Gen Singh
Gen Singh was a land lord of Paralkot (Modern Pakhanjur).
In ancient India Paralkot was a independent state. when the kanker and Bastar state were under control of British and Marathas at the same time the local abysmal Aboojhmarias felt that their culture may be destroyed due to presence of British and Marathas. So these local persons gathered under leadership of Gen Singh. Because they wanted to take revenge from those foreigners. They started to gather in paralkot for revolution. After that they elected their leader Gen Singh. First they fought against Marathas and British in Paralkot. They started to murder of Marathas and British one by one. their aim was to establish independent Bastar. Then an English caption Mr. Agnue ordered to abolishment of this revolution and in end they got success on 12 January. Gen Singh was arrested and hanged till death on 20 January1825.
Ram Prasad Potai
Ram Prasad Potai was a Great person of Kanker. He dedicated his each and every part of life to the region and humanity.
He was famous for his leadership quality and for bringing social awareness. He was born in 1920 in a wealthy family. His childhood name was Pharso. He got his primary education from Kanhar and Kanker. He went to Nagpur for graduation. In 1944 hee passed the L.L.B. examination.. He was the first tribe of the region who became had passed the L.L.B. In his student life he was a very good athlete in high jump and race. he won the hundred of medals in sports. after being advocate he inspired to new generation fro studies. He used his income for the study of poor students. He always supports them financially. In 1944 he met thakur Pyare Lal Singh a great leader of Chhattisgarh. Then he participated in politics. in 1945 Mr. Jawahar Lal Nehru elected him as a member of constitution preparation committee. In 1950 he became a member of parliament. In 1962 he won the election of M.L.A. as a independent candidate from bhanupratappur. He had very good knowledge of Hindi and English. He was affected by the notion of Carl Marks. He always opposed to British policy. He was expired in October 1962.
Pandit Vishnu Prasad sharma
Pandit Vishnu Prasad Sharma is also a great man of Uttar Bastar Kanker District.
He was born at kanker on 24 October 1923. He got his primary education at Kanker and Jagdalpur. He became graduate from Raipur and Law graduate from Bilaspur. He elected as a Joint Secretary, secretary, and vice president respectively of student union, Chhattisgarh region Raipur.
During his student life Sharmaji came in touch of revolutionists like Sudhir Mukharjee, Ramsahay Tiwari, Dr. Vipin Bihari Soor, Nikhil Bhoosan Soor, Paras Ram Soni etc. So he started to take interest in politics.He participated "Bharat Chhoro Aandolan" in 1942. He gathered the students against British Raj.He arrested by police on 9th August and released on 10th August 1942 from Raipur Jail.
In 1944 he became a member of Indian national Congress. He had been the first elected President of Nagar Palika Kanker (1952 to 1957) At that time he was youngest President in C.P. and Berar. He had been also president district co-operative bank, Raipur. He was elected in lot of education committees as president like Danteshwari College Jagdalpur Bastar,Gramya Bharti college kanker, Bharati H.S.School Kanker and Bastar Shiksha Samiti. He also elected the president of Bar_Association of Kanker three times. He was honored as "Vidhi Purush" of kanker Distt. He was Marxist in young age but his life style was totaly Gandhian. He was very spokesman, writer,thinker and Freedom fighter. Pt. Vishnu Prasad Sharma declared " Swadheenta Sangram Senani" on 2nd January 2009. He expired after a short illness at Raipur on 18th july 2009. He was cremated on 19th July 2009 at Kanker by "Rajkiya Sammaan" with all Formalities of a Freedom Fighter.
Maharajadhiraj Bhanu Pratap Dev
Maharajdhiraj komal Deo expired in the year 1925, prior to his death since Maharajadhiraj Komal Deo had no sons, therefore he adopted his nephew, son of his sister in law Lalit Manjari devi of Ratu, as heir apparent to the throne of kanker and he was named Bhanu Pratap Deo. At the time of his adoption Bhanu Pratap Deo was aged about 3 years and 2 months, having been born on 17th September 1922 to Maharaj kumar Nand Kishor Nath shah Deo of Dewarkhand Pargana of Ratu Zamindari in erstwhile Bihar.
Due to tender age of Bhanu Pratap Deo, the then British commissioner appointed Raghuveer Prasad Shrivastava as minister for administration of the state, and he proved to be a good administrator. Bhanu Pratap Deo was sent for formal education to Rajkumar College Raipur, where he excelled in sports and studies and passed his school in 1937, with best results in school. He was also a keen and gifted sportsman. Later on he went for further studies to Mayo College Ajmer Rajasthan and also attended the I.C.S. training camp at Dehradun and went for a study stint to England Bhanu Pratap Deo was a gifted sportsman and excelled in tennis and football and athletics. He was also a good shot with the gun and upon reports of man-eating tigers from adjoining areas went for shikaar to remove misery of the people.
