Uma Dhar

2026-10-03T07:41:01Z

2402:3A80:1993:6B5B:D99A:5A4E:F1ED:FCD:

{{distinguish|Umadhar Singh}}
{{Short description|Indian philosopher (born 1965)}}
{{Infobox academic
| academic_advisors = [[Amita Chatterjee]]
| alma_mater = [[Jadavpur University]]
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1965|09|21}}
| birth_place = [[Kolkata]], [[West Bengal]]
| caption = Dhar in 2014
| image = File:Uma_Dhar_at_Jawaharlal_Nehru_University,_ICPR_Seminar,_2014_(cropped).jpg
| name = Uma Dhar
| nationality = [[Indian]]
| occupation = Philosopher
| relatives = Raja Dewan [[Mohini Mohan Dhar]] (great-grandparent) [[Peary Charan Sarkar]] (great-great-grandparent)
| spouse = {{marriage |Subrata Bose|1989|1989|end=div}} {{marriage |Rajiv Singh|2001|2026||end=div}}
|honorific_prefix=Princess III of the [[House of Dar|Dar Raj]]|children=1}}

'''Uma Dhar''' (born 21 September 1965 in Kolkata, West Bengal) is an Indian Philosopher of Mind and a member of the [[House of Dar|Dar royal family]].

== Early life and education ==
Uma Dhar was born on 21 September 1965 to Raja Chittajit Mohan Dhar, MP and Leena Dhar in the [[Kashmiri Pandits|kashmiri pandit]] royal family of [[House of Dar|Dar]]. Her father, Chittajit Mohan Dhar renamed the palace established by [[Virendra Mohan Dar|Maharaja Virendra Mohan Dar]] after her. The 'Palace of Uma' also known as 'Uma Kutir' is located in the Jalsin Village of [[Dhamrai Upazila]], Dhaka. She completed her primary education from South Point High School, before entering [[Jadavpur University]].<ref>Uma Dhar- [https://philpeople.org/profiles/uma-dhar?__cf_chl_rt_tk=WMnkvP7eo.I4Cp3iRxLTL1AOGTPlx_V4kuie6NTTWJU-1790961037-1.0.1.1-UwdFKM8CbFpSjtQ2CzNYjDenOEGrZtLANTJqtWSU_Yk ''Post Doctoral Fellow at Jadavpur University''] (Retrieved- 02-10-2026)</ref>

== Career ==
Dhar completed her Ph.D. under [[Amita Chatterjee]], the founder vice chancellor of Presidency University, Calcutta, at Jadavpur University, where she earned a Doctorate in Philosophy after qualifying for the National Eligibility Test.<ref>[https://www.ebay.com/itm/398230425997 Physicist Versus Philosopher]- Uma Dhar- pp. 03- Ebay.com</ref> Prior to her doctoral studies, she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in philosophy from Jadavpur University<ref>[https://www.vedamsbooks.com/books/jadavpur_journal_of_philosophy_vol_23_no_1_2013_14%20 Jadavpur Journal of Philosophy] : Vol. 23 No. 1, 2013-14 Author- Indrani Sanyal- ''[[Jadavpur University]]'' (Retrieved 02-10-2026)</ref> and earned a Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.) from Jadavpur Vidyapith. She also holds two Master of Arts degrees from Jadavpur University, specializing in philosophy as well as comparative literature. Following her formal education, she conducted post-doctoral research projects funded by two general fellowships from the Indian Council of Philosophical Research (ICPR), New Delhi, awarded in 2003 and 2013, as Junior and Senior Research Fellow.<ref>[https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/view/33588608/selection-of-icpr-general-junior-research-fellowship-2013-14 Selection of icpr general & junior research fellowship 2013-14]- icpr.in (Retrieved 02-10-2026)</ref><ref>[https://www.google.co.in/books/edition/Friends_and_Family/aG1EEQAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0 Friends and Family]: Vinayak Singh, Maharaja VII of the House of Dar· (2025) February 10, 2025 (Retrieved 02-10-2026)</ref> She was a member of the ICPR Fellows Meet 2014.<ref>[https://icpr.in/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/2014-15-ICPR-final.pdf Annual Report and Accounts]- Indian Council of Philosophical research (Retrieved 02-10-2026)</ref> Her literary work, ''Ashtanga Yoga in Synergy with Medical Science,'' was also published in a two-volume festschrift in her honour: ''Mind and Cognition- An Interdisciplinary Sharing (Essays in Honour of Amita Chatterjee)'' by Kumtala Bhattacharya, Madhucchanda Sen and Smita Sirker.<ref>Bhattacharya, Kuntala; Sen, Madhucchanda; Sirker, Smita (2019). ''Mind and cognition : essays in honour of Amita Chatterjee''. New Delhi: D.K. Printworld. ISBN 978-8124609507.</ref>

