Sachchidananda Sinha

Dr. Sachchidananda Sinha (November 10, 1871- March 6, 1950) was an eminent and noted parliamentarian, educationist, lawyer and journalist of India.
He was born in Arrah, in Bihar in a well-to-do Kayastha family. He did his study of Law at London to become a Barrister. He was hardly in his twenties, when he launched the movement for a separate Bihar, soon after returning from England as a barrister in year 1891-92. Away back in 1890 most of the people believed that it was not possible or even desirable. But, a small group of others and he persisted and the dream came true in 1911 when Bihar and Orissa came into existence as a separate province from Bengal at the famous Delhi Durbar.
In his early years was a member of the Congress Party from the years 1899 till 1920 and even became its Secretary once. He participated in the Home Rule League Movement.
He was one of the Vice-chancellors of Patna University and held the post from years 1936 to 1944. He built the famous Sinha Library in 1924 in memory of his wife, Radhika at Sinha Library Road, Patna, Bihar.
He was a member of the Imperial Legislative Council from 1910 to 1920 and the Indian Legislative Assembly. He was Deputy President of the Assembly in 1921. He also