Shadow Correspondent
Jammu, Sept, 23
Rich tributes were paid to last Hari Singh, the Dogra Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir on his 126th birth anniversary.
A grand event was organized at Bahu Fort, where king size sculpture of Maharaja was installed.
Local people celebrated his birthday with great enthusiasm. Rajiv Charak was the chief guest on this occasion and eminent intellectuals of the area were also present.
Speaking on the occasion, Rajiv Charak while congratulating all the residents of Jammu and Kashmir on the birthday of Maharaja Bahadur Hari Singh said that Maharaja Hari Singh was born on 23 September 1895 at the place of Late Raja Amar Singh .
Educated at Mayo College of Ajmer in 1901, after his father died, after that the British Government appointed Major H K Brar as his mentor.
After completing his college education, he was sent to the Imperial Cadet Corps, Dehradun for Military education. At the age of 20, he was appointed as the Chief of Army Staff of Jammu and Kashmir State.
He said that the farmer Maharaja Pratap Singh died in 1925, after that he was coroneted on his birthday on 23rd September 1925 at Raj Tilak Bhawan.
Rajeev Charak said that Maharaja Hari Singh erected out social evils from the very beginning, so immediately after the coronation, he started efforts to eliminate those evils, first in the year 1926, he sent Harijan girls with his queen to end untouchability.
With him worshiped in the temple and worshiped Kanjak and started temple entry for the Dalits, although there was a lot of opposition, yet he opened the reservoir and the temple for the Harijans.
He said that along with that, in 1926, the Maharaja declared the farmers to be able to maintain the land, whereas earlier they were forcibly taken rent. Not only that, in 1927, he implemented the State Subject, created the Recruitment Board in 1927, in the same year he also established the High Court.
He said that Maharaja Hari Singh was a developing ruler, he wanted Jammu and Kashmir to develop excessively and the evils should be eradicated from the root. .
He said that in 1931, Maharaja Hari Singh represented India in the Round Table Conference, in which he favored the independence of India. In 1932 itself, he got the iron bridge constructed on the Suryaputri Tawi river, which has been demolished by the previous governments because it is in the name of former Maharaja Hari Singhi.
But it was in 1932 that he built a second iron bridge in Chenab river Akhnoor which was named after Yuvraj Karan Singh.
Maharaja Hari Singh had a lot of inclination towards progress and social upliftment, so he passed the Agriculture Act in 1933 and abolished the practice of Sati in 1933 itself because this practice was the biggest evil practice in which exploitation of women was certain. The Widow Marriage Act was also implemented in 1933, before which Hindu widows could not remarry.
Kunwar Rajeev Chadak said that Maharaja Hari Singh was a very visionary king; he banned feticide i.e. female slaughter in 1933 itself and also banned the purchase and sale of girls.