== References ==

{{Reflist}}{{Stub}}

Umadhar Singh

2026-10-03T07:40:11Z

2402:3A80:1993:6B5B:D99A:5A4E:F1ED:FCD:

{{distinguish|Uma Dhar}}
{{short description|Indian politician}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}}
{{Use Indian English|date=October 2019}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix =
| name = Umadhar Singh
| honorific-suffix =
| smallimage =
| alt =
| caption =
| constituency_AM = [[Hayaghat (Vidhan Sabha constituency)|Hayaghat]]
| assembly = Bihar Legislative
| majority =
| term_start = 1985–1990
| term_end = & 2000–2005
| predecessor =
| successor =
| birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1938|12|21}}
| birth_place = Sighwara, [[Darbhanga]]
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|2014|6|18|1938|12|21}}
| death_place = [[Patna]]
| nationality = Indian
| spouse =
| party = [[Communist Party of India (Marxist)]] (~1966) [[All India Coordination Committee of Communist Revolutionaries]] (~1967) [[Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist)]] (1969) [[Provisional Central Committee, Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist)|Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) (Satyanarayan Singh group)]] (~1978–1980) [[Central Organising Committee, Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) (Umadhar Singh)|Central Organising Committee, Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist)]] (−1985) [[Communist Organisation of India (Marxist-Leninist)]] (1985–?) [[Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) New Democracy]]
| relations =
| children =
| residence =
| alma_mater = [[Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar Bihar University]], [[Muzaffarpur]]
| occupation =
| profession =
| religion =
| signature =
| signature_alt =
| website =
| footnotes =
}}
'''Umadhar Prasad Singh''' (1938–2014, {{lang-hi|उमाधर प्रसाद सिंह}}) was an Indian [[communist]] politician. Singh was a leader of the student movement in [[Bihar]], and played a role in building the [[Naxalite]] movement in the state. He was imprisoned for eight years. After his release he was elected twice to the [[Bihar Legislative Assembly]].

==Childhood==
Singh was born on 21 December 1938 in Sighwara village, [[Darbhanga district]]. He grow up in a peasant household.<ref name=nd/> He was the youngest of four children of Bilat Singh and Swayamvari Devi.<ref name=nd>CPI(ML) New Democracy. ''[http://cpimlnd.org/red-salute-to-cpiml-new-democracy-leader-com-umadhar-singh/ Red Salute to CPI(ML) New Democracy Leader Com. Umadhar Singh!]''</ref> His elder brother Shri Ganga Prasad Singh was a socialist leader.<ref name=nd/> Umadhar Singh aided the socialist movement as a young child, carrying food and letters for underground socialist leaders during the [[Quit India movement]].<ref name=nd/>

Singh studied middle education in his home village, later to obtain matriculation at the district school.<ref name=d>{{cite web | publisher=Dainik Bhaskar | date=20 June 2014 | url=https://www.bhaskar.com/news/BIH-umadhar-singh-funeral-4652925-NOR.html | title=अंतिम संस्कार: पूर्व विधायक उमाधर सिंह पंचतत्व में विलीन | trans-title=Umadhar Singh Funeral | access-date=22 October 2019 }}</ref>

==Student movement==
Singh obtained a BA (Honours) in Economics at CM College in Darbhanga, later obtaining a MA degree in the same subject at [[Bihar University]] in [[Muzaffarpur]].<ref name=nd/> As a student he joined the communist student movement.<ref name=nd/> Singh served as president of the student wing of the [[Communist Party of India (Marxist)]] in Bihar, the Students Federation, during 1965–1966.<ref name=nd/> He led student protests against [[K.B. Sahay]], the incumbent Chief Minister of the state.<ref name=nd/> During the course of the agitations Singh was charged with arson at Sahay's residence.<ref name=nd/>

==Naxalbari revolt and Mushari struggle==
In the wake of the [[Naxalbari]] revolt Singh was called to [[Delhi]] by the party leadership to attend a meeting of student organisers, where [[M. Basavapunniah]] tried to convince them to reject the revolt.<ref name=nd/> In Delhi Singh argued against the line of the party leadership and resigned from the party.<ref name=nd/> He joined the Bihar affiliate of the [[All India Coordination Committee of Communist Revolutionaries]], the Bihar Coordination Committee of Communist Revolutionaries.<ref name=nd/> During this phase Singh befriended [[Satyanarayan Singh (Bihar politician, died 1984)|Satyanarayan Singh]].<ref name=nd/>

