1st Chairman of BOG Bidhan Chandra Roy's Period of holding the position - (14.11.1961 to 01.07.1962) Bidhan Chandra Roy was born on July 1, 1882, at Bankipore in Patna, Bihar. His father Prakash Chandra was an Excise Inspector. Bidhan was the youngest of five children. Bidhan's mother died when he was 14. His father played the role of both father and mother to his five children. He promised never to compel them to do anything but to guide them on their path. All five children were required to do the household chores themselves. Bidhan did his I.A. from Presidency College, Calcutta and B.A. from Patna College with Honors in Mathematics. He applied for admission to the Bengal Engineering College, and the Calcutta Medical College. He was accepted to both institutions but opted to go to medical school. In 1909, he left for England with a desire to pursue higher medical studies at St. Bartholomew's Hospital in London. However, the Dean rejected his application as he was Asian. Unwilling to give up easily, he re-submitted his claim 30 more times before being finally accepted into the college. Competent as he was, in a little over two years he completed both his M.R.C.P. and F.R.C.S. degrees, an extraordinary accomplishment. He returned to India in 1911 and began teaching at the Calcutta Medical College, and later at the Campbell Medical School, and the Carmichael Medical College. He contributed significantly to medical education and established several specialized hospitals and health centres. One of the most significant medical centres he found was the Chittaranjan Seva Sadan in the year 1926 for women and children. He also opened a centre for imparting training to the women in nursing and social work. He entered politics in 1925. He contested elections from the Barrackpore Constituency for the Bengal Legislative Council and defeated his famous opponent, the ‘Grand Old Man of Bengal’ Surendranath Banerjee. In 1928, he played a crucial role in starting the Indian Medical Association. He served the association in various roles including as national president for two terms. Also in the same year, he was elected to the All India Congress Committee. In 1929, he led the Civil Disobedience Movement in Bengal and the following year; he convinced Pandit Motilal Nehru to nominate him a member of the Congress Working Committee (CWC). Before long, the CWC was declared an unlawful body by the British Government, and as a result, he, along with many other members of the committee, was arrested on 26 August 1930. They were kept in custody at the Central Alipore Jail in Calcutta. He served as the Alderman of the Calcutta Corporation from 1930–31 and as Mayor in 1933. Under him, the Corporation made rapid progress in the fields of education, medical facilities, and infrastructure. He set up a framework to provide a grant in aids to hospitals and charitable dispensaries. He created the Medical Council of India and became its first president in 1939. He held the position till 1945. He was a friend and doctor to Mahatma Gandhi. In 1942, when Gandhi was fasting in Pune for the Quit India Movement, Dr. Roy attended him and convinced him to take medicines which were not made in India. In 1942, he was elected as the Vice Chancellor of the University of Calcutta. Around this time, Calcutta was under the threat of Japanese insurgency. Since he believed that education could help the youth serve their country better, he arranged air-raid shelters and relief for students and their teachers, so that classes could be held even during the war. After India’s independence, the Congress Party proposed his name for Chief Ministership of West Bengal. However, since he was more dedicated to his medical profession, he did not want to assume office. On Gandhi's insistence, he accepted the position in January 1948. Bengal at that time was plagued by communal violence, shortage of food, unemployment and a massive flow of refugees from East Pakistan (presently Bangladesh). Within three years, his governance restored Bengal’s law, order, and lost glory. He laid the foundation of five renowned cities, namely, Durgapur, Kalyani, Bidhannagar, Ashokenagar, and Habra. In total, his 14-year stint as Chief Minister of West Bengal was immensely successful. He made quality health services available to ordinary people. He established some leading medical institutions in Calcutta like the R.G. Kar Medical College, the Jadavpur T.B. Hospital, Chittaranjan Seva Sadan, Kamala Nehru Hospital, Victoria Institution, and Chittaranjan Cancer Hospital. He played a crucial role in establishing the Indian Institute of Mental Health, the Infectious Disease Hospital, and the first-ever postgraduate medical college in Calcutta. In 1925, he tabled a resolution to study the causes, effects, and prevention of pollution in Hooghly. As Mayor of Calcutta Corporation, he promoted free education, free medical aid, better roads, improved lighting, and water supply. In 1935, he was elected Fellow of Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene and later in 1940, Fellow of American Society of Chest Physicians. He was also elected as President of Medical Council of India in 1944. In recognition of his efforts in helping students continue their education during the Japanese insurgency of Calcutta, the Doctorate of Science degree was conferred upon him in 1944. The Government of India honoured him with the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian award, on 4 February 1961. He lived a bachelor life and died on his 80th birthday, which is 1 July 1962. He donated his house for functioning as a nursing home named after his mother, Aghorkamini Devi. The B.C. Roy National Award was instituted in 1976 for work in the area of medicine, politics, science, philosophy, literature, and arts. IIM Calcutta was established with the initiative of Dr. Roy. He was the founder chairman of IIM Calcutta and as a mark of honour the Library of IIMC named as B.C.Roy Memorial Library.