{"id":32058,"date":"2025-04-15T05:09:44","date_gmt":"2025-04-14T23:39:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=32058"},"modified":"2025-04-16T18:53:28","modified_gmt":"2025-04-16T13:23:28","slug":"sir-sankaran-nair","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/sir-sankaran-nair\/","title":{"rendered":"Sir Sankaran Nair"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Sir Sankaran Nair Latest News<\/h2>\n<p>The Prime Minister\u2019s tribute on the 106th anniversary of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre acknowledged Nair\u2019s fearless voice against British tyranny.<\/p>\n<h2>About Sir Sankaran Nair<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Sir Chettur Sankaran Nair<\/strong> was born in <strong>1857<\/strong> in an <strong>aristocratic family<\/strong> from <strong>Mankara village<\/strong>, located in <strong>Malabar\u2019s Palakkad district<\/strong> (present-day Kerala).<\/li>\n<li>He was known for his <strong>unwavering moral courage<\/strong>, <strong>strong convictions<\/strong>, and <strong>outspoken opposition<\/strong> to colonial injustice.<\/li>\n<li>Nair graduated from <strong>Presidency College, Madras<\/strong>, and began his legal career under <strong>Sir Horatio Shepherd<\/strong>, who later became <strong>Chief Justice of the Madras High Court<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Key Positions and Recognitions<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>In <strong>1897<\/strong>, Nair became the <strong>youngest President of the Indian National Congress (INC)<\/strong> \u2014 and remains the <strong>only Malayali<\/strong> to have ever held that post.<\/li>\n<li>He was appointed to the <strong>Raleigh University Commission<\/strong> by <strong>Lord Curzon in 1902<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>Honored as <strong>Companion of the Indian Empire<\/strong> in <strong>1904<\/strong> and <strong>knighted in 1912<\/strong> for his service.<\/li>\n<li>In <strong>1908<\/strong>, he became a <strong>permanent judge in the Madras High Court<\/strong>, where he was known for <strong>progressive and reform-oriented judgments<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>In <strong>1915<\/strong>, he joined the <strong>Viceroy\u2019s Executive Council<\/strong>, overseeing the <strong>education portfolio<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Role in the Freedom Movement<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Nair was a <strong>strong nationalist<\/strong> who firmly advocated for <strong>India\u2019s right to self-rule<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>In <strong>1919<\/strong>, he contributed significantly to the <strong>Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms<\/strong>, which introduced <strong>dyarchy in provinces<\/strong> and <strong>increased Indian participation<\/strong> in administration.<\/li>\n<li>Following the <strong>Jallianwala Bagh massacre on April 13, 1919<\/strong>, he <strong>resigned from the Viceroy\u2019s Council<\/strong> in protest \u2014 a bold move that <strong>shook the British government<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>His resignation triggered changes, including the <strong>lifting of press censorship in Punjab<\/strong>, the <strong>termination of martial law<\/strong>, and the formation of the <strong>Hunter Commission<\/strong> to investigate the massacre.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>The Historic Defamation Trial Against Michael O\u2019Dwyer<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>In his book, Nair accused <strong>Michael O\u2019Dwyer<\/strong>, then <strong>Lieutenant Governor of Punjab<\/strong>, of being <strong>directly responsible<\/strong> for the <strong>Jallianwala Bagh massacre<\/strong> due to his repressive policies.<\/li>\n<li>O\u2019Dwyer filed a <strong>defamation case<\/strong> against Nair in <strong>an English court<\/strong> in <strong>1922<\/strong>, expecting support from the British legal system.<\/li>\n<li>The <strong>trial lasted five and a half weeks<\/strong> and was the <strong>longest-running civil trial<\/strong> in Britain.<\/li>\n<li>The <strong>12-member English jury<\/strong>, presided over by <strong>Justice Henry McCardie<\/strong>, mostly sided with O\u2019Dwyer (<strong>11\u20131 majority<\/strong>), with only <strong>Harold Laski<\/strong>, a Marxist theorist, dissenting.<\/li>\n<li>Nair was ordered to pay <strong>\u00a3500 and the trial expenses<\/strong>. He refused to <strong>apologize<\/strong>, even when O\u2019Dwyer offered to <strong>waive the penalty<\/strong> if he did so.<\/li>\n<li>Although Nair lost, the <strong>trial exposed the deep bias<\/strong> in the British legal system and <strong>galvanised nationalist sentiments<\/strong> in India.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Death and Recognition<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Sir Sankaran Nair passed away in 1934 at the age of 77<\/strong>, but he remains a <strong>symbol of fearless resistance<\/strong> and <strong>principled leadership<\/strong> in colonial India.<\/li>\n<li>His legacy continues to inspire through books like <strong>The Case That Shook the Empire<\/strong> by his descendants and upcoming films like <strong>Kesari Chapter 2<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Sir Sankaran Nair FAQs<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Q1. <\/strong>Who was Sir Sankaran Nair?<br \/>\n<strong>Ans.<\/strong> Sir Chettur Sankaran Nair was a prominent Indian jurist, social reformer, and nationalist known for his contributions to the Indian freedom struggle and for advocating civil rights under British rule.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q2.<\/strong> Why is Sir Sankaran Nair remembered in Indian history?<br \/>\n<strong>Ans.<\/strong> He is remembered for resigning from the Viceroy\u2019s Executive Council in protest against the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre in 1919.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q3. <\/strong>What legal position did Sir Sankaran Nair hold?<br \/>\n<strong>Ans.<\/strong> He served as a Judge of the Madras High Court and later as the President of the Indian National Congress in 1897.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/explained\/explained-history\/the-fearless-sir-sankaran-nair-and-the-story-of-the-jallianwala-bagh-case-9944386\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">IE<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sir Chettur Sankaran Nair was born in 1857 in an aristocratic family from Mankara village, located in Malabar\u2019s Palakkad district (present-day Kerala).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":32059,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-32058","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-prelims-current-affairs","8":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32058","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32058"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32058\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32059"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32058"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32058"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32058"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}