Ishwar Singh's life. His teachers were very much impressed by his learning habits and took keen interest in grooming him into a great scholar. This quest of his knowledge took him to different places which left indelible imprint on his adolescent and young formative mind. During his student days he went through the teachings and message of Swami Vivekananda which provided Chaudhary Ishwar Singh with a purpose for social action, although he could not have stimulus of a personal contact with the Swami. He decided to mitigate the social evils illiteracy, poverty and hunger which affected the rural people. After he obtained hi L.T Degree, instead of competing for any lucrative government jobs he chose to join the teaching profession which suited his temperament and qualifications as he considered it a noble profession to serve the community. In his very first attempt he was selected by the interview board and the education department issued him appointment letter for the post of social studies teacher and posted him at Government High School,

Samalkha Samalkha is a town and Sub district of Panipat district that has its own tehsil as well as a municipal committee located in Indian state of Haryana. It is situated on GT road, 19 km (11.7 miles) south of Panipat, the district headquarter a ...

(Karnal). Though his academic quest came to an end with his joining first as a teacher and then in active politics yet his quest for learning remained a life long passion for him.

Political career

Chaudhary Ishwar Singh impressed the people of

Kaul Kaul (also spelled Koul; ks, कौल (Devanagari)) is a surname used by the Kashmiri Pandit community in India., ''...looms rose to 24,000 by 1813. Despite the religious oppression that many hindus were subjected , they were however, useful ...

with his sincerity and desire to work for the betterment of the community. He was also a great orator and words flowed easily from his tongue. He often used to talk about the great ancient history of

. There is a very ancient fort in the village and Chaudhary Ishwar Singh Dhakla often said that this was the place where the wheel of

Karna Karna (Sanskrit: कर्ण, IAST: ''Karṇa''), also known as Vasusena, Anga-raja, and Radheya, is one of the main protagonists of the Hindu epic '' Mahābhārata''. He is the son of the sun god Surya and princess Kunti (mother of the Pa ...

's chariot got stuck during his final fight against Arjun in

Mahabharat The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; sa, महाभारतम्, ', ) is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India in Hinduism, the other being the ''Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the struggle between two groups of cousins in the Kuru ...

. Chaudhary Ishwar Singh was elected to the Haryana Assembly as an independent candidate for the first time in 1968 and then again in 1972, 1982 and 1991 on Congress party ticket. He was a man of vision and was very instrumental in setting up many educational institutions. He served as the Speaker of the Haryana

Vidhan Sabha The State Legislative Assembly, or Vidhan Sabha, or also Saasana Sabha, is a legislative body in the states and union territories of India. In the 28 states and 3 union territories with a unicameral state legislature, it is the sole legislativ ...

from 1991–1996 under the last

Bhajan Lal Bhajanlal Bishnoi (6 October 1930 – 3 June 2011) was a politician and three-time chief minister of the Indian state of Haryana. He became the Chief Minister for the first time in 1979, was re-elected in 1982, and became the chief minister for ...

government of Haryana."Kuldip Sharma said Ishwar Singh was a man of vision and instrumental in setting up many educational institutions", "Tributes paid to Ishwar Singh", An article in The Tribune, Tuesday, 6 November 2007, Chandigarh, Indi

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Social contribution

He wielded tremendous influence due to his closeness to

, the stalwart

Bishnoi Bishnoi (also known as Vishnoi) is a community found in the Western Thar Desert and northern states of India. They follow a set of 29 principles/commandments given by Guru Jambheshwar (also known as Guru Jambhoji, Guru Jambha Ji) (1451-1536) ...

leader and Chief Minister of Haryana on several occasions. Apart from that, Ishwar Singh Ji did a lot of social work. He ensured the opening of many educational institutions in his constituency of

. He also had a power station built close to the village of Kaul. He stressed on women education. He always said that "if a male is educated a family will be educated but if a female will educated the whole society will be educated". In this context he established three women colleges named as Ch. Ishwar Singh Kanya Mahavidyalaya, Fatehpur-Pundri (Kaithal) www.ciskmv.org in 1984, and Ch. Ishwar Singh Kanya Mahavidyalaya, Dhand-Dadwana (Kaithal), Ch. Ishwar Singh Mahila Shikshan Mahavidyalaya, Fatehpur-Pundri (Kaithal) in 1994. These colleges imparting higher education to the girls of about sixty villages.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Singh, Chaudhary Ishwar People from Karnal district People from Kaithal district Indian National Congress politicians 1926 births 1998 deaths Speakers of the Haryana Legislative Assembly