socialworkers

socialworkers in india 4

Social worker parat 4

1Kishori Mohan Bandyopadhyay

Bandyopadhyay was born in the Bowbazer area of Kolkata at his maternal grandparents' home. In 1901 he passed the entrance examination for the Ripon Collegiate School. In 1903 he passed the F A examination from Ripon College as well as the Addya examination in Sanskrit. He did not pass his BA exam. He later taught at B M S Girls School in Kolkata and thereafter at Trannath High School of Panihati where he worked till 1914. In 1914 he re-did his BA as a private candidate and passed. Two years later he passed the Bachelor of Laws at the University of Calcutta.

Bandyopadhyay was a noted social worker of that time.[1] He under the influence of the revolutionary Mokhyada Charan Samadhyayi who started gymnasium in the village of Panihati. In 1908 he married Anadinath Chatterjee of Panihati's sister. He lived in the house of Anadinath in Panihati, the opposite side of Nilambati, Panihat which was later demolished and rebuilt into apartments. The gymnasium started by Kishori Mohan became the Panihati Club in 1914 and it is still now active as a social organisation. In 1918 Dr. Gopal Chandra Chattopadhyay started a public health movement to control the malaria epidemic. Kishori Mohan became his ardent co-worker.

In 1918, a meeting of the villagers took place at Trannath High School. There, Dr. Gopal Chandra Chattopadhyay established that the spread malaria could be controlled through sanitary conscience of the common people. The Anti Malaria Cooperative Society was formed in India at Panihati on 24 March 1918 with 27 people. Chattopadhyay was the organization's first president and Bandopahyay its first Secretary. Within three months by cleaning ponds, drains of the village, removing garbage and spraying Kerosene oil, malaria was under control. This success story encouraged the villagers of the neighborhood and Anti Malaria Cooperative Societies were formed. That movement resulted in the formation of the Central Anti Malaria Cooperative Society in a meeting held on 8 April 1919 at Rammohan Library Hall in Calcutta. The Central Society was presided over by Dr. Kailash Chandra Bose with Chattopadhyay as Secretary.

Kishorimohan continued as the Secretary of the Panihati Society till 1923. He became busy in propagating the message of sanitary conscience throughout undivided Bengal with the help of Magic Lantern. The Central Society started its own bi-lingual monthly journal 'Sonar Bangla' under the Editorship of Bipin Chandra Pal and Chattopadhyay. Kishori Mohan was a regular contributor of this journal.

In 1928 Dr. Gopal Chandra Chatterjee started the movement of home crofting. Kishori Mohan contributed a lot to make this movement also a successful one. Kishori Mohan Bandyopadhyay also co-founded The Panihati Cooperative Bank in 1927. He was elected by the villagers in the Panihati Municipality as Commissioner twice.

Bandyopadhyay received a Gold Medal for his contribution in anti-malaria efforts at the annual conference of the Central anti Malaria Cooperative Society for his contributions in the movement.[3] Panihati municipality has a street named Kishori Mohan Banerjee Road.

Bandyopadhyay's health took a turn for the worse due to his long hours of working. He contracted pneumonia and later meningitis. At the age of 46 he died in his Panihati residence on 20 August 1929. He had wife and 6 children. A condolence meeting in his memory was held on 1 September 1929 at Trannath High School.

Peary Mohan Bagchi or P.M. Bagchi (1850 (?) -1917) was the son of Pran Gopal Bagchi, a “Bhanga-Kulin” Brahmin of the Kashyap-para locality in Shantipur of Nadia District of undivided Bengal. Peary Mohan was a treasurer at the Krishnanagar/ Kishnagar Rajbari (palace) during his initial working days. He had five sons and three daughters. The eldest among his children was Kishori Mohan Bagchi born in 1868. Other sons were Haripada, Bijoy Krishna, Amod Krishna and Pramathanath. During the decade 1871 -1880, Peary Mohan shifted to Sovabazar in Calcutta and took shelter at a rental house. The address was 5/1 Kailash Das Lane at Sovabazar region. The region was under the domain of Sovabazar Rajbari. After shifting from Shantipur, Peary Mohan started working as a “Muhuri” (stamping clerk) under an advocate named Sitanath Ghosh at the Calcutta High Court.

