Saiyid Nurul Hasan

FRHistS The Royal Historical Society (RHS), founded in 1868, is a learned society of the United Kingdom which advances scholarly studies of history. Origins The society was founded and received its royal charter in 1868. Until 1872 it was known as the H ...

, FRAS (26 December 1921 – 12 July 1993) was an Indian historian and an elder statesman in the

Government of India The Government of India (ISO 15919, ISO: Bhārata Sarakāra, legally the Union Government or Union of India or the Central Government) is the national authority of the Republic of India, located in South Asia, consisting of States and union t ...

. A member of the Rajya Sabha, he was the Union Minister of State (with Independent Charges) of

Education Education is the transmission of knowledge and skills and the development of character traits. Formal education occurs within a structured institutional framework, such as public schools, following a curriculum. Non-formal education als ...

Social Welfare Welfare spending is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specifically to social insurance p ...

and

Culture Culture ( ) is a concept that encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, Social norm, customs, capabilities, Attitude (psychology), attitudes ...

Government of India (1971–1977) and the

Governor of West Bengal The Governor of West Bengal is the nominal head of the Indian state of West Bengal. The governor is appointed by the president of India. C. V. Ananda Bose is the incumbent governor, having taken office on 18 November 2022. History In 1911 the ...

and

Odisha Odisha (), formerly Orissa (List of renamed places in India, the official name until 2011), is a States and union territories of India, state located in East India, Eastern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by ar ...

(1986–1993).

Background and education

Nurul Hasan was born in

Lucknow Lucknow () is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and the largest city of the List of state and union territory capitals in India, Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is the administrative headquarters of the epon ...

, India. He belonged to a ''

taluqdari Taluqdars or Talukdar (, Hindustani: /; '' taluq'' "estate" + '' dar '' "owner"), were aristocrats who formed the ruling class during the Delhi Sultanate, Bengal Sultanate, Mughal Empire and British Raj. They were owners of a vast amount of l ...

'' (''madad-i ma'ash'') family of the United Provinces. He was the son of Saiyid Abdul Hasan and Nur Fatima Begum, and his name was devised by combining the names of his parents. His father was a district settlement officer and later president of the Court of Wards in the United Provinces. His maternal grandfather was

Sir ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as part ...

Syed Wazir Hasan Sir Syed Wazir Hasan (14 May 1874 – August 1948) was an Indian jurist and Secretary and later President of the All-India Muslim League. A practitioner in the Judicial Commissioner's Court, he was the first Indian Chief Justice of the Awadh Ch ...

, chief justice of the Court of Oudh and a well known president of the Muslim League, who had called for Hindu-Muslim unity in 1936. His maternal uncles were

Syed Syed may refer to: * Seyd, alternative for Sayyid (name) * Alternative for Sayyid, an honorific title * Ahsan Ali Syed (born 1973), Indian businessman * Ghulam Murtaza Syed (1904-1995), prominent Sindhi politician * Ibrahim Bijli Syed (born 1939) ...

Sajjad Zaheer Syed Sajjad Zaheer () (5 November 1905 – 13 September 1973) was a Pakistani-Indian Urdu political writer. He was a Marxist ideologue and a radical revolutionary who worked in both India and Pakistan. In the pre-independence era, he was a me ...

, a barrister and an eminent Marxist thinker and

Syed Ali Zaheer Syed Ali Zaheer (1896–1983) سیّد علّی ظہیر was an Indian politician and law minister in the first cabinet formed by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. Early and family life He was born as one of the four sons of Sir Syed Wazir Ha ...

, a barrister who became the law minister of Uttar Pradesh and India's ambassador to Iran. Nurul Hasan attended the

Sultan ul Madaris The Sultan ul Madaris ; is a Shia Islamic ''Madrasa'' (religious school) for higher religious education in Lucknow, India. Major course of studies include Jurisprudence, Theology and Islamic Literature. About It was founded in the year 1892 ...

. Then he went to the La Martiniere Boys' College in

Kolkata Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...

,. He completed his graduation from

Muir Central College Muir Central College in Prayagraj (formerly Allahabad) in northern India was a college of higher education founded by William Muir in 1872. It had a separate existence to 1921, when as a result of the Allahabad University Act it was merged into U ...

