Question Discussion & Solution

The correct answer is Shri Ram Bajpai.

Key Points

• Shri Ram Bajpai founded the Sava Samiti Boy Scouts Association in the year 1914 in Bombay.
• On the lines of the worldwide Baden-Powell Organisations, which at that time banned Indians from joining it.
• Though later Baden-Powell, after a private visit to India, lifted the colour bar, Bajpai's organization continued its separate existence, for it had the aim of bringing about the complete Indianisation of the Boy Scout movement in India.  
• About Lord Baden-Powell
  • He was a British general and founder of the modern Scouting movement.
    Baden-Powell became a national hero during the Boer war of 1899-1900 when, with a small garrison, he commanded the defence of Mafeking.
  • During the Boer War, Baden-Powell wrote a book "A Guide to Scout". This was published in 1903 and was a best-seller.
  • Initially meant for military purposes, after the war, he felt it could be used as a focus for young boys to give them more meaning in life.
  • This led to the creation of the Scout Movements. During his lifetime it grew to be a respected international organisation.

Additional Information

• Seva Samiti
  • It was another organization founded by a prominent member of the Servants of India Society, Hridayanath Kunzru.
  • Founded in 1914 at Allahabad, the Seva Samiti had as its objective to organize social service during natural disasters like floods and epidemics, to promote the spread of education, cooperation, sanitation, uplift depressed classes, reform criminals and rescue the fallen.
• ​Hridya Nath Kunzru-
  • He was an Indian freedom fighter and public figure. He was a long-time Parliamentarian, serving in various legislative bodies at the Provincial and Central levels for nearly four decades.
  • He was a member of the Constituent Assembly of India that drew up the Constitution of India. 
  • He was one of the members of the Servants of India Society, founded in 1914 the Seva Samiti at Allahabad.
  • In addition to the promotion of education, sanitation, physical culture, etc., it organises social service during fairs, famines, floods, epidemics, and especially on the occasion of religious festivals like the Kumbha Mela.
• Annie Besant
  • She was a prominent British socialist, theosophist, women's rights activist, writer and orator and supporter of Irish and Indian self-rule.
  • She became a prominent speaker for the National Secular Society (NSS) and writer and a close friend of Charles Bradlaugh.
  • In 1877 they were prosecuted for publishing a book by birth control campaigner Charles Knowlton. The scandal made them famous, and Bradlaugh was elected M.P. for Northampton in 1880.
  • She became involved with union actions including the Bloody Sunday demonstration and the London matchgirls strike of 1888.
  • She was a leading speaker for the Fabian Society and the Marxist Social Democratic Federation (SDF).
  • In 1890 Besant met Helena Blavatsky and over the next few years, her interest in theosophy grew while her interest in secular matters waned.
  • She became a member of the Theosophical Society and a prominent lecturer on the subject.