N. S. Hardikar

Dr. Narayan Subbarao Hardikar (7 May 1889 – 26 August 1975) was a freedom fighter and Congress politician who founded the Congress Seva Dal.

Hardikar was born in Dharwar in 1889 to Subbarao and Yamunabai. He studied medicine at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Calcutta and then went to the United States for higher education.

In 1916, he completed his M.Sc in Public Health from the University of Michigan. During his years in America, Hardikar met and became a close associate of Lala Lajpat Rai. As Rai's colleague, Hardikar became an active participant in many political activities in America. He was secretary of the Home Rule League and helped organise the Indian Workers Union of America. As office bearers of the Home Rule League, Rai and Hardikar addressed the US Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee. He was also president of the Hindustan Association of America. Hardikar's pamphlet India – A Graveyard was extensively discussed in several newspapers and journals. He was managing editor of the journal Young India which Senator France of Maryland on the Foreign Relations Committee observed, had rendered "a valuable service in acquainting the people of America with the grave problems which confronted the people of India".

Hardikar returned to India in 1921. During the Flag Satyagraha of 1923, Hardikar and his Hubli Seva Mandal gained national prominence after they refused to apologise to the British authorities to gain a commutation in their prison sentences. This resistance prompted the Congress to set up an organisation along the lines of the Mandal to groom a band of volunteers to combat the British Raj. During the Kakinada Congress session of 1923 a 13-member committee under Hardikar was formed to look at the establishment of such an organisation. The Hindustani Seva Mandal was thus formed in 1923 and later rechristened the Seva Dal. Dr Hardikar was elected general secretary of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee and published the monthly journal Volunteer.

...
Wikipedia