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Ramadevi Choudhury

Ramadevi Choudhury ( born in Cuttack, 3 December 1899 - Died 22 July 1985 ) was an Indian freedom fighter and a social reformer. Among women freedom fighters of Odisha, she occupied a unique and unparalleled position who played an outstanding role in the freedom movement of the state. She was called Maa (Mother) by the people of Orissa. She was the daughter of Gopal Ballav Das and the niece of Utkal Gaurab Madhusudan Das. At the age of 15, she married Gopabandhu Choudhury, then a Deputy Collector; the two together joined the Indian independence movement in 1921. She was arrested several times (in 1921, 1936, 1942) with other women independence activists like Sarala Devi, Malati Choudhury and others and was sent to jail.After the Independence of India in 1947, Rama Devi dedicated herself to the cause of Bhoodan and Gramdan movement of Acharya Vinoba Bhave. In 1952 she along with her husband she traveled on foot about 4000 kilometres across the state to propagate the message of giving land and wealth to the landless and poor.After Independence she helped set up the Utkal Khadi Mandal and also established a Teachers’ Training Centre and Balwadi (crèche) at Ramchandrapur. In 1950 she set up a Tribal Welfare Centre at Dumburugeda. During the 1951 famine she and Malati worked in famine relief in Koraput. She worked to aid soldiers affected by the Indo-Chinese war of 1962.During the emergency she protested by bringing out her own newspaper along with Harekrushna Mahatab and Nilmoni Routray. The Gram Sevak Press, was banned by the government and was arrested along with other leaders from Orissa like Nabakrushna Choudhuri, Harekrushna Mahatab, Manmohan Chowdhury, Smt. Annapurna Moharana, Jaykrushana Mohanty, and others.She established a children’s cancer hospital at Cuttack.In recognition of her services to the nation, Ramadevi was honoured with the Jamnalal Bajaj Award on the 4th November, 1981 and the Doctor of Philosophy (Honoris causa) by Utkal University on the 16th April, 1984. She died on 22 July 1985.