Meanwhile, Kishori Mohan got married to Nandarani Devi, a Bhaduri family girl from Bally near Calcutta. His father-in-law was a businessman and was connected to the commodity supply chain. The year was 1882. Kishori Mohan was just 14 years old during marriage as informed by the descendant Pijush Bagchi in accordance with their inherited family-related information (However, after the death of Kishori Mohan a series of write up published probably in ‘Anandabazar Patrika’(?) of 16th November 1925 (?) depicted that Kishori was twenty years old during the marriage. The then octogenarian President of “Bangiya Puran Parishad” of Shantipur, Subal Chandra Maitra provided this information to Pijush Bagchi in 1983). Kishori was ever inclined to self-dependence instead of doing a job under someone. Going against the desire of his father Peary Mohan, Kishori started to manufacture writing ink from his residence at 5/1 Kailash Das Lane since 1883 to become financially independent. Simultaneously in the same year the company ‘Darjipara Chemical Works’ was formed at the address of the rented house 5/1 Kailash Das Lane, Calcutta. Immediately after marriage Kishori however, had to serve for some time in his father-in-law’s business. Here, the most interesting part is that he was dismissed from service by his father-in-law as Kishori was simultaneously continuing his ink business without informing his father-in-law.

Kishori was a highly talented boy in business-related matters. He was a daredevil young man with intelligence and overwhelming business skills. His business anticipation was god gifted. He took multiple risky steps to secure his business even against his father’s opinion which annoyed Peary Mohan multiple times.

Around 1887-88, the land at 38, Masjidbari Street was bought by Kishori Mohan when he was around twenty years old. The contribution of his father to this purchase is unknown to this author. After the land acquisition was over, factory and residence construction began and from 1888 to 1890, the whole production unit along with the residence was shifted to Darjipara.

As per necessity he later changed the initial factory name to “Darjipara Chemical and Rubber Stamp Works”. However, much prior to that, another company named “P.M. Bagchi & Co” was created by Kishori Mohan in his father’s name. In due course of time, this company name gradually replaced all the previous names as a single producer of the products. The factory was extended in Gulu Ostagar Lane of Darjipara. The office was also made at 16 Canning Street and a branch office was opened at 337, Upper Chitpur Road, Garanhata, Calcutta.

2Surendranath Banerjee

Sir Surendranath Banerjee (Bengali: সুরেন্দ্রনাথ বন্দ্যোপাধ্যায়; 10 November 1848 – 6 August 1925), often known as Rashtraguru (lit. 'Teacher of the Nation') was Indian nationalist leader during the British Rule. He founded a nationalist organization called the Indian National Association to bring Hindus and Muslims together for political action. He was one of the founding members of the Indian National Congress. Surendranath supported Montagu–Chelmsford Reforms, unlike Congress, and with many liberal leaders he left Congress and founded a new organisation named Indian National Liberation Federation in 1919.

,Surendranath Banerjee was born in Calcutta, in the province of Bengal to a Rarhi Kulin Brahmin family, suggesting that the ancestral seat of the family was at Rarh region of present-day West Bengal. His ancestors had migrated to East Bengal at some point of time and settled in a village called Lonesingh in Faridpur district. It was his great-grandfather Babu Gour Kishire Banerjee who emigrated and settled in a village called Monirampur near Barrackpore. He was deeply influenced in liberal, progressive thinking by his father Durga Charan Banerjee, a doctor.[2] After graduating from the University of Calcutta, he travelled to England in 1868, along with Romesh Chunder Dutt and Behari Lal Gupta, to compete in the Indian Civil Service examinations.[3] He cleared the competitive examination in 1869, but was barred owing to a claim he had misrepresented his age. After clearing the matter in the courts by arguing that he calculated his age according to the Hindu custom of reckoning age from the date of conception rather than from birth,[4] Banerjee cleared the exam again in 1871 and was posted as assistant magistrate in Sylhet.[5] Banerjee also attended classes at University College, London. He took his final exams in 1871 and returned to India in August 1871. In 1874, Banerjee returned to London and became a student at the Middle Temple.[6]

