Raghav Sharan Sharma

Infobox Person


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name=Raghav Sharan Sharma


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birth_date = 1942-01-12

Raghav Sharan Sharma (born January 12, 1942) is a veteran Indian dam engineer and social activist.

He retired as a chief superintending engineer of Hydel power project in the Koel-Kosi-Gandak region. He has been a passionate social activist, an avid adventure traveler and a prolific writer since last fifty years. He has the rare distinction of traveling the entire snow clad India-China trans-Himalayan border by foot. He is also the founder director of Swami Sahajananda Saraswati Shodh Sansthan, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh.

Early career

Raghav Sharan Sharma graduated in Civil Engineering from BIT Sindri in 1964 and joined the ongoing Hydel Dam projects. Soon affected both emotionally and personally from the prevalent political crisis following the armed peasant struggles, he started taking a deep interest in their development. It was no wonder that he became a part of them taking breaks from job now and then. In the process, he wrote several books, interrogated India's past and wrote voluminous articles in papers and journals like "Hindustan Weekly" (edited by Mrinal Pandey), "Samyik Varta" (Kishan Patnaik), "Janmat" (Maheshwar), "Rayin Khet", literally Battle Field (edited by himself), and "Mukti Marg" (Triveni Singh).

The Emergency Era

In 1970s India was grabbed by another political storm, the Emergency and the JP Movement. Already a fierce activist now, he jumped in the middle of battle field. Sooner he too like many others got disillusioned by the promise of "Sampoorna Kranti" as the required alchemy wasn't properly worked out. Till date he has strong views on many topics and personalities which sometimes are rare in public spectrum.

Books

In English

* "Builders of Modern India: Swami Sahajanand Saraswati" ( Pub Dept., I&B Ministry, Govt. of India)
* "Swami Sahajanand Saraswati: Complete Works" (Prakashan Sansthan, Delhi)
* "Kadambari" (A Dramatization of the eponymous novel)
* "Trekking in Himalayas"
* "India's Water Wealth: Ails and Ailment"
* "Micro-planning in Irrigation"
* "Indo-China Rivalry on Trans-Himalayan Ranges"
* "Clue to Failure of India's Independence Struggle"

In Hindi

Biographies:
* "Bhagat Singh"
* "Veer Savarkar"
* "Raja Ranjit Singh"
* "B.R. Ambedkar"

Revealing and intriguing texts:
* "Bihar Ke Krantikaari"
* "Jharkhand"
* "Sahajananda Se Charu Aur Ab: Kisaan Andolan Ka Vikaas"

A treatise on:
* "Ayodhya Kaand of Tulsi's RamCharitManas"

Upcoming books:
* "Sahajananda Aur Charu Mazumdar ki Vasiyat"

Peasant Struggle and Political Beliefs

Sharma is famous for his long association with the peasant struggles and is widely held as an authority on Swami Sahajanand Saraswati, the militating monk of peasant struggle during India's Independence Movement. He has also translated the authentic biography of Swami Sahajanand Saraswati written by Walter Hauser. He has been a sympathizer of the peasant struggles. He has traveled far and wide to talk on the various issues concerning India as a nation. As of now, he lives in Sunderpur, Benaras.