Ravishankar Shukla

Ravishankar Shukla (2 August 1877 — 31 December 1956) was a leader of the Indian National Congress, Indian independence movement activist, the Premier of the Central Provinces and Berar from 27 April 1946 to 25 January 1950, first Chief Minister of the reorganised Madhya Pradesh state from 1 November 1956 until his death on 31 December 1956, he was elected from Saraipali in Madhya Pradesh (now in Chhattisgarh). He also served as Member of Constituent Assembly of India from Central Provinces and Berar. Early life Born in a wealthy Kanyakubja Brahmin family, his father and grandfather were rich and scholarly. His ancestors belonged to district Unnao from Uttar Pradesh. His father, Pandit Jagganath Shukla, came of a family which had resisted British rulers for three generations and his mother, Tulsi Devi, was industrious and a capable manager. Young Ravishankar's earliest years were passed in a scholarly atmosphere heavily charged with Indian classics, Shri Ramcharit Manas and Gita. He was admitted to Sunderlal Guru's Pathshala in Saugor. It was one of the six Pathshalas established by the British in Central Provinces. Ravishankar continued his schooling at Rajnandgaon and subsequently at Raipur High School. He then shifted to Jubbulpore and joined Robertson College (whose premises then were what is today the Model High School in front of the High Court of Jabalpur) and completed the Intermediate in the year 1895 aged 18 years. The same year he shifted to Nagpur and joined Hislop College for the graduation course. Early life and career (1897-1908) When the 13th Congress session took place in 1897 in the nearby town of Amravati, one of his professors, Bhagirath Prasad, decided to attend it and took along with him his student Ravishankar Shukla to the Congress. This was the first contact between Pt. Shukla and the Congress. Pandit Shukla graduated in 1899, aged 22 years.