Rajendra Prasad an Autobiography

A GREATER part of this book was written by me in prison between 1942 and 1945. It brings the story of my life to 1946. The original was written in my own language, Hindi. It has already undergone two editions in that language and it is only now that it has been possible to bring out an English version of it.

I have been connected in a rather intimate manner with many political and other developments in India in the last ten years also. But neither in the second edition of the Hindi original which was published in the beginning of this year nor in this English version which is going to be published towards the end of it has it been possible for me to bring it up to date. There is much that can be said about the work of the Constituent Assembly of India over which I had the honour and privilege of presiding and which prepared and passed the Constitution of India, about the transfer of power from British to Indian hands with which as President of the Constituent Assembly I had been associated, about the Partition of India into India and Pakistan, in settling the details of the division of assets and liabilities in which I had to play a part as a member of the Partition Committee, about the serious food situation which the country had to face in 1946-4-7 when I was the Food and Agriculture Minister, about the aftermath of the Partition in 1947-48 and latterly about the governance of Independent India as its President under the Transitory Provisions of the Constitution from 1950 to 1952 and then after the General Elections as its regularly elected President from May 1952. But I have had no time to write about all this nor is it, perhaps, appropriate for me to do so while I occupy the position of President for a second term.

The years that have elapsed since the cessation of hostilities of the Second World War have seen tremendous changes not only in India but all over the world and even more so in the realms of science and technology. They are also posing some of the most difficult and intractable problems that mankind has ever had to face. India cannot escape them and has had to make her choice and do her little bit. I have been a witness to much that has happened in this country even where I have not played any significant part. But all this has to be said and assessed at a later time and, perhaps, better by others.

**Contents and Sample Pages**