Banerjee was soon dismissed for making a minor judicial error. He went to England to appeal his discharge, but was unsuccessful because, he felt, of racial discrimination. He would return to India bitter and disillusioned with the British.[7] During his stay in England (1874–1875), he studied the works of Edmund Burke and other liberal philosophers. These works guided him in his protests against the British. He was known as the Indian Burke.[8] For his tenacity he was called 'Surrender Not Banerjee' by the British.[9]

Surendranath was influenced by the writings of Italian nationalist Giuseppe Mazzini. He studied the writings of Mazzini in his stay in England (1874–1875) on Anandmohan's suggestion.

Upon his return to India in June 1875, Banerjee became an English professor at the Metropolitan Institution, the Free Church Institution[11] and at the Rippon College, now Surendranath College, founded by him in 1882 [12] and he inspired his students with a new spirit of nascent Indian nationalism. He began delivering public speeches on nationalist and liberal political subjects, as well as Indian history. He founded the Indian National Association with Anandamohan Bose, one of the earliest Indian political organizations of its kind, on 26 July 1876.[13] In 1878 in a meeting to preach the Indian people he said 'The great doctrine of peace and goodwill between Hindus and Muslims, Christians and Paresees, aye between all sections of our country's progress. Let the word "Unity" be inscribed therein characters of glittering gold... There may be religious difference between us. There may be social difference between us. But there is a common platform where we may all meet, the platform of our country's welfare'. He used the organization to tackle the issue of the age-limit for Indian students appearing for ICS examinations. He condemned the racial discrimination perpetrated by British officials in India through speeches all over the country, which made him very popular.[citation needed]

In 1879, he bought the newspaper The Bengalee (founded in 1862 by Girish Chandra Ghosh) and edited it for 40 years.[4] In 1883, when Banerjee was arrested for publishing remarks in his paper, in contempt of court, protests and hartals erupted across Bengal, and in Indian cities such as Agra, Faizabad, Amritsar, Lahore and Pune.[14] He became the first Indian journalist to be imprisoned. The INC expanded considerably, and hundreds of delegates from across India came to attend its annual conference in Calcutta. After the founding of the Indian National Congress in 1885 in Bombay, Banerjee merged his organization with it owing to their common objectives and memberships in 1886. He was elected the Congress President in 1895 at Poona and in 1902 at Ahmedabad.[15]

Surendranath was one of the most important public leaders who protested the partition of the Bengal province in 1905.[4] Banerjee was in the forefront of the movement and organized protests, petitions and extensive public support across Bengal and India, which finally compelled the British to reverse the bifurcation of Bengal in 1912. Banerjee became the patron of rising Indian leaders like Gopal Krishna Gokhale and Sarojini Naidu. Banerjee was also one of the senior-most leaders of the moderate Congress — those who favoured accommodation and dialogue with the British — after the "extremists" – those who advocated revolution and political independence — led by Bal Gangadhar Tilak left the party in 1906.[4] Banerjee was an important figure in the Swadeshi movement – advocating goods manufactured in India against foreign products — and his popularity at its apex made him, in words of admirers, the "uncrowned king" of Bengal.

The declining popularity of moderate Indian politicians affected Banerjee's role in Indian politics. Banerjee supported the Morley-Minto reforms 1909 – which were resented and ridiculed as insufficient and meaningless by the vast majority of the Indian public and nationalist politicians.[17] Though Banerjee was a critic of the proposed method of civil disobedience advocated by Mahatma Gandhi, he added the he "admire the supreme solicitude and the earnest efforts of Mr. Gandhi to secure Hindu-Muslim unity".[18][4] Surendranath Banerjee, a moderate and veteran leader of Congress were in favour to accept the Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms. They left the Congress and founded Indian Liberation Federation. They were termed as Liberals and they lost their relevance in Indian National Movement thereafter.[19] Accepting the portfolio of minister in the Bengal government earned him the ire of nationalists and much of the public, and he lost the election to the Bengal Legislative Assembly in 1923 to Bidhan Chandra Roy, the candidate of the Swarajya Party[20] – ending his political career for all practical purposes. He was knighted for his political support of the British Empire. Banerjee made the Calcutta Municipal Corporation a more democratic body while serving as a minister in the Bengal government.