Seeking to replicate the Naxalbari uprising in Bihar, Singh became a key leader of the Mushari struggle and led the first armed squad in the area.<ref name=nd/> Singh's area of influence included Hayaghat and Darbhanga.<ref name="Jha1990">{{cite book|author=Gulab Jha|title=Caste And The Communist Movement|url=https://archive.org/details/castecommunistmo0000jhag|url-access=registration|date=1 January 1990|publisher=Commonwealth Publishers|isbn=978-81-7169-064-0|pages=[https://archive.org/details/castecommunistmo0000jhag/page/176 176]–177}}</ref> On 2 October 1969 a prominent landlord in Darbhaga, B.P. Balani, was killed in broad daylight.<ref name="Jhā1996">{{cite book|author=Vikāsa Kumāra Jhā|title=Bihar, criminalisation of politics|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xvg_AAAAMAAJ|year=1996|publisher=Srishti Prakashan|pages=129–130}}</ref> B.P. Balani was a socialist, known for his anti-Naxalite stand.<ref name="Jha1990"/> On 30 November, Singh was arrested at the Vidyapati Railway Station in Samastipur district. He was charged with the murder of Balani, a charge he accepted in court. Singh was sentenced to life imprisonment, and was kept in solitary confinement, with his legs in chains.<ref name=nd/>

==Release from jail==
After the end of [[Emergency (India)|the Emergency]] Satyanarayan Singh launched a campaign to secure the release of revolutionary prisoners. Singh refused to comply with the demand by the government to give an undertaking for the withdrawal of the case against him, and thus his release was delayed.<ref name=nd/> On 21 December 1977 he was released unconditionally by the [[Janata Party]] government. After his release he maintained that the killing of Balani had been justified and coherent with the party directives at the time.<ref name="Jhā1996"/>

Singh became a member of the Bihar State Committee of the [[Provisional Central Committee, Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist)|Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist)]] led by Satyanarayan Singh. He led the Ratnopatti peasant struggle of 1978, during which revolutionaries seized 25 [[bigha]] of lands from Hari Mahato (a local landlord). The seized lands were distributed to landless peasants.<ref name=nd/>

==Trade unionism==
Singh also engaged in [[trade union]] activities and founded the APM Kamgar Union at the Ashok Paper Mill.<ref name=nd/> Singh served as the president of the union.<ref>''Daily Pioneer''. ''[http://www.dailypioneer.com/nation/vanishing-company-to-revive-bihars-ashok-paper-mills.html ‘Vanishing’ company to revive Bihar’s Ashok Paper Mills!]''</ref> Another union founded by Singh was the Metia Palledar Thela Kamgar Union.<ref name=nd/>

==1978 by-election==
In 1978 a by-election was held for the [[Samastipur (Lok Sabha constituency)|Samastipur Lok Sabha seat]], after the resignation of the incumbent parliamentarian [[Karpoori Thakur]].<ref name=e>Election Commission of India. ''[http://eci.nic.in/eci_main/ByeElection/Bye-ele-results%2052-95.xls Bye-election results 1952–95]''</ref> Singh stood as a candidate of Satyanarayan Singh's CPI(ML) in the election.<ref name=nd/> Singh finished in third place behind the [[Janata Party]] and [[Congress (I)]] candidates, obtaining 18,686 votes (3.69%).<ref name=e/>

==Split from CPI(ML), setting up of COC, CPI(ML)==
During the crisis in CPI(ML) 1979–1980, Singh voiced opposition towards the strategy and theoretical line of the party; he affirmed that the principal contradiction in Indian context stood between feudalism and the broad masses of the people (as opposed to seeing imperialist hegemony as the principal enemy). Subsequently, Singh split away from Satyanarayan Singh's party led a party of his own for a few years, called the [[Central Organising Committee, Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) (Umadhar Singh)|Central Organising Committee, Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist)]] (not to be confused with the [[Central Organising Committee, Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist)|COC, CPI(ML)]] formed in 1974).<ref name=nd/>

Singh contested the Samastipur seat in the [[1980 Indian general election|1980 Lok Sabha election]], finishing in fourth place with 13,151 votes (2.80%).<ref name=e1980>Election Commission of India. ''[http://eci.nic.in/eci_main/StatisticalReports/LS_1980/Vol_I_LS_80.pdf STATISTICAL REPORT ON GENERAL ELECTIONS, 1980 TO THE SEVENTH LOK SABHA – VOLUME I (NATIONAL AND STATE ABSTRACTS & DETAILED RESULTS)]''</ref>

==APM closure==
In 1982 the Ashok Paper Mill was closed down, and Singh initiated a long campaign for its reopening for over 30 years.<ref name=nd/> Under Singh's leadership the APM workers blocked attempts to remove the machinery of the plant.<ref name=nd/> He also struggled for economic compensation for the APM workers that had been laid off, eventually bringing the case in front of the [[Supreme Court of India]].<ref name=nd/>

