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Birth Centenary 1909–2009 Mohinder Singh Randhawa:
MS Randhawa. Portrait by Harikishan Gorkha. c 1957 Mohinder
Singh Randhawa,
a great Punjabi, was born on 2 February, 1909 at Zira in district
Ferozepur, Punjab. His ancestral village was BoNđlaaN ਬੋਂਦਲ਼ਾਂ
in Hoshiarpur
district. He joined the Indian Civil Service in 1934 in London and then
served in various capacities at Saharanpur, Fyzabad, Almora, Allahabad,
Agra, and Rai Barelli till 1945. Randhawa
was the Secretary of the Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR)
from 1945 to 46 and made huge contributions to this pioneering
organisation which was responsible for the Green Revolution in India. In
fact, Randhawa is acknowledged as the Father of the Green Revolution in
East Punjab. In
1946, Randhawa was appointed as the Deputy Commissioner of Delhi, when
India was on the eve of independence and when Delhi was going through a
turbulent phase. Thanks to
his fair and administrative ability so many lives were saved when the
Hindu-Muslim riots were at their peak in Delhi. He was famous for
travelling to the troubled spots incognito, so he could gauge the reasons
for the trouble. In 1947 he was in charge of the entire Independence Day
function where Jawaharlal Nehru unfurled the flag of free India at Lal
Qila.
MS Randhawa. 1916. Aged 7 1947
was also a very troubled time for hundreds and thousands of people who
came from West Punjab during the time of Partition. This was perhaps the
greatest achievement of Randhawa, who as the Deputy Commissioner and as
the Additional Director General (Rehabilitation) and the Director General
(Rehabilitation), Punjab and Commissioner Ambala Division in Punjab helped
the displaced half a million farmers to resettle. He was synonymous with
integrity, courage and humanism which helped him handle that onerous task
so well. In
1955 Randhawa became the Vice-President of the Indian Council for
Agricultural Research (ICAR) and Additional Secretary to Government of
India, Ministry of Food and Agriculture, New Delhi. It was during this
time that the ICAR was ushered into the modern era and Randhawa got
several books published on agriculture and horticulture. He also headed an
Indian-American team and headed schemes for the development of national
research programmes and programmes for the promotion of uses of
fertilizers. He also headed delegations to United Nations Food and
Agricultural Organisation conferences in Bandung, Indonesia, Rome and
London. He then served the Government of India as Advisor, Natural
Resources, Planning Commission from 1961-1964 and then as special
Secretary, Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Government of India. Another
facet of Randhawa was his scientific bent of mind and he also did valuable
work as a scientist. He had specialised in Botany during his education and
so later in the year 1955, he was awarded a Doctorate in Science by Panjab
University for his pioneering work on algae and especially on a particular
strain of that called Zygnemaceae. Further, he also remained a part of
several scientific organisations like National Academy of Sciences and
North India Science Association. Randhawa
was a part of another project of setting up a new city which is now
Chandigarh. He was associated with the project right from the start and in
1955 became chairman of a committee of architects, town planners,
engineers, horticulturists and foresters. The city of Chandigarh became
Randhawa’s baby and it is widely acknowledged that even though the
legendary Le Corbusier was the designer of Chandigarh, but it was Randhawa
who was the implementer and landscaper of the city. It was his experience
with trees and landscaping that has earned Chandigarh the title of ‘City
Beautiful’. Randhawa
was Financial Commissioner of the Capital Project Punjab from July to
October 1966, and the Chief Commissioner of the Union Territory of
Chandigarh from November 1966 to 1968. He
allotted land on a nominal price to artists and poets and countless others
to build houses. He is also the reason why the world famous Rock Garden of
Nek Chand exists. When it was discovered that one Public Works employee
Nek Chand was making sculptures from waste, the officials wanted to throw
the person out who was illegally occupying Government land, but Randhawa
identified the potential in Nek Chand and got him allotted land. He
was also responsible for establishing the Rose Garden in Sector 16 in
Chandigarh and later in Ludhiana too. Randhawa
conceived and created India’s first agricultural university, the Punjab
Agricultural University (PAU) in Ludhiana along with a museum and art
gallery at the campus to depict the various aspects of rural life. He
became the vice chancellor of the university in 1968 and was also
instrumental in the construction of the Anglo–Sikh Wars Memorial near
Ferozepur which was completed in February 1976. He donated all his books