3Usha Narayanan

Usha Narayanan, born Tint Tint (Burmese: တင့်တင့်; 1922 — 24 January 2008), was the First Lady of India from 1997 to 2002. She was married to K. R. Narayanan, the tenth President of India. Usha Narayanan was India's second foreign-born first lady (also second foreign-born second lady) after Janaki Venkataraman. She played a key role in women social welfare activities initiated by the presidency

While working in Rangoon, Burma (now Myanmar), K. R. Narayanan met Tint Tint, whom he later married in Delhi on 8 June 1951. Ms Tint Tint was active in the YWCA and on hearing that Narayanan was a student of Laski, approached him to speak on political freedom before her circle of acquaintances. While K. R. Narayanan and Tint Tint had been born in the same country, the British colony of India, by the time they met they had different citizenship. Their marriage needed a special dispensation from Jawaharlal Nehru per Indian law, because Narayanan was in the IFS and she was a foreigner. Ms Tint Tint adopted the Indian name Usha and became an Indian citizen.

Usha Narayanan worked on several social welfare programs for women and children in India and had completed her Masters in Social Work from Delhi School of Social Work.[3] She also translated and published several Burmese short stories; a collection of translated stories by Thein Pe Myint, titled Sweet and Sour, appeared in 1998.

They have two daughters, Chitra Narayanan (former Indian ambassador to Switzerland, Liechtenstein and The Holy See)[4] and Amrita Narayanan.

Usha, who suffered from Alzheimer's disease for the last few years of her life, died at the age of 86 on 24 January 2008 at 5:30 pm, at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital.[5] She was buried in the Christian Cemetery on Prithivraj Road, Delhi.[6] In 2017, a controversy erupted when her husband's name was also found in her grave.

Her journey began with the necessity to support herself early on, leading her to start as a bank clerk. However, this was just the beginning of a remarkable ascent. She steadily achieved one milestone after another, ultimately becoming the Executive Director of SEBI, where she commanded the money market with unparalleled expertise. Swiftly, she earned the nickname ‘Woman with a Whip,’ a testament to her no-nonsense approach and effectiveness in her role.

She also served on several prestigious committees, including the International Organization of Securities Commission’s (IOSCO) Standing Committee on Disclosures & Accounting Standards and the Reserve Bank of India Committee on Conflict of Interest. Additionally, she contributed to the High Powered Expert Committee of the Government of India on making Mumbai a Regional Financial Centre and the Government of India Committee to review ADR/GDR/FCCB policy.

Her story is nothing short of legendary, a true embodiment of perseverance and success against all odds.

4Roohi Zuberi

Roohi Zuberi (born 24 March 1959) is an Indian social worker and women's rights activist.[1][2] Zuberi has also served as a senior cabinet member at Aligarh Muslim University.

As a university student, she became district president of the National Students' Union of India. Zuberi is an advocate for minority rights.[3] In 1986, she established the Women's Welfare Society in Northern and Central India (महिला कल्याण समिति). In 2000, she ran for mayor of Aligarh on the Indian National Congress' ticket. Zuberi advocated that there was the need for enacting a Muslim matrimonial code including the bride's consent to marriage.

On 30 January 2014, she was appointed to the Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee's Executive Committee.

