Team Bharat Gaurav

Rabindranath Tagore was an icon of Indian culture. He was a poet, philosopher, musician, writer, and educationist. Rabindranath Tagore became the first Asian to become a Nobel laureate when he won the Nobel Prize for his collection of poems, Gitanjali, in 1913. He was popularly called Gurudev and his songs were popularly known as Rabindra-sangeet. Two songs from his Rabindra-sangeet canon are now the national anthems of India and Bangladesh: the Jana Gana Mana and the Amar Shonar Bangla. Rabindranath Tagore was born on May 7, 1861, in a wealthy Brahmin family in Calcutta.

He met William Rothenstein, a noted British painter, in London. Rosenstein was impressed by the poems, made copies, and gave them to Yeats and other English poets. Yeats was enthralled. He later wrote the introduction to Gitanjali when it was published in September 1912 in a limited edition by the India Society in London. Rabindranath Tagore was awarded Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913 for Gitanjali. In 1915 he was knighted by the British King George V. In 1919, following the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, Tagore renounced his knighthood. He was a supporter of Gandhi Ji but he stayed out of politics. He was opposed to nationalism and militarism as a matter of principle, and instead promoted spiritual value and the creation of a new world culture founded in multi-culturalism, diversity, and tolerance. Unable to gain ideological support for his views, here tired into relative solitude. Between the years 1916 and 1934, he traveled widely.

In 1921, Rabindranath Tagore established Viswabharati University. He gave all his money from Nobel Prize and royalty money from his books to this University. Tagore was not only a creative genius, he was quite knowledgeable of Western culture, especially Western poetry and science too. Tagore had a good grasp of modern-post-Newtonian-physics and was well able to hold his own in a debate with Einstein in 1930 on the newly emerging principles of quantum mechanics and chaos.

His meetings and tape-recorded conversations with his contemporaries such Albert Einstein and H. G. Wells, epitomize his brilliance. In 1940 Oxford University arranged a special ceremony in Santiniketan and awarded Rabindranath Tagore with a Doctorate of Literature. Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore passed away on August 7, 1941, in his ancestral home in Calcutta.

Rabindranath Tagore wrote both the words and the music for what would (some16 years after his death) become the National Anthem of India (Jana Gana Mana).

Patriotism: Rabindranath was not only a great poet. He was also a great lover of his country. In 1919 occurred the shameful Jalinwallabag massacre in Amritsar, where innocent men, women, and children were killed by the British. Rabindranath immediately gave up his Knighthood. He also props he sied that such brutality was sure to end the British rule in India very soon.

Viswa-Bharati and Santiniketan: One of the greatest achievements of Tagore was the creation of Viswa-Bharati at Santi Niketan near Bolpur in West Bengal. His aim was to combine the cultural ideals of the East and the West. He was a seminent in painting, music, acting, and dancing, as in poetry. He took part in his plays and recited his poems with sweetness and charm. Therefore, he introduced the cultivation of different arts in Viswa-Bharati. It has now become a famous Indian University.

His message: The poet toured almost all around the world. Everywhere he received the love and respect of all, the rich and the poor, the high and the low. Wherever he went, people came to him to hear his message of love and hope. He was also a religious man. He looked like a saint and lived like a saint. Gandhiji regarded him as the greatest master of culture and sanctity, peace and love; so he called the poet his Gurudeva.

His death: Full of glory and honors the poet passed away on August 7, 1941, at his ancestral home in Calcutta (now Kolkata). His death was mourned all over the world. His centenary has been celebrated throughout India and other Countries in 1961. Many academies and libraries have been established in the name of the immortal Rabindranath to celebrate his birth centenary.

Sumeeti Mittal is the Founder & Trustee of Pratham Shiksha; a Jaipur Rajasthan (India) based charitable organization promoting basic education for underprivileged children living in slum areas of Jaipur, Rajasthan. She has been recently awarded the 100 Women Achievers Award by the Ministry of Women and Child Welfare, Government of India.

