Rajeshwar Bali


Dr. Rai Rajeshwar Bali was the Taluqdar of Dariyabad. Dariyabad was a taluq in North India and is at present situated in the state of Uttar Pradesh.

Life

Dr. Rai Rajeshwar Bali was an intellectual reformist. During his lifetime he was the head of the Taluqdar association of Oudh. From 1924 to 1928 he was the education minister of Uttar Pradesh.
His main contributions were the passage of the Agra University act, the creation of Bhatkhande College of Hindustani Music and passing of primary education system of education in India.
In the early part of the 20th century the Hindustani music was confined to temples. Dr Rai Rajeshwar Bali was instrumental in bringing the Hindustani classical music to the public by opening one of the first music colleges of India called the Bhatkhande College of Hindustani Music in Lucknow. For this he invited Pundit V. N. Bhatkhande and requested him to write the grammar of Hindustani Classical Music. Dr Rai Rajeshwar Bali was also an avid Krishna Bhakt and his Phag and Panje are still recited in Vrindavan, the lila sthal of Bhagwan Krishna.
Rai Rajeshwar Bali, at the age of 27, earned great respect and awe for his creative activities and was recognized among stalwarts like Rabindranath Tagore, Dr. Radhakrishnan, Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya and others, who had regular interactions with him on cultural matters.
Purely in recognition of his brilliant creative activities, the then Governor of UP Sir William Marris appointed Rai Rajeshwar Bali as the Minister of education in 1922.
He was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 1919 New Year Honours.
The passing of the Agra University Act and Primary Education Bill in UP Assembly was also due to his efforts. For this, he was not only conferred a Degree of the Doctor of literature by the Lucknow University, but his name was given a place of honor in the Encyclopedia of Great Men of the World, published from the USA.
Taluqdari In Office: July 1924 - June 1928
Minister of Education, Medical Relief & Public Health and Local Self Government of the UP legislative assembly in 1920 and represented the Non-Muslim rural constituency of Barabanki district.
Dr Rai Rajeshwar Bali was succeeded by his eldest son Rai Dinanath Bali.
His only surviving son is Rai Kaushlendra Bali, who lives in New Delhi, India.