SRIDEV SUMANSridev Suman was the best known of a group of freedom fighters to operate in Tehri State. Born in 1916, Suman was largely self-taught. He became a key organizer and agitator for civil rights in Tehri while serving as an editor and writer for several underground presses. He was instrumental in the formation of several organizations, from the Himalaya Seva Sangh, to the Himalayan States People's Federation and Garhdesh Seva Sangh.In 1942 at the height of tax protests, Suman and many other activists were jailed. Late in 1943, he was tried for treason and jailed again. The ghastly conditions of Tehri's infamous prisons led him to lead a fast unto death in protest. After 84 days, he died a martyr's death, inspiring a generation of activists to take up the banner of liberation that eventually toppled the princely state.[/color]
HEMVATI NANDAN BAHUGUNA Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna was born on 25th April, 1919 in Bughani village of district Pauri Garhwal. In 1942, he led the Quit India Movement at Allahabad. As British Government declared a prize of Rs. 10,000 on catching him live or dead, he went underground to continue the freedom struggle but later arrested. He was tortured and sentenced to rigorous imprisonment by the Britishers but released in 1945 due to illness. After independence, he held a number of important portfolios in state and central governments. This great leader was died on 17th March 1989.
Govind Ballabh Pant[edit] Early lifeAs a lawyer in Kashipur, Pant began his active work against the British Raj in 1914, when he helped a local parishad, or village council, in their successful challenge of a law requiring locals to provide free transportation of the luggage of travelling British officials. In 1921, he entered politics and was elected to the Legislative Assembly of the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh.[edit] In the freedom struggleIn 1930, he was arrested and imprisoned for several weeks for organizing a Salt March inspired by Gandhi's earlier actions. In 1933, he was arrested and imprisoned for seven months for attending a session of the then-banned provincial Congress. In 1935, the ban was rescinded, and Pant joined the new Legislative Council. During the Second World War, Pant acted as the tiebreaker between Gandhi's faction, which advocated supporting the British Crown in their war effort, and Subash Chandra Bose's faction, which advocated taking advantage of the situation to expel the British Raj by any means necessary.In 1940, Pant was arrested and imprisoned for helping organize the Satyagraha movement. In 1942 he was arrested again, this time for signing the Quit India resolution, and imprisoned until March of 1945, at which point Jawaharlal Nehru had to plead for Pant's release, on grounds of failing health.[edit] Post-independenceAfter independence in 1947, Pant became Chief Minister of the United Provinces, which he renamed Uttar Pradesh. Among his achievements in that position was the abolition of the zamindari system. He was called on to succeed Kailash Nath Katju as Home Minister in 1955; in that position, his chief achievement was the establishment of Hindi as an official language of the central government and a few states. In 1957, he was awarded the Bharat Ratna.