==Legislator==
Singh contested the [[1985 Bihar Legislative Assembly election|March 1985 election]], and won the [[Hayaghat (Vidhan Sabha constituency)|Hayaghat seat]] in the Bihar Legislative Assembly.<ref name=a>{{cite book|title=The Illustrated Weekly of India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zb44x9HSf-YC|year=1985|publisher=Published for the proprietors, Bennett, Coleman & Company, Limited, at the Times of India Press|pages=34–35}}</ref> He finished in first place amongst 22 candidates, obtaining 13,539 votes (21.30%).<ref>Election Commission of India. ''[http://eci.nic.in/eci_main/StatisticalReports/SE_1985/StatisticalRep_BH_85.pdf State Election, 1985 to the Legislative Assembly of BIHAR]''</ref> Soon after the election, Singh's party merged into the [[Communist Organisation of India (Marxist–Leninist)]] (COI(ML)).<ref name=a/> Singh became a member of the COI(ML) [[Central Committee]] but his tenure in COI(ML) was short-lived, as he clashed with key views of the COI(ML) leadership (regarding electoral politics, viewing [[China]] as a socialist state and considering the line of the original [[Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist)]] as 'terrorist').<ref name=nd/>

Singh lost the Hayaghat seat in the [[1990 Bihar Legislative Assembly election]]. He obtained 27,052 votes (28.47%). The margin between Singh and the winning candidate, [[Kafil Ahmad]] of [[Janata Dal]], was merely 382 votes.<ref>Election Commission of India. ''[http://eci.nic.in/eci_main/StatisticalReports/SE_1990/Stat_Rep_BH_90.pdf State Election, 1990 to the Legislative Assembly of BIHAR]''</ref>

==In CPI(ML) New Democracy==
In 1992 Singh became a member of the [[Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) New Democracy]] (CPI(ML) ND).<ref name=nd/> For many years he was a Central Committee member of CPI(ML) ND, and would remain a member of the CPI(ML) ND Bihar State Committee until his death.<ref name=nd/>
Singh failed to regain the Hayaghat seat in the [[1995 Bihar Legislative Assembly election]]. He finished in second place with 21,889 votes (24.98%).<ref>Election Commission of India. ''[http://eci.nic.in/eci_main/StatisticalReports/SE_1995/StatisticalReport-BR95.pdf State Election, 1995 to the Legislative Assembly of BIHAR]''</ref>

In the [[2000 Bihar Legislative Assembly election]] Singh regained the Hayaghat seat.<ref name=nd/> Singh obtained 32,214 votes (30.39%).<ref>Election Commission of India. ''[http://eci.nic.in/eci_main/StatisticalReports/SE_2000/STAI_REPORT_LA-BR-2000.pdf State Election, 2000 to the Legislative Assembly of BIHAR]''</ref>

Singh lost the Hayaghat seat in the [[2005 Bihar Legislative Assembly election]]. He finished in third place with 14,215 votes.<ref>Election Commission of India. ''[http://eci.nic.in/eci_main/StatisticalReports/SE_2005/StatisticalReports_BH_2005.pdf State Election, 2005 to the Legislative Assembly of BIHAR]''</ref> In the subsequent October 2005 Bihar Legislative Assembly election Singh again finished in third place, this time obtaining 13,467 votes.<ref>Election Commission of India. ''[http://eci.nic.in/eci_main/StatisticalReports/SE_Oct2005/StatisticalReports_BH_2005.pdf State Election, 2005 to the Legislative Assembly of BIHAR]''</ref>
In the [[2010 Bihar Legislative Assembly election]] Singh finished in sixth place in the Hayaghat constituency. He obtained 4,239 votes (4.66%).<ref>Election Commission of India. ''[http://eci.nic.in/eci_main/StatisticalReports/AE2010/stat_BR_Nov2010.pdf State Election, 2010 to the Legislative Assembly of BIHAR]''</ref>

==Death==
In old age, Singh suffered from diabetes as well as lung and cardiac ailments. On 16 June 2014 Singh suffered a heart attack. The following day he was brought to [[Patna]], where he was hospitalised. He died on 18 June 2014.<ref name=nd/>

His body was shifted to the Bihar Legislative Assembly, where a state funeral service was organised. Participants in the funeral included the Bihar Chief Minister [[Jitan Ram Manjhi]] and the Speaker of the Assembly Uday Narayan Chaudhary.<ref name=d/>

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Singh, Umadhar}}
[[Category:1938 births]]
[[Category:2014 deaths]]
[[Category:Members of the Bihar Legislative Assembly]]
[[Category:People from Darbhanga district]]
[[Category:Trade unionists from Bihar]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian politicians]]
[[Category:21st-century Indian politicians]]
[[Category:Communist Party of India (Marxist) politicians from Bihar]]
[[Category:Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) Liberation politicians]]
[[Category:Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar Bihar University alumni]]

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Uma Dhar

Umadhar Singh