Zuberi is currently president of the Women's Welfare Society in Uttar Pradesh and is a member of the Executive Committee of Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee, and of the Minority Cell of the All India Mahila Congress

Roohi Zuberi belongs to a family of Marehra in Uttar Pradesh, India. Her father, the late Mr. Bashir Mahmood Zuberi (Advocate) (1921-1993) was a freedom fighter in the Indian Independence Struggle against British Raj. He was also a social worker, a politician, and the Chairman of the Marehra Municipal Board. During his life, he gave much of his personal property up for the development and welfare of the local population. The B. M. Zuberi Hospital in Marehra, a civil government hospital, is named after him.[7]

Zuberi is also related to Maulvi Bashir Uddin[8] who spent all of his assets to establish Islamia College in Etawah, Uttar Pradesh in 1888 which was a similar effort to establish another university as happened in the case of Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College. He was a Congressite who wore Khadi and also published a highly respected paper al-Bashir.[8] He was awarded Padma Shri, but he did not go to receive it, just as he did not go to receive the title of Khan Bahadur.[8] Former President of India Dr. Zakir Husain was also a student of this institution.[9]

She is also the daughter-in-law[10] of mathematician and former Parliamentarian Dr Sir Ziauddin Ahmad,[11] one of the mentors of the Aligarh Movement[11] and Vice-Chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University,[12] who served as Vice Chancellor for three terms and later became the Rector of Aligarh Muslim University.

Matin Zuberi,[13][14] was her maternal uncle and a scholar of international relations. Professor Zuberi was born at Marehra in the Etah district of Uttar Pradesh on 15 July 1930. After obtaining his Master's degree from Aligarh Muslim University, he went to St. Anthony's and Balliol colleges at the University of Oxford. On his return, he was appointed senior fellow at the Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla. He joined JNU in 1978 and continued there till 1995.

As a professor of international politics and disarmament studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University, Prof. Zuberi was an academic observer of international nuclear developments.[15] His contributions went beyond academics.[13][15] In three stints — 1990–91, 1998–99 and 2000–01 — he was a member of the National Security Advisory Board. On the last occasion, he participated in the preparation of the Draft Indian Nuclear Doctrine.[13][15] Earlier, he was a member of the Indian delegation to the United Nations Conference on Disarmament and Development.[15] Prof. Zuberi was also a member of the executive council of the Institute for Defence Studies and

and the governing body of the Society of Indian Ocean Studies.

Roohi Zuberi is married to Ahmad Zia-ud-din and they have three sons, Md. Zia-ud-din (Rahi), Shahbaz Zia-ud-din, Sheeraz Ahmad [16] and a daughter, Sadaf Ahmad.

5Binny Yanga

Binny Yanga (7 July 1958 – 3 September 2015) was an Indian social worker, a member of the National Planning Commission of India[1][2] and the founder of Oju Welfare Association (OWA),[3][4][5][6] a non governmental organization based in Arunachal Pradesh, working for the welfare of the weaker sections of the society and campaigning against social Illnesses such as child marriage, forced marriage and dowry.[7] She was honored by the Government of India, in 2012, with the fourth highest Indian civilian award of Padma Shri.

Binni Yanga was born on 7 July 1958 in the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh to late Binni Jaipu, a former political assistant at Lower Subansiri district and Binni Yanya, known for her efforts for the revival of traditional handlooms, as the elder of their two daughters, the younger being Gumri Ringu, the incumbent chairman of Arunachal Pradesh State Commission for Women.[9] She completed her education at Banasthali Vidyapith, Rajasthan[10] and during her student days, she formed a girls' forum, All Subansiri District Girls Welfare Association.[1] After her studies, she started her career as a teacher. During this period, she set up an adult education and nursery centre in 1979 and, later, a shelter home for destitute girls.[1] In 1987, Yanga joined Arunachal Police Force, when the first batch of women officers were inducted in 1987.[1][7] After only a year of service with the police force, she resigned in 1988 to enter social service on a full-time basis.[3]

Binni Yanga was diagnosed with cervical cancer in 2007 but carried on with her activities.[1] She lived in Naharlagun in Arunachal Pradesh and owned Oju Craft Centre,[11] a small enterprise employing 200 workers.[3][5] She died on 3 September 2015.[

