Nanaji Deshmukh, second from RSS ranks, to get Bharat Ratna
New Delhi, Jan 25: Chandikadas Amritrao Deshmukh, affectionately called Nanaji Deshmukh, is the second leader from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh ranks after Atal Bihari Vajpayee to be conferred the coveted Bharat Ratna.
Nanaji was posthumously conferred the coveted award along with former President Pranab Mukherjee and singer Bhupen Hazarika.
Nanaji joined the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in 1928 as a 12-year-old and later remained a member of Bharatiya Jan Sangh, the political arm of the right-wing group. He later became a part of the Janata Party and Bharatiya Janata Party.
He was a member of the sixth Lok Sabha between 1977 and 1979, and nominated to Rajya Sabha by the then NDA government in 1999.
A married man, according to the Rajya Sabha website, Nanaji started a chain of Saraswati Vidya Mandir schools throughout India to propagate the ideas of RSS.
He also set up the Deen Dayal Research Institute and the Chitrakoot Gramodaya Vishwavidyalaya in Madhya Pradesh which is considered the country's first rural university.
A Padma Vibhushan awardee, Nanaji was known for his work around 500 villages in Chitrakoot where he tried to bring about all-round development by the people themselves.
He passed away at the age of 94 in 2010 and was considered one of the architects of the Jai Prakash Narayan movement against Emergency in 1974, and was also instrumental in the formation of Janata Party government in 1977.
The RSS stalwart had also travelled to the USA, UK, Cuba, Germany, Canada, South Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand and Kenya (Africa).
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Hailstorm brings relief to Bengaluru from scorching summer
Bengaluru (PTI): Bringing much relief to the people battered by the scorching summer, heavy rains coupled with hailstorm lashed the city on Wednesday.
The thunderous downpour with stormy wind cooled the city, where the temperature had soared to 37 degree.
With the rains, the city, from being parched, witnessed waterlogging in just two hours.
There was waist-deep water in many areas in the city such as Richmond Town and Shanthinagar resembling a river.
The unexpected rain did not spare Vidhana Soudha, the seat of power, as water gushed inside the government offices from the lobby. The office of the Leader of the Opposition in the Karnataka Assembly R Ashoka was also flooded.
Since the downpour occurred in the evening, many office goers struggled to return home.
Uprooting of trees was reported in many parts of the city, including Malleswaram, Shanthinagar and Seshadripuram.
