Famous Personalities of Haryana: Names and Districts

Haryana is a small state with a very long list of names, and most of them come from two fields: the farmers' politics of the twentieth century and the wrestling, boxing and shooting that have carried the state to the Olympic podium. A candidate for HSSC, Haryana CET, HPSC and SSC papers needs each name with a village or a district and one achievement, because the question is almost always a matching question. This chapter takes the names in that order, from the hero of 1857 and the farmers' leader of the 1930s to the players of the last two decades.

The freedom struggle and social reform

Rao Tula Ram of Rewari was the leader of the Revolt of 1857 in the Ahirwal tract of Haryana. He raised troops, took charge of the Rewari territory and fought the British at Nasibpur near Narnaul on 16 November 1857; after the defeat he went abroad to seek help and died at Kabul in 1863. Sir Chhotu Ram, born on 24 November 1881 at Garhi Sampla in Rohtak district, was called Deenbandhu and was the strongest voice of the peasantry in the Punjab of his day; as a Unionist leader and minister he carried the agrarian laws of the 1930s that gave debt-ridden farmers relief from moneylenders. Pandit Neki Ram Sharma of Kelanga in Bhiwani district, known as Haryana Kesari, took the Non-cooperation movement into this region and a government college at Rohtak bears his name. Bhagat Phool Singh of Mandhothi in Jhajjar district worked for the education of girls, and the women's university at Khanpur Kalan in Sonipat district is named Bhagat Phool Singh Mahila Vishwavidyalaya after him. Lala Lajpat Rai, though born in Punjab, began his practice and his public work at Hisar, where the state's veterinary university now carries his name.

Leaders after the formation of the state

The sportspersons of Haryana

No other field gives the state as many questions. Kapil Dev, the fast bowler known as the Haryana Hurricane, captained India to the World Cup of 1983. Neeraj Chopra of Khandra village in Panipat district won the gold medal in the javelin throw at the Tokyo Olympics held in 2021, India's first Olympic gold in track and field, took the world championship title in 2023 and won the silver at the Paris Olympics of 2024. Vijender Singh of Kaluwas in Bhiwani district won a bronze in boxing at Beijing in 2008 and became the first Indian boxer to win an Olympic medal; Bhiwani, which produced him and several others, is called the mini Cuba of Indian boxing. Sakshi Malik of Mokhra in Rohtak district won a bronze at Rio in 2016 and became the first Indian woman wrestler with an Olympic medal. Yogeshwar Dutt of Bhainswal Kalan in Sonipat district won a wrestling bronze at London in 2012, Ravi Kumar Dahiya of Nahri in the same district a silver and Bajrang Punia of Khudan in Jhajjar district a bronze at the Tokyo Games. Geeta Phogat of Balali was the first Indian woman wrestler to win a Commonwealth Games gold, in 2010, and the first to qualify for the Olympics. Saina Nehwal, born at Hisar, won the badminton bronze at London in 2012. Manu Bhaker of Goria in Jhajjar district won two bronze medals in shooting at the Paris Olympics of 2024. Rani Rampal of Shahabad Markanda in Kurukshetra district captained the women's hockey team and received the Khel Ratna in 2020, and Deepa Malik of Sonipat district won a silver in the shot put at the Rio Paralympics of 2016, the first Indian woman to win a Paralympic medal.

Literature, art and the screen

The saang, the folk theatre of the region, has its own great name in Pandit Lakhmi Chand of Jatti Kalan in Sonipat district, who is called the Surya Kavi of Haryanvi and whose plays in verse are still performed; Dayachand Mayna and Pandit Mange Ram belong to the same tradition. The poet Surdas, who wrote the Sursagar in Brajbhasha, is held in the state's own accounts to have been born at Sihi village in Faridabad district. Among the writers of Haryanvi and Hindi who are asked about, the name that appears most often is that of Pandit Neki Ram Sharma for his political writing. On the screen the state is represented by Juhi Chawla, who was born at Ambala, and by Randeep Hooda and Yashpal Sharma, both from the Rohtak belt. In coaching, Mahavir Singh Phogat of Balali, who trained his daughters into international wrestlers, has received the Dronacharya Award, and the state's policy of cash awards and khel nurseries is the administrative reason behind the long list in the previous section.