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Item 1 of 1: Usha Mehta (25 March – 11 August [3]) was a Gandhian and independence activist of India. She is also remembered for organizing the Congress Radio, also called the Secret Congress Radio, an underground radio station, which functioned for few months during the Quit India Movement of
Start your journey, track your progress, grow with the community and so much more. Please verify. Thanks for your comment! Our team will review it before it's shown to our readers. Usha Mehta was born on March 25, , in Saras, a village in the western state of Gujarat, to Gheliben Mehta, a homemaker, and Hariprasad Mehta, a district-level judge under the British Raj.
Throughout her upbringing, members of Usha's family were involved in India's independence struggle.
Usha mittal biography of mahatma gandhi
After her father retired in , the family relocated to Bombay. To her father's displeasure, Mehta later joined the movement, distributing bulletins and selling salt in small packets as part of Gandhi's "salt march" to protest a colonial law allowing the government to regulate and monopolize salt. When India finally achieved independence in , the British drew a dividing line that became the border between India and Pakistan, sending the region into chaos that resulted in mass bloodshed as more than 10 million Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs sought to find their place in what would become history's largest migration.
Mehta was torn.
Usha mittal biography of mahatma
Later in life Mehta wrote the script for a documentary on Gandhi that was produced by one of her colleagues at the radio station. She earned a Ph. She also taught at Wilson College for 30 years. To elude the authorities, the organizers moved the station's location almost daily. Ultimately, however, the police found them on 12 November and arrested the organizers, including Usha Mehta.
During this time, she was held in solitary confinement and offered inducements such as the opportunity to study abroad if she would betray the movement. However, she chose to remain silent and, during her trials, asked the Judge of the High Court whether she was required to answer the questions. When the judge confirmed that she was not mandatory, she declared that she would not reply to any of the questions, not even to save herself.
After the trial, she was sentenced to four years' imprisonment to Two of her associates were also convicted. Usha was imprisoned at Yeravda Jail in Pune. Her health deteriorated and she was sent to Bombay for treatment at Sir J. In the hospital, three to four policemen kept a round-the-clock watch on her to prevent her from escaping. When her health improved, she was returned to Yeravda Jail.
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In March , she was released, the first political prisoner to be released in Bombay, at the orders of Morarji Desai , who was at that time the home minister in the interim government. Although the Secret Congress Radio functioned only for three months, it greatly assisted the movement by disseminating uncensored news and other information banned by the British-controlled government of India.
Secret Congress Radio also kept the leaders of the freedom movement in touch with the public. Reminiscing about those days, Usha Mehta described her involvement with the Secret Congress Radio as her "finest moment" and also as her saddest moment, because an Indian technician had betrayed them to the authorities. After her incarceration, Usha's failing health prevented her from participating in politics or social work.
The day India gained independence , Usha Mehta was confined to bed and could not attend the official function in New Delhi. She later re-commenced her education and wrote a doctoral dissertation on the political and social thought of Gandhi, earning a PhD from the University of Bombay. She retired from the University of Bombay in Even after India's independence, Usha continued to be socially active, particularly in spreading the Gandhian thought and philosophy.
Over the years, she authored many articles, essays, and books in English and Gujarati , her mother tongue. She was elected the president of Gandhi Smarak Nidhi, a trust dedicated to the preservation of Gandhian heritage.
Usha Mehta Wiki, Age, Death, Husband, Children, Family ...
The Nidhi acquired Mani Bhavan in Mumbai, residence of Sardar Patel 's daughter Manibehn Patel , where Gandhi used to reside during his visits to the city and converted it into a Gandhi memorial. The Government of India associated her with a number of celebrations of India's 50th anniversary of freedom. The Union of India conferred on her Padma Vibhushan in , [ 7 ] [ 8 ] the second highest civilian award of India.
With time, Usha grew increasingly unhappy with the developments taking place in the social, political, and economic spheres of independent India. Once, in an interview to India Today , she expressed her feelings in these words: "Certainly this is not the freedom we fought for. In August , although she was suffering from fever, Usha participated like she did every year in the anniversary celebrations related to the Quit India Movement in August Kranti Maidan.
She returned home weak and exhausted. Two days later, she died peacefully on 11 August at the age of 80, survived by her elder brother and three nephews. One of her nephews, Ketan Mehta , a noted Bollywood filmmaker. The other nephew is Dr Yatin Mehta, a well-known anaesthetist who was formerly the Director of Escorts Hospital and is associated with Medicity in Gurgaon now.
But the biggest challenge proved to be sourcing technical expertise — and equipment. Operators were to turn in all equipment to authorities, with severe punishment for those who failed to do so. Moreover, with radio transmission still in its infancy, only a handful in India could operate the equipment. Fewer still were Indians. Nariman Printer, who held an amateur transmitting licence prior to the War, provided a solution.
He had managed to hold on to various parts of his transmitter despite the ban. However, he held no ideological affinity to the national movement, and had agreed to help for purely financial reasons. On September 3, at 8. From its very first broadcast, Congress Radio was a hit.