Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel: the Maker of United India

Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, died 53 years ago. But still he is alive in social and political fields of India. It is but natural. It is the outcome of achievements which Sardar Patel acquired for the nation and the society. On one hand, he is considerd to be a practical person like Mahatma Gandhi, while on the other; he has a status of a leading figure with real and effective thinking among his contemporaries. He was a man with practical approach to problems. Sardar Patel merged 554 oddly scattered princely states with the Indian Union through a proper and efficient way in a short span of time. It was not an easy task. It was indeed a great job. In the entire history of India the task of such kind of solidarity had never been done before. After independence, besides creating political unity of India, Sardar Patel played vital role in the Constituent Assembly; he handled the serious problems pertaining to accession, law and order, exchange of population, and made arrangements for rehabilitation of crores of refugees. To make the bureaucracy fully responsible Vallabhbhai raised two servicesIndian Administrative and Indian Police Service. All these works of Sardar Patel were so great and unique that no person can accomplish them in his one lifetime. However Vallabhbhai accomplished them. It is also true that a person like him is born once in thousands of years. This volume contains articles of renowned persons form India and some other countries of the world like Manohar Joshi, Yogendra Narayan, Mehboob Desai, Paitoon Patyaiying, B.J. Patel, Shankar Singh Vaghela, Makrand Mehta, Shirin Mehta, Johannes Dragsbaek Schmidt, S. V. De Paul, V.B. Pant, J.N. Chaturvedi, P.P. Rao, Karin Preisendanz etc., who, through at their contributions, have dealt with various facets of life and work of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel who was the maker of United India.