OBITUARY: SRIMATI KAMALA PANDEY (1930-2012)
Ashok Choudhary
Lucknow, 26 November. Deep condolence was conveyed in an emergency meeting of the board of trustees and well wishers of the Anurag Trust on the sudden demise of Mrs. Kamala Pandey, the chief trustee of the trust, renowned leftist social activist and chief editor of the children magazine ‘Anurag’. It was resolved to further her life mission through the activities of the trust.
Eighty-two years old Mrs. Kamala Pandey was active for her life goal till her last breath. She was born on 15th July, 1930 in Kanpur. She got involved in the independence movement at an early age, motivated by her cousin and leftist labor organizer Mr. Shiv Verma. Later, she married Mr. Jai Narayan Pandey, an organizer of the communist party (later a professor in Lucknow University). Mrs. Kamala Pandey played a leading role in organizing the secondary school teacher’s association in Utter Pradesh while working as a teacher and also went to jail several times while remaining active till her retirement. After the untimely death of her son in 1989 and husband in 1991, Mrs. Kamala Pandey dedicated her life to the children’s front.
‘Anurag Child Center’ and ‘Anurag’ children’s magazine was started in 1992. In 2001, after the formation of ‘Anurag Trust’ in order to expand these activities, Kamala ji dedicated everything she had to the trust. Today the ‘Anurag Trust’ is active in Lucknow, Gorakhpur, Allahabad, Ghaziabad, Patna, Delhi, Ludhiana, Chandigarh and Mumbai. Activities like education and cultural workshops for poor children are being conducted at these places. In addition to the regular publication of ‘Anurag’ magazine, about 200 children’s books are already published in Hindi, English and Punjabi. Now publication in Bengali and Marathi is also about to start.
In April last year Mrs. Kamala Pandey presented her last wish through a will at the annual event of the Anurag Trust and four books written by her were also launched. In spite of her old age she was continuously active in the activities of the trust. A few days ago she had gone with some of her relatives for 2-3 days and today suddenly the news of her sudden death was received. Anurag Trust will soon begin some new programs in her memory at the main centre of the trust in Lucknow. An announcement in this regard will be made very soon.
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