Binni Yanga registered the adult education and nursery centre she started in 1979 as a society in 1988, under the name Oju Welfare Association (OWA).[1][7] The centre has grown over the years into an organization of larger proportions, covering a number of divisions, each catering to a specified purpose. OWA maintains a free educational institution in Seppa with a student strength of 100 boys and girls, a children's home, Shishu Greh, home to 150 orphaned children, Short Stay Home, a temporary place of residence with a capacity to house 45 destitute girls or women, a working women's hostel, a family counselling centre and a women's help line.[1][3][5][7] They also run a girls' school, Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya at Jang in Tawang district, a secondary school following CBSE syllabus and a vocational training centre.[1][7] OWA also hosts the central government agencies, Jan Shiksha Sansthan and State Resource Centre in its premises.[1][7]

Yanga organized social awareness campaigns and seminars on health and other issues and was also involved with the promotion of traditional crafts of India for which she founded Himgiri Multi-purpose Co-operative Society, a marketing agency for the rural artisans.[1] The society has participated in many national and international exhibitions in countries such as UK, South Africa and Bhutan.

Binni Yanga was a former member of the National Planning Commission of India[1] and has held the chairs of the Jan Shikshan Sansthan, and Arunachal Pradesh State Resource Centre, both nodal agencies under the Ministry of Human Resource Development (India).[2] She was a member of the executive committees of the National Literacy Mission Authority[1] and the Khadi and Village Industries Commission.[3] She also served as Arunachal Pradesh State Commission for Women,[1][3] Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India (TRIFED),[3][13] (a Ministry of Tribal Affairs undertaking), the Indian Institute of Entrepreneurship,[14] Guwahati and the District Rural Health Mission,[3] Yupia, as a member.[2] She was the secretary of Himgiri Multipurpose Cooperative Society Limited,[3] Naharlagun and Arunachal Pradesh Women's Voluntary Association. She was also a member of Muskaan Society, Papum Pare Juvenile Justice Board,[3] Rama Krishna Mission Hospital, Itanagar and Country Women Association of India.[1] She also served in the executive committee of the Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan, Itanagar.

Binny Yanga received Dr. Durga Bai Deshmukh Award in 2000 followed by the COSIA Entrepreneur Award in 2009-10 from the Chamber of Small Industry Associations.[7][15] A recipient of the NCDC Award of cooperative Excellence,[7][15] Yanga received the National Tribal Award[15] and IFFCO Sahakarita Ratna Award in 2012.[3][5] The same year, the Government of India awarded her the fourth highest Indian civilian award of Padma Shri. In 2013, she was awarded the 2013 Achiever's Award by Eastern Panorama magazine.

6Anu Aga

Anu Aga (born 3 August 1942) is an Indian billionaire businesswoman and social worker who led Thermax, an energy and environment engineering business, as its chairperson from 1996 to 2004.[1][2] She was among the eight richest Indian women, and in 2007 was part of 40 richest Indians by net worth according to Forbes magazine.[3][4] She was awarded with the Mumbai Women of the Decade Achievers Award by ALL Ladies League, the all ladies wing of ASSOCHAM.

After retiring from Thermax, she took to social work, and in 2010 she was awarded the Padma Shri for Social Work by the Government of India.[6] She is currently Chairperson of Teach For India.[7] She was nominated to Rajya Sabha, the Upper House of Indian Parliament on 26 April 2012, by President Pratibha Patil

Anu Aga was born to a Parsi Zoroastrian family on 3 August[9] 1942 in Bombay.[10][11]

She graduated with a B.A. in economics from St Xavier's College, Mumbai,[12] and with a post graduation in medical and psychiatric social work from the prestigious Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai. She had also been a Fulbright Scholar and studied in the United States for four months.

Anu started her career in Thermax in 1985 and later headed its human resources division from 1991 to 1996. After the death of husband, Rohinton Aga, she took over as Chairperson of Thermax, retiring in 2004 and succeeded by her daughter and company vice-chairperson, Meher Pudumjee. Anu has since remained on company's board of directors,[3] and involved with social work.

