1. During the tenure of this freedom fighter as the Union Education Minister post-Independence, India’s first IIT was set up in Kharagpur in 1951. Name the person who was born on November 11.

Answer – Maulana Abul Kalam Azad

Maulana Abul Kalam Azad

• Maulana Azad was born in Mecca, Saudi Arabia to a Muslim scholar from Bengal with Afghan ancestry, Maulana Muhammad Khairuddin and his Arab wife.
• The family had moved to Saudi Arabia after the Revolt of 1857. In 1890 they returned to Calcutta.
• Azad mastered several languages like Urdu, Persian, Hindi, English, Bengali and Arabic. He showed erudition at a young age and was contributing articles to magazines and teaching while in his teens itself. He was publishing a popular monthly magazine Lissan-us-Sidq when he was just 12.

2. November 7 is remembered as the day when the Russian Revolution culminated with the Bolshevik party taking power. This resulted in the overthrow of a Government led by a liberal Russian who fled the country after the Revolution and spent most of the rest of his life as a scholar at Hoover Institution in Stanford. Name him.

Answer – Alexander Kerensky

Alexander Fyodorovich Kerensky was a Russian lawyer, politician and statesman. He was one of the key political figures between March and October 1917, when he was a minister and later Prime Minister of the Russian Provisional Government.

3. November 26 is observed as the ‘Constitution Day’ because the final draft of the Indian Constitution was released by the Chairman of the Drafting Committee of the Constituent Assembly, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, on that day in 1949. Who was the Constitutional Advisor, an eminent jurist, who prepared the first rough draft of the Constitution and was acknowledged for this work by Dr. Ambedkar?

Answer – B.N. Rau

Sir Benegal Narsing Rau, CIE, (26 February 1887 – 30 November 1953) was an Indian civil servant, jurist, diplomat and statesman known for his key role in drafting the Constitution of India. He was the Constitutional Advisor to Constituent Assembly. He was also India’s representative to the United Nations Security Council from 1950 to 1952. 

4. A member of the Constituent Assembly, he went on to be part of the State Reorganisation Commission whose report in 1953 ultimately paved the way to the creation of five new States in November 1956. Name this person.

Answer – H.N.Kunzru

Hridya Nath Kunzru (1 October 1887– 3 April 1978) was an Indian freedom fighter and public figure. He was a long-time Parliamentarian, serving in various legislative bodies at the Provincial and Central level for nearly four decades. He was a member of the Constituent Assembly of India (1946–50) that drew up the Constitution of India. He was also keenly interested in international affairs and co-founded the Indian Council of World Affairs and the Indian School of International Studies.

5. November 26, 2008 is remembered for the horrific terror attacks in Mumbai. This police officer (assistant sub-inspector), who was instrumental in capturing the terrorist Ajmal Kasab but succumbed to death while doing so, was posthumously awarded the Ashok Chakra. Name him.

Answer – Tukaram Omble

Tukaram Omble AC (c. 1954 – 27 November 2008)  was a Mumbai police officer and army soldier, who served as assistant sub-inspector (ASI) of the Mumbai Police. He was killed in action while fighting terrorists during the 2008 Mumbai attacks, at Girgaum Chowpatty Mumbai, and was instrumental in apprehending Ajmal Kasab alive. The Indian government posthumously honoured Omble, on 26 January 2009, with the Ashoka Chakra – the country’s highest peace-time gallantry award for extraordinary bravery and valour in the line of duty.

6. Name the person seated third from the right in the photo which features the Cabinet of the Government led by the then Communist Party of India’s E.M.S. Namboodiripad in 1957. The person, who was instrumental in major judicial reforms, including the Public Interest Litigation concept, was born on November 15 and lived till the ripe age of 99.

Answer – V.R. Krishna Iyer

Justice Vaidyanathapuram Rama Krishna Iyer (15 November 1915 – 4 December 2014) was an Indian judge who became a pioneer of judicial activism. He pioneered the legal-aid movement in the country. Before that, he was a state minister and politician. As an activist lawyer, he served jail terms for the cause of his poor and underprivileged clients. He was seen as an ardent human-rights activist. In addition, he campaigned for social justice and the environment.  A sports enthusiast and a prolific author, he was conferred with the Padma Vibhushan in 1999. His judgements continue to be cited in the higher judiciary.