My Science School

Lata Mangeshkar (born as Hema Mangeshkar on 28 September 1929)) is an Indian playback singer and music director. She is one of the best-known and most respected playback singers in India. She has recorded songs in over a thousand Hindi films and has sung songs in over thirty-six regional Indian languages and foreign languages, though primarily in Marathi, Hindi, Bengali and Assamese.

The Dadasaheb Phalke Award was bestowed on her in 1989 by the Government of India. In 2001, in recognition of her contributions to the nation, she was awarded the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honour and is only the second vocalist, after M. S. Subbulakshmi, to receive this honour. France conferred on her its highest civilian award, the Officer of the Legion of Honour, in 2007.

Lata is the eldest child of the family. Meena, Asha, Usha, and Hridaynath, in birth order, are her siblings; all are accomplished singers and musicians.

Lata received her first music lesson from her father. At the age of five, she started to work as an actress in her father's musical plays (Sangeet Natak in Marathi). On her first day of school, she left school because they would not allow her to bring her sister Asha with her, as she would often bring her younger sister with her.

 

Picture Credit : Google

Madurai Shanmukhavadivu Subbulakshmi is a name that is synonymous with the world of Carnatic music. This flawless singer, whose voice almost had a divine power, is the first singer to be presented with India’s highest civil honour, the Bharat Ratna. When she was honoured with the Ramon Magsaysay award, which is considered as Asia's Nobel Prize, she became the first Indian musician to do so. Subbulakshmi, fondly addressed as M.S by her fans, was a true pioneer of anything that has to do with women empowerment. She led by example and showed the way to contemporary women of her era. 

Subbulakshmi began her training under her mother Shanmu kavadiver Ammal. She then went on to learn the nuances of Carnatic music under Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer. While learning Carnatic music, she also learnt and mastered Hindustani music under the famous vocalist Pandit Narayanrao Vyas. M.S was a quick learner and thus finished her education at a young age.

The great talent that M.S possessed brought a galaxy of fans. Her fan list included the likes of Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Sarojini Naidu, Lata Mangeshkar, Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan and Kishori Amonkar. Mahatma Gandhi once commented that he would rather hear Subbulakshmi utter the lyrics of the songs rather than hear someone else sing it. While Jawaharlal Nehru called her the ‘Queen of Music’, Bade Ghulam Ali defined her as the ‘Goddess of perfect note’. In the year 1998, M. S. Subbulakshmi became the first musician to be honored with India's highest civilian award.

 

Picture Credit : Google

Bhupen Hazarika, who was posthumously awarded Bharat Ratna in 2019, was a singer, balladeer, poet, lyricist and film maker who was widely admired not only in native Assam but across the country.

He started out as a child actor and wrote and sang his first song at the age of 10. His famous song, `O Ganga, tum bhati ho kyun' is sung across homes in India. Hazarika created his own ode to the Brahmaputra. His song on Bangladesh's liberation was very popular and he was well-known in Nepal.

Hazarika was popularly known as Bhupenda in Assam and awaded with titles like Sudhakantha.

He had joined the BJP ahead of 2004 Lok Sabha elections impressed by the performance of Atal Bihari Vajpayee government though he desisted bondage of a political party. He had also been an independent member of the Assam Assembly.

 

Picture Credit : Google

Amartya Sen is an Indian economist and philosopher. He has worked in India, the United Kingdom and the United States.

He was born on November 3rd, 1933, to a Bengali family of Santiniketan in West Bengal. He is the second Indian after Rabindranath Tagore to receive a Nobel Prize.

Sen's first book 'Collective Choice and Social Welfare' was launched around 1970. This book was considered to be one of the most influential monographs that speak about the issue of primary welfare, justice, equality and individual rights.

His publication 'Development as freedom' got the recognition of the Nobel Prize committee. In 1992 he came up with his book 'Inequality Re-examined' which covered all the important themes of his work. In 1998 he received the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for his contribution to 'Welfare Economics'. He also won the Bharat Ratna award IN 1999, the highest civilian award in India and the National Humanities Medal ward in 2011.

 

Picture Credit : Google

Kamaraj was awarded India's highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna, posthumously in 1976. The domestic terminal of the Chennai airport is named "Kamaraj Terminal". Marina beach road in Chennai was named as "Kamarajar Salai". North Parade Road in Bengaluru and Parliament road in New Delhi were also renamed after Kamaraj. Madurai Kamaraj University is named in his honour. In 2003, the Government of India released a commemorative coin on his birthday.

After Nehru's death in 1964, Kamaraj successfully navigated the party through turbulent times. As the president of INC, he refused to become the next Prime Minister himself and was instrumental in bringing to power two Prime Ministers, Lal Bahadur Shastri in 1964 and Nehru's daughter Indira Gandhi in 1966. For this role, he was widely acclaimed as the "kingmaker" during the 1960s.

When the Congress split in 1969, Kamaraj became the leader of the Indian National Congress (Organisation) (INC(O)) in Tamil Nadu. The party fared poorly in the 1971 elections amid allegations of fraud by the opposition parties. He remained the leader of INC(O) until his death in 1975.

 

Picture Credit : Google