He married Rajkumari Amulya Prabha Devi of Sonepur State in Orissa in the year 1943 and was bestowed with the title of Maharajdhiraj and full ruling powers in 1943. He had one daughter and a son from the wedlock. Maharajdhiraj Bhanu Pratap Deo established the township of bhanupratappur at a distance of 52 kms from kanker being an able and benevolent administrator he formed the home rule committee, ensuring participation of general public in administration of state as winds of independence from British rule had already started flowing.
After independence Maharajdhiraj Bhanu Pratap Deo participated in the democratic system and was elected as member of the legislative assembly from congress as well as an independent candidate from 1952 to 1957 and thereafter from 1962 to 1967. Maharajdhiraj Bhanu Pratap Deo established a degree college in Kanker in the year 1962 by the name of Gramya Bharti College inviting participation from the public at large and also donated agricultural lands for financial support to the college, in addition to a large number of books and furniture and initially started the college adjacent to the palace premises, the first of its kind in the region benefits of the college are there for all to see as many persons of Kanker and adjoining areas after receiving college education are well placed in service in Chhattisgarh and India presently the college is has been named in honour of Maharajdhiraj Bhanu Pratap Deo in lieu of his relentless efforts to bring the fruits of higher education to Kanker . A man ahead of his times, he started the kanker Bus Service and a Cinema Hall in kanker.
Maharajdhiraj was also a gifted photographer and an automobile connoisseur and had a pair of Rolls Royces, in addition to other cars he also patronized sports and club activities of Komal Deo Club Kanker. A man for ahead of his times Maharajdhiraj Bhanu Pratap Deo also started Kanker Bus Service (now Kanker Roadways) and established Mahavir Talkies at Kanker and was also a path breaking member of the governing body of Rajkumar College, Raipur.
Maharajdhiraj Bhanu Pratap Deo Breathed his last untimely and unfortunately on 14th August 1969 at an early age .
Tribhuwan Nath Shah Deo (Kumar Saheb)
Born on 17th November 1930 to Maharaj Kumar Nand Kishor Nath Shah Deo of Dewarkhand Pargana, Ratu Zamindari (Bihar) and Lalit Manjari Devi of Raj Khariar and was the youngest brother of Maharajadhiraj Bhanu Pratap Deo. Had his formal school education initially at Rajkumar College Raipur from where he obtained the senior school certificate of the university of Cambridge (England) and passed with flying colors obtaining the president's prize for best result in school in 1949 in addition to the best result in school he also won the Sarangarh shield for the best sportsmen a rare feat. He created school records in Broad Jump, High jump, 100 meters sprint, 110 meters hundreds and 4x100 meters relay of which the Broad jump record of 21'3" still stands good. He also represented the school team in cricket, hockey, football and athletics and captained the school team in the last two disciplines.
An outstanding and exceptionally gifted sportsman, soon he blossomed into a state level and then into a national level sportsman of prominence To name and highlight few of his glittering achievements, he represented C.P. and Berar provinces in the XIvth Indian Olympics held in Bombay in 1950, where he rubbed shoulders with legendry sprinter Lavy Pinto, Kumar saheb T. N. S. Deo, also represented the state in broad jump, high jump 100 meters sprint and 4X100 meters relay, he also represented the Patna university in cricket in the All India Rohinton Baria trophy in 1950, was awarded the Daly College Indore colors in cricket,hockey,football and athletics in a single year in 1951 and Captained daly College in athletics won the best sportsman award in Daly College Indore for 1951 and 1952.
He also represented the Holkar state cricket association in the All India Ranji trophy cricket tournament in 1952 and 1953 under the captaincy of legendry col. C. K. Nayudu and later on under the captaincy of the great cricketer Mushtaq Ali. Kumar T.N.S. Deo created Madhya bharat athletics records in broad jump, high jump and 800 meters in 1953 and 1954 and captained the state athletics team in the first national games held at Delhi in march 1954 and secured third place in the men's running broad jump, with a jump of 22'5" unfortunately narrowly missing all India selection in the event for the Asian games held in Manila (Philippines) as he was regularly clearing 23' in the event , before his departure from Indore for the national games
Kumar T.N.S. Deo, later on was the lynchpin of cricket activities in Kanker and the Kanker cricket club which was a formidable team, which outclassed all neighboring area teams he enthralled the cricket fans of Kanker for many years with his brilliant batting performances and cricketing aficionados of that time still recall and remember his extraordinary cricketing exploits, He was also invited to play in the national defence cricket show match of Raipur in 1962 and was also one of the organizers of the first All India Archery competition held at Jagdalpur in 1974.
He married Savitri Devi of Aul, a princely state near Cuttack in Orissa and has a son from the wedlock. Kumar Tribhuwan Nath Shah Deo also entered the political mainstream and was the president of municipal council Kanker. Kumar T.N.S.Deo was also a gifted singer and was an unforgettable part of the "Nav-chetan" and "pushpanjali" musical groups of Kanker and was also president of Komal Deo club for more then a decade.He died an untimely death, aged only about 51 years, in April 1982.