The major innovative initiatives of Pratham Shiksha, include Flexi timing classes for the students. The flexible hours help students to work during the day and study in their free hours. This way they are able to earn a livelihood and continue their studies also. Recently the school has collaborated with a private hospital to impart nursing training to around 100 girls and boys. This is in line with the Government’s initiative of Skill India, to develop the skills of people and empower them for a better life. The nursing students will be provided with certifications from the government and will be eligible for nursing posts in both public and private hospitals.

An abroad trip to the US made her ponder over the thought that even the underprivileged children in developed countries go to school and are educated but not so in India. This inspired Sumeeti to start ‘Pratham Shiksha’. The school which started in a garage portion of her house has now evolved to become a full-fledged school up to 8th grade in a rented premise with seven classrooms and other amenities along with conveyance facilities for students. To date, 3000+ students have been educated at Pratham Shiksha. She plans to expand the student base and upgrade the school to the 10th standard. The school also runs vocational classes of basic home services like electrical, plumbing, and stitching courses for boys, girls, and their family members. These courses will equip children with skills to move ahead in life and earn a livelihood for themselves.

Pratham Shiksha has been recognized at Make In India Awards for Excellence — 2015 under NGO Category for its contribution to social development.

In addition, Mittal is also Co-founder & Director of Pratham Software (P) Ltd, a Jaipur-based global IT Service Company focussing on software development, IT consulting and offering offshore outsourcing solutions to enterprises worldwide. She has also set up Robo Galaxy, an e-learning portal and robotic lab catering to students from Grade 3 to Grade 10.

She has been instrumental in founding V-Technos, a global IT training services company focussing on software training and development. V- Technos is imparting a real-world training experience & assist in enhancing skills through intensive hands-on exercises under the guidance of expert instructors. The focus is to provide students with real-life software project experience so that they upscale themselves to the next level of execution of the project thus transforming their skills into quality software delivery.

Sumeeti's zeal to learn new things stimulated her to get PMP certification from the Project Management Institute, Inc. She actively participates in various industry-academia programs organized by institutes and colleges in Jaipur. She interacts with students about emerging trends in corporate culture and the IT industry. She also delivered lectures at International Robotics Conference, Russia in 2014.

A widely traveled and noted speaker, she is on the board of various social forums. She is part of the ‘Mentoring Walk’ group helping her mentees by discussing and resolving issues faced in their personal and professional lives. She has also served on the governing body of FICCI Ladies Organization (FLO), Jaipur Chapter. She is also involved in guiding women entrepreneurs through the Swayam group in setting up and growing their businesses. Sumeeti is Chairperson of Yuva Sanskriti Sansthan, the women's wing. The institution works for the upliftment of the backward sections of society. They organize mass marriage ceremonies for low-income groups and conduct blood donation camps, computer literacy courses, and summer camps for students offering various skill-based short-term courses. The purpose of these initiatives is to help people in raising their standard of living and get respectable jobs.

Puneet Mittal, Sumeeti’s husband, a B.Arch. from MNIT, is the Founder, MD, and CEO of Pratham Software and has always supported them in all her endeavors. He himself is also associated with various professional and charitable organizations including TIE, MNIT Alumni, etc. He feels passionately for society and pursues avenues that can contribute to making this world a more equitable society to live in.

Awards & Honours

1) Awarded among 100Women Achievers by the Ministry of Women and Child Welfare, Government of India. Attended lunch and felicitation ceremony hosted by President of India Sh. Pranab Mukherjee at Rashtrapati Bhavan on 22 Jan 2016.

2) Pratham Shiksha has been recognized at Make In India Awards for Excellence — 2015 under NGO Category for its contribution to social development. The award was presented by the Hon. Governor of Gujrat Sh Kalraj Mishra.

3) Honoured with the top 100 successful women in Rajasthan in an initiative by NGO Tammana an event called ‘Tamanna Udaan Ki’.

4) She has been felicitated by Mayor Jyoti Khandelwal on Women’s day for her outstanding contribution to society.

5) Honoured with “Vivekanand Sammaan” by Rajasthan Yuva Chhatra Sansthan and Nehru Yuva Kendra.

6) Awarded as “Women of the Future Award 2016”. The award ceremony is conducted by First News Channel and FICCI Ladies Organization.

7) She was a part of the Speaker Panel at the Third National Conference on Youth 2025 at Jaipuriya Institute of Management, Jaipur.