Rabindra Nath Upadhyay

Rabindra Nath Upadhyay (1923–2010) was an Indian social worker, Gandhian and the founder of Tamulpur Anchalik Gramdan Sangha (TAGS), a non governmental organization working for the social development of the rural people in the Kumarikata village of Assam. He was a recipient of the 2003 Jamnalal Bajaj Award. The Government of India awarded him the fourth highest civilian award of the Padma Shri, in 2000, for his services to the society.

Biography Upadhyay was born in a small village (Sarayan, Ujiyar Ghat) in Ballia District of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh in 1923 and did his college studies at Banaras Hindu University. Attracted by the ideals of Subash Chandra Bose, he joined the Indian independence movement during his school days and is said to have been involved in armed struggle but, after the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi in 1948, he abandoned violent politics to pursue nonviolence. Associating himself with Vinoba Bhave and his Bhoodan Movement, he joined Shram Bharati, a Gandhian community, in 1951, to work alongside renowned Gandhians such as Jayaprakash Narayan, Dhirendra Majumdar and Acharya Ramamurti.

In Assam, he chose Tamulpur village, on advice from Amalprava Das, the head of local Shanti Sena, and founded the Tamulpur Anchalik Gramdan Sangha (TAGS), a non governmental organization in Tamulpur village for spreading the Gramodyog (Village industry) ideals, under the aegis of which he promoted cottage industries such as silk, khadi, honey and oil.