U. N. Dhebar

U.N. Dhebar was born on 21 September 1905 in the hamlet of Gangajala, eleven miles from Jamnagar. After his university education, he started a legal practice as a lawyer. Dhebar gave up his legal career to join the Indian independence movement in 1936 in his hometown, Rajkot, in the Kathiawar State in Western India. In February 1937, the State Government of Saurashtra issued an order for the banishment of 14 workers who were members of the executive committee. With the backing of the Indian National Congress, Dhebar led a movement which resulted in the withdrawal of the order of banishment after multiple protest meetings and protest processions. Dhebar served as the President of the Rajkot Mill Kamdar Mandal in 1936, the Secretary of Kathiawar Political Conference in 1937–38, and as the President of Rajkot Praja Mandal in 1938–39. The princely rulers felt free to ignore the interests of the people and use state revenues to fund their luxurious lifestyles because the British provided immunity from domestic and external aggression. In return, the British government expected the states to support them in their imperialistic policies, thereby acting against the development of nationalist sentiments. The people under the British provinces in India were given some political rights and participation in the administration after the Government of India Acts of 1919 and 1935. Many revolutionary nationalists fleeing British authority came to the princely states in the first and second decades of the 20th century and initiated political activities there. Under the nationalist movement, the subjects of the princely states established people's organizations. Individual Satyagraha and Confederation Movement Many Indians felt that the involvement of India in World War II without the concurrence of its people was wrong. Those who protested this injustice across India on ethical and moral grounds were required by the Colonial Administration to affirm their status as conscientious objectors by reading a simple statement, which would then lead to their summary arrest. In January 1941, Dhebar joined the Individual Satyagraha and read such a statement of conscientious objection to India's involvement in the war, which led to his arrest. He was imprisoned for 6 months in the Sabarmati jail and came out of prison in June 1941. After coming out of prison, Dhebar joined the Confederation Movement. The idea of the movement was to place smaller states under bigger states to attempt to impede the feared British strategy of merging the small princely states with British-administered India. According to the goals of the Confederation Movement, the identity of the small state would remain and the bigger state would be used for external relations. Dhebar engaged in this struggle from June 1941 to June 1947. During that period, however, he was arrested on 9 August 1942 on his return by train to Rajkot from Bombay, where he had gone to participate in the All India Congress Committee meeting. He was detained in the Rajkot prison until his release three years later on 31 August 1945. ==Saurashtra State==

Formation of Saurashtra State The Jam Joot Rachna was a rebellion against the Confederation Movement in which Jam Sahib, the main opponent in Saurashtra, amassed thousands of signatures in opposition to the confederation movement and claiming their right to determine their future. In 1946, with the help of Dhebar, this problem was resolved with the solution of a United Saurashtra. In October 1947, the Nawab of Junagadh agreed to the integration of the State of Junagadh into Pakistan, despite widespread public opposition to it. Dhebar declared a total boycott of all goods going to and coming from Junagadh, outside Junagadh limits. The boycott was so effective that after being unable to sustain the economy for more than a month and half, the ruler of Junagadh went underground. Due to its success, the boycott method started being used by other smaller states, prompting intervention by the Indian government. After the formation of Saurashtra State, the next two years were spent on fixing integration problems within both the state and the country. The state-wide problems included political integration, administrative integration, organizing the financial structure, and reorganizing the tax structure, such as introducing and removing specific taxes. Country-wide integration included the transfer of the entire customs revenue of India to the Central Government. ==President of Indian National Congress==

In November 1954, Dhebar was brought onto the national scene by Jawaharlal Nehru. His goal was to not exclude the propertied class and to introduce large numbers of the producing classes to the INC, namely farmers, craftsmen, laborers, and students. Until 1948, Dhebar's primary objective was the independence of India. Now, he modified this objective so that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should either be owned by the state or should be controlled by the state. However, the main purpose of the INC from 1955 to 1959 was to integrate both the man-power and resources of India for the general development of the country. Dhebar was an avid supporter of the fight against apartheid in South Africa. Dhebar encouraged the South African Indian Congress to follow the steps of Mahatma Gandhi and India's fight to independence by applying the principles of non-violence and unity, not only amongst themselves but also with "your African brethren and all others". He also predicted that their work would "bring your peaceful struggle for elementary human rights to a successful end very soon". At the end of his term, Dhebar tried convincing Jaya Prakash Narayan, J.B. Kripalani, Ashok Mehta, and other friends to take up the responsibility of creating an opposition party to the INC. This would have led to a reasonable constructive opposition party which could have taken the place of the INC. Unfortunately, this plan failed as Jaya Prakash Narayan did not agree. ==Post-Presidency==

Dhebar served as the Chairman of Scheduled Areas and Scheduled Tribes Commission in 1960–61. As the chairman, Dhebar had to determine to what extent the Scheduled Tribes provisions of the Constitution were being implemented, to what extent they had made an impact upon tribals’ socio-economic position and their overall life. He was able to provide special protections to between 25 and 30 million Scheduled Tribe members. He led a tribal commission and gave a report which was generally accepted by all State governments. In 1962, he was elected to the third Lok Sabha from Rajkot. Dhebar was connected with several institutions rendering social and educational services. In 1962, Dhebar was elected as the Chairman of the Khadi and Village Industries Commission of the Government of India. He was awarded the Padma Vibhushan, India's second-highest civilian honor, in 1973. Dhebar died on 11 March 1977 at the age of 72. ==Views and Philanthropy==

Attitude towards the British Prior to Indian Independence, Dhebar had conflicting views on the British based on different encounters with members of the British army. Political agent Major C.W.L. Harvey was one individual who Dhebar thought was incredibly wise, as he helped Dhebar persuade the State to not withdraw the permission to hold a session of the Kathiawar Political Conference in Rajkot in 1937. However, Dhebar also saw many officers as narrow-minded and vindictive. While Dhebar was in prison, his wife died and the officers insisted that he must request and be granted parole to attend his wife's funeral. It was only when the State did not make a special effort to see that everybody fully enjoys equal rights, that the State lost the moral right to consider the issue as merely a law-and-order problem. ==Influences==

Dhebar credited Tolstoy as the "real influence" on his life. Two things that stood out most to Dhebar about Gandhi's approach were his solution to the problem of poverty and the principle of trusteeship. Rather than capitalizing for political purposes on the problem of poverty, Gandhi employed some of the people. It did not give the person everything they want but it did give hope to the person that they are being looked after. He did not want large scale producers to think of setting up the industries in the spheres where the traditional sector was doing its bit, simply out of motives of profit. ==References==