Pic courtesy : Odiakart
Nabakrushna Choudhury was born in a landlord family of Kherasa village near Jagatsinghpur District on November 23, 1901. Son of the famous advocate Gokulananda Choudhuri, Nabakrushna had shown unusual talents during his childhood. He was very fond of games and sports. Noticing that he was devoting more time to games and sports, his father engaged a private tutor for him. Subsequently he studied at the Peary Mohan Academy and completed his studies leading to Matriculation Examination at the age of 14.
His whole family was commited to freedom movement and coincidentally all the members were freedom fighters. When he was continuing his graduation at Ravenshaw College, he took part in the non-cooperation movement and left his study incompleted.
In 1922 he got trained in famous Sabarmati Aashram and started serving the motherland. In 1925 he joined for his graduation degree again at the Shantiniketan. After completing his graduation he participated in the freedom movement. Mr. Choudhury has been imprisoned in the years 1930, 1932, 1940and 1942 for taking part in violation of the salt law, law-disobedience revolution and Garhjat revolution etc.
On 12th May 1950 he became the Chief Minister of Odisha. Mr. Choudhury played a significant role for establishment of Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) and Hirakud Dam. During his regime an agriculture college and a vetenary college were established in Odisha. His important contribution to Odisha was, “Administrative Dictionary”, which was officially permitted for day-to-day Administrative activities. Throughout his entire life Mr. Choudhury had struggled against corruption and suffering of Downtrodden. In 1954 he had inaugurated Agriculture College at Bhubaneswar.
Nabababu was a very progressive Chief Minister. The age-old Zamindari system was finally abolished. The farmer became free of exploitation by the Zamindar and got ownership right on his land. Nabababuâ’s experience as Revenue Minister stood him in good stead. His concern for the welfare of the people made Anchal Shasan a reality which was the precursor to the Community Development Programme launched in Odisha on the Gandhi Jayanti Day of 1952. Mere formulation of rules and regulations with the appointment of officers did not mean much to Nabababu. He used to see the fieldwork for himself.
In 1975 Sri Choudhury participated in the “Sampurna Kranti Andolana” under the leadership of Sri Jayaprakash Narayan. Nabakurshna Choudhury has not only famous for his political carreer but also known for his integrity, transperancy in public life. He was detained in prison during Emergency. This dedicated Freedom fighter and mass leader breathed his last on June 24, 1984 at Baji Rout hostel, Dhenkanal.