As a Member of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha she served on the following committees

Member, Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice (May 2012 - May 2014) and (Sept. 2014 - Present)

Member, Parliamentary Forum on Children (Aug. 2012 - May 2014)

Member, Committee on Empowerment of Women (Sept. 2012 - Sept. 2013)

Member, Committee on Commerce (Aug. - Dec. 2012)

Anu was married to Rohinton Aga, a graduate from the Harvard Business School and gave birth to a daughter, Meher, and son, Kurush. Rohinton died in 1996 of a massive stroke, and a little over a year later, her son Kurush died at the age of 25 years.[14][15] Today, Arnavaz 'Anu' Aga lives in Pune, Maharashtra.[16]

Her daughter, Meher Pudumjee is the current Chairperson of Thermax, taking over from her mother in 2004. She is a post-graduate in chemical engineering from the Imperial College of Science and Technology, London and joined Thermax in September 1990, and is also a member of the Confederation of Indian Industry's (CII) Family Business Forum and the Young Indians (YI).

7Krishna Mohan Banerjee

Krishna Mohan Banerjee[1] (24 May 1813 – 11 May 1885) was a 19th-century Indian thinker who attempted to rethink Hindu philosophy, religion and ethics in response to the stimulus of Christian ideas. He himself became a Christian, and was the first president of the Bengal Christian Association, which was administered and financed by Indians. He was a prominent member of Henry Louis Vivian Derozio's (1808–1831) Young Bengal group, educationist, linguist and Christian missionary.

Son of the Bengali Brahmin Jibon Krishna Banerjee[2] and Sreemoti Devi, Krishna Mohan was born on 24 May 1813 at Shyampur, Kolkata, Bengal, in the house of his maternal grandfather, Ramjay Vidyabhusan, the court-pundit of Santiram Singha of Jorasanko, who was the great grandfather of the famous Kaliprasanna Singha.

In 1819, Krishna Mohan joined the School Society Institution (later renamed as Hare School) founded by David Hare at colootola. Impressed by his talents, Hare took him to his school at Pataldanga, later famous as Hare School in 1822.

Banerjee joined the newly founded Hindu College with a scholarship.

In 1831, the religious-reformer-and-litterateur started publishing The Inquirer. In the same year his play, The Persecuted: or, Dramatic Scenes Illustrative of the Present State of Hindoo Society in Calcutta, was produced. It was monotonically critical of certain prevalent social practices.

While at college he used to attend the lectures of the Scottish Christian missionary, Alexander Duff, who had come to India in 1830.

His father died of cholera in 1828.

On completion of his studies in 1829, Banerjee joined Pataldanga School as an assistant teacher. In 1832, he converted to Christianity, under the influence of Alexander Duff. As a result of his conversion, he lost his job in David Hare’s school and his wife, Bindhyobashini Banerjee, was forced to return to her own father's house, only to join him in later life. Nevertheless, he later became the headmaster of Church Missionary Society School.[2]

When the missionary society had begun its philanthropic activities in Kolkata, Banerjee became the first Bengali priest of Christ Church where he used to preach and deliver sermons in Bengali.[2]

He converted his wife, his brother Kali Mohan, and Ganendra Mohan Tagore, the son of Prasanna Coomar Tagore to Christian faith. Subsequently, Ganendra Mohan married his daughter Kamalmani and became the first Indian to qualify as a barrister. He was also instrumental in the conversion of Michael

henry derozio, a sixteen year old young man of Portuguese origin, joined Hindu College in 1826 and soon attracted his students by his teaching ability. He inspired his students to look at critically every aspect of life, including religious beliefs and social customs. Although not his direct student, Krishna Mohan was greatly influenced by Derozio’s teachings. Influenced by his teachings, he and his friends started to raise questions about the traditional Hindu customs and usages, and orthodox lifestyle. This Anglicised group came to be known as Young Bengal and Krishna Mohan became one of its leader.

Even though, no one of this group had formally renounced Hinduism yet, they were condemned by the conservative elements as anti-social iconoclasts and even Christians; and for their conduct, their teacher was held responsible. Derozio was compelled to resign his post in April 1831; and Krishna Mohan, partly in protest of this injustice, launched within a month his first English journal, Enquirer, through which he vindicated.