EARLY LIFE

• Born on July 4, 1898, in Sialkot (Punjab), Shri Gulzarilal Nanda was educated at Lahore, Agra and Allahabad. He worked as a research scholar on labour problems at the University of Allahabad (1920-1921) and became Professor of Economics at the National College (Bombay) in 1921
• He joined the Non-Cooperation Movement the same year. In 1922, he become Secretary of the Ahmedabad Textile Labour Association in which he worked until 1946. He was imprisoned for Satyagraha in 1932, and again from 1942 to 44.

CAREER

• In the British Raj, Nanda was elected to the Bombay Legislative Assembly in 1937, and served as parliamentary secretary (for Labor and Excise) to the Government of Bombay from 1937 to 1939.
• As Labour Minister of the Bombay Government during 1946–50, he successfully piloted the Labor Disputes Bill in the state assembly.

• He was a member of the National Planning Committee. He was largely instrumental in organising the Indian National Trade Union Congress, and later became its president.

CAREER

• In March 1950, Nanda joined the Indian Planning Commission as its vice-chairman. In September 1951, he was appointed Planning Minister in the Indian Government. He was also given charge of the portfolios of Irrigation and Power
• Nanda was elected to the Lok Sabha in the 1957 elections, and was appointed Union Minister for Labour, Employment and Planning, and later, as Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission.
• Nanda was re-elected to the Lok Sabha in the 1962 elections from the Sabarkantha constituency in Gujarat. He initiated the Congress Forum for Socialist Action in 1962. He was Union Minister for Labour and Employment in 1962–1963, and Minister for Home Affairs in 1963–1966.

INTERIM PM

• Nanda was the Prime Minister of India twice for thirteen days each: the first time after the death of Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru in 1964, and the second time after the death of Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri in 1966
• Both his terms were uneventful, yet they came at sensitive times because of the potential danger to the country following Nehru’s death soon after a war with China in 1962 and Shastri’s death after a war with Pakistan in 1965.

 BHARAT RATNA

• Nanda died on 15 January 1998 at the age of 99. Nanda was the world’s oldest living former head of state.
• To commemorate his dedication and service to the country, Government of India bestowed upon him the country’s highest civilian award, Bharat Ratna in 1997.