Many renowned personalities, belonging to different spheres of life, have been privileged to have been born in the serene and beautiful region called Kumaon. The hills of Kumaon have been really inspiring and motivating enough to make the local people hard-working and enterprising and creative, all at the same time. Some of these outstanding people are:
Politics
Govind Ballabh Pant- Born on August 30, 1887, Bharat Ratna G.B. Pant was one of the frontrunners in the struggle for India’s independence. He served as the first CM of Uttar Pradesh in independent India and also stayed Home minister in Nehru’s government. It was during his tenure that Hindi was given the status of National Language. Pant departed for heavenly abodes on March7, 1961 after a brief period in coma while he was still in office.
Narayan Dutt Tiwari- Born on October the 18th in the year 1925, Tiwari belongs to the elite class of politicians in India. An Ex-Chief Minister of Uttarankhand (2002-2007), he also served as CM of the undivided Uttar Pradesh 3 times. A respected member of the Indian National Congress party, he has been a union minister for numerous portfolios and was also in the reckoning for the post of the prime minister of India in the late 80’s and early 1990s. He has gained respect across party lines, a rare achievement in Indian Politics.
Murli Manohar Joshi- A former Union HRD minister and one of the towering figures in the BJP, in particular, and Indian politics, in general, Dr. Joshi had his early education in Almora and Chandpur. He was born in Delhi on January 5, 1934. A physics professor at Allahabad University for a long time, Dr. Joshi is a pioneer in the field of social work and is deeply committed to the conservation of India’s heritage, which is under-threat according to many.
Among the many others who deserve a mention are, K.C. Pant, a former Union Home Minister and the charismatic leader Bhagat Singh Koshiyari.
Art and literature
Mohan Upreti – One of the most popular figures of the region, he was the flag-bearer of Kumaoni music and art throughout the later half of 20th century. A renowned theatre artist and a preserver of Kumaoni folk ballads, songs and other art forms, he established the ‘Parvatiya Kala Kendra’ in Delhi and one of his best renditions was ‘Rajula Malushahi’, an epic ballad. A former Executive Director of NSD, he died in 1997 in Delhi.
Shailash Matiyani- He was born on 14th October, 1931 at Badechhina (Almora). He studied only upto high school but his writings have been studied and researched by learned scholars over the years. He was known for his hard-hitting and bold articles published in many renowned newspapers of the country.
Shivani, the esteemed and celebrated author and Nirmal Pandey, the National-award winning movie actor are some of the gems that Kumaon has produced apart from greats like Tara Dutt Pandey, Sapna Awasthi, Himanshu Pandey and many more whose names are not mentioned here.
Other Fields
Muktesh Pant- CMO of Reebok international, he is the son of the great Hindi novelist, Shivani. An IIT graduate and IIM-pass out, the man has achieved enormous success in his field of work
Apart from him, Gen. B.C. Joshi and Kailash Joshi are some of the names that are worth a mention when one talks about the great personalities of Kumaon.
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