Allahabad Prayagraj (, ; ISO 15919, ISO: ), formerly and colloquially known as Allahabad, is a metropolis in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.The other five cities were: Agra, Kanpur, Kanpur (Cawnpore), Lucknow, Meerut, and Varanasi, Varanasi (Benar ...

, where he was a student of Professor R.P. Tripathi. Later he went to New College,

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

, where he completed an

M.A. A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...

and D.Phil. in Indian history. In Oxford, he was president of the Oxford India Majlis.Veena Majumdar, Memories of a Rolling Stone, Zubaan Books, Delhi, 2010
/ref> At a young age, Nurul Hasan was married to Nawabzadi Khurshid Laqa Begum Sahiba, eldest daughter of

Nawab Nawab is a royal title indicating a ruler, often of a South Asian state, in many ways comparable to the Western title of Prince. The relationship of a Nawab to the Emperor of India has been compared to that of the Kingdom of Saxony, Kings of ...

Raza Ali Khan of Rampur Sir Raza Ali Khan Bahadur , , , (17 November 1908 – 6 March 1966) was a nawab of the princely state of Rampur State, Rampur from 1930 to 1966. A tolerant and progressive ruler, Sir Raza expanded the number of Hindus in his government In ...

, in a match arranged by their families in the usual Indian way. At that time, Khurshid Laqa's father was the ruler of Rampur, a major, 15 Gun Salute Princely state located not far from

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...

, and surrounded by the United Provinces. The present Nawab, Kazim Ali Khan, is a nephew of Khurshid Laqa. Nurul Hasan and Khurshid Laqa had a harmonious marriage which lasted all their lives, and had two children, a son named Sayyid Sirajul Hasan, an eminent physicist who retired as director of the Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bangalore, and a daughter, Sayyida Talat Fatima Hasan, who is a successful entrepreneur based in the USA.

Career

Academic

He began his academic career as a

lecturer Lecturer is an academic rank within many universities, though the meaning of the term varies somewhat from country to country. It generally denotes an academic expert who is hired to teach on a full- or part-time basis. They may also conduct re ...

in history at the

School of Oriental and African Studies The School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS University of London; ) is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the federal University of London. Founded in 1916, SOAS is located in the Bloomsbury area ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. He was appointed

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

in the Department of History at

Aligarh Muslim University Aligarh Muslim University is a Collegiate university, collegiate, Central university (India), central, and Research university, research university located in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India, which was originally established by Sir Syed Ahmad Kh ...

, of which he was a chairperson as well. He contributed greatly to the growth of the history department in Aligarh in its initial years. Later he became the general secretary and then the president of the

Indian History Congress Indian History Congress is the largest professional and academic body of Indian historians with over 35,000 members. It was established in 1935. The name of any new applicant for membership needs to be proposed and seconded by existing Ordinary or ...

. He was a Fellow of the

Royal Historical Society The Royal Historical Society (RHS), founded in 1868, is a learned society of the United Kingdom which advances scholarly studies of history. Origins The society was founded and received its royal charter in 1868. Until 1872 it was known as the H ...

and the

Royal Asiatic Society The Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, commonly known as the Royal Asiatic Society, was established, according to its royal charter of 11 August 1824, to further "the investigation of subjects connected with and for the encourag ...

in London.

Political

A secularist with an abiding faith in leftism, Nurul Hasan was a member of the

Rajya Sabha Rajya Sabha (Council of States) is the upper house of the Parliament of India and functions as the institutional representation of India’s federal units — the states and union territories.https://rajyasabha.nic.in/ It is a key component o ...

from 1969 to 1978. From 1971 to 1977, he was the Union Minister of State (with independent charge) for Education, Social Welfare & Culture in the Government of India. As India's education minister, he founded the

Indian Council of Historical Research Indian or Indians may refer to: Associated with India * of or related to India ** Indian people ** Indian diaspora ** Languages of India ** Indian English, a dialect of the English language ** Indian cuisine Associated with indigenous peoples o ...

New Delhi New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the Government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Parliament ...

. He was also the architect behind the setting up of 27 social science research institutes in India under the aegis of the

Indian Council of Social Science Research The Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR) is the national body overseeing research in the social sciences in India. It was established in New Delhi New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delh ...