to the PAU library which was renamed after him later on. Randhawa
was an avid admirer of arts and crafts and his contribution to this field
cannot be forgotten. He was the Chairman of All India Fine Arts and Crafts
Society, donated a number of Art books from his private collection, gave a
donation of Rs 50,000 for the building funds of the society and acquired
collections of paintings of contemporary artists for the society including
the ones by the famous Russian painter, Nicholas Roerich. He was the chief
editor of the magazine, the best art journal in the country at the time, Roop
Lekha, which provided a forum to research scholars in art for
publication of their original papers. On
May 6 1968, a new museum appeared on the map of India. This was the museum
at Chandigarh, designed by Le Corbusier and had the largest collection of
Gandhara sculptures, Rajput miniatures and contemporary paintings. This
museum, like the city of Chandigarh owes its existence to Partition. After
Partition, some parts of the Art collection of the Lahore Museum came to
Punjab. When the exhibits were received, they were housed in Amritsar,
then a church in Shimla and then to Moti Bagh Palace in Patiala. Randhawa
got the Punjab Government to examine the suitability of keeping the art
objects at Patiala, and finally prevailed upon the Government to build a
new museum in Chandigarh. A plan for building the museum was approved, but
in 1962, China attacked India and the Punjab Government decided not to go
ahead with the construction of the museum. Greatly perturbed by this
decision, Randhawa wrote to Partap Singh Kairon, Chief Minister of Punjab
and explained to him that Chandigarh though an impressive city, would
remain without a soul if the people were not exposed to works of art, and
finally. Randhawa got the Government to go ahead with the construction of
the museum. He donated a large number of books from his personal
collection to the museum’s library and they are still there to date. He
also arranged for the procurement of a large number of paintings from
various parts of Punjab and India and from famous contemporary artists
from all parts of India. The city of Chandigarh and the artist community
shall forever remain in debt to this great man because of whom the Arts
Museum in Chandigarh is a premier museum in India. Another
known passion of Randhawa was that of Indian Art. He was enthralled by the
paintings of the Kangra region and began a devoted study of the same and
put his scientific knowledge and training to use. The result was a series
of books which were outstanding in both their scholarly contents as well
as in their excellent standards of print. The paintings of the Kangra
region were not exposed to the people of India and were confined only to
where they were made. Randhawa
made efforts to bring this exotic art before the people. For this he
travelled the length and breath of Himachal Pradesh, which at that time
was a part of East Punjab. The problem at that time was that the owners of
the paintings were very possessive about these paintings and would seldom
admit to having these paintings. Randhawa interviewed people like Raja
Dhruvdev Chand of Lambagraon, Raja Baldev Singh of Guler, Mian Kartar
Singh of Basa Waziran, Raja Anand Chand of Bilaspur, Rai Brij Mohan Singh
of Nalagarh, Captain Surender Singh of Mirthal and Raja Rajinder Singh of
Arki. All of them possessed family collections and agreed to allow
Randhawa to view these paintings. This led to the identification of local
styles of the paintings and consequently he was able to bring out the
artist genealogies. Randhawa wrote several books on Kangra painting,
Chamba painting and Basohli painting.
Randhawa’s aim was to educate people in art and it was in this
mission that Randhawa gloriously succeeded through his books. His books on
art make a permanent contribution to Indian art history. The books were
reviewed not only in India but in magazines, journals and newspapers all
over the world.
Aap Beetee.
MS Randhawa. Autobiography in Punjabi. Randhawa
was a prolific writer as well and he was well versed in English, Punjabi,
Hindi, and Urdu. He however mostly wrote in English or Punjabi. In fact,
he made important contributions in the encouragement of Punjabi writing.
He had written books, articles and papers on a wide spectrum of issues.
From his critically acclaimed books on agriculture like Beautifying
India and Flowering Trees in India to books in Biology like Evolution
of Life, from books on Rural Development and Sociology to several
books on Art, and from several books on his research on Algae to his books
on the city of Chandigarh, Randhawa’s effort was exceptional and all
books and articles were meticulous in their content and style of writing. Randhawa remained active promoting the causes dear to his heart till he breathed his last aged 77 on March 3, 1986 near Chandigarh.
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