(ICSSR), New Delhi, such as the

Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta (CSSSC) is a social science and humanities research and teaching institute in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. History Established in 1973 jointly by the Indian Council of Social Science Research and ...

(1973). When he was a minister, under an act of the parliament, the funding and management of the

Rampur Raza Library The Rampur Raza Library (''Rāmpur Razā Kitāb Khāna'') located in Rampur, Uttar Pradesh, India is a repository of Indo-Islamic cultural heritage established in the last decades of the 18th century. It was built up by successive Nawabs of ...

was given to the Government of India. From 1977 to 1980 he was Vice President of the

Council of Scientific and Industrial Research The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR; IAST: ''vaigyanik tathā audyogik anusandhāna pariṣada'') is a research and development (R&D) organisation in India to promote scientific, industrial and economic growth. Headquarter ...

(CSIR), New Delhi. He was instrumental in improving the career advancement scheme of many leftist college and university teachers in India, impacting the political neutrality of education. He was also instrumental in starting the 10+2+3 system of education at the High School, Junior College and undergraduate levels. He played a major role in tabling "Towards Equality: The Report of the Committee on the Status of Women in India (1974-5)" in parliament, which was submitted by a committee appointed by the Government of India.
The findings of this report formed the basis for the establishment of the Centre for Women's Development Studies, Delhi. He served as

Ambassador of India to the Soviet Union The following people have served as ambassadors of India to Russia and its predecessor state, the Soviet Union: Ambassador of India to the Soviet Union Ambassador of India to Russia See also * Embassy of India, Moscow * Embassy of India Sch ...

from 1983 to 1986. He was the Governor of

West Bengal West Bengal (; Bengali language, Bengali: , , abbr. WB) is a States and union territories of India, state in the East India, eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabi ...

from 1986 to 1989 and then again from 1989 to 1993. He was the Governor of

in 1989. As the Governor of West Bengal, he founded the

Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Institute of Asian Studies, Calcutta The Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Institute of Asian Studies is an autonomous research institute based in Kolkata. It is funded by the Ministry of Culture of the Government of India. It was founded on 4 January 1993. The foundation stone of the insti ...

(1993). He was the first President of the institute's Society.

Death

He died of

renal failure Kidney failure, also known as renal failure or end-stage renal disease (ESRD), is a medical condition in which the kidneys can no longer adequately filter waste products from the blood, functioning at less than 15% of normal levels. Kidney fa ...

Calcutta Kolkata, also known as Calcutta (List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern ba ...

in 1993, aged 71, while continuing in office as the Governor.

Legacy

Prof. Syed Nurul Hasan College,

Farakka Farakka is a town, with a police station and a post office, not identified in 2011 census as a separate place, in the Farakka community development block in the Jangipur subdivision of Murshidabad district in the state of West Bengal, India. It ...

is named after him. The Nurul Hasan Education Foundation is named after him. The Nurul Hasan Chair Professorship of the Department of History of the University of Calcutta is named after him.

Publications

*''Religion, State, and Society in Medieval India : Collected Works of S. Nurul Hasan'' (Satish Chandra, editor). New Delhi : Oxford University Press, 2005. - viii, 335 S. : Kt. / 978-019566765-3 *''Sufis, Sultans and Feudal Orders : Professor Nurul Hasan Commemoration Volume'' (Mansura Haidar, editor), 2004. * ''Studies in archaeology and history: commemoration volume of Prof. S. Nurul Hasan'', Publisher:

, 2003. .

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nurul Hasan, Saiyid 1921 births 1993 deaths 20th-century Indian historians Academic staff of Aligarh Muslim University University of Allahabad alumni Alumni of New College, Oxford Ambassadors of India to the Soviet Union Ministers of education of India Deaths from kidney failure in India Fellows of the Royal Asiatic Society Fellows of the Royal Historical Society Governors of Odisha 20th-century Indian Muslims Governors of West Bengal Historians of South Asia Indian Marxist historians Indian political writers Indian Shia Muslims La Martiniere Calcutta alumni Nominated members of the Rajya Sabha Politicians from Lucknow Rajya Sabha members from Uttar Pradesh Writers from Lucknow 20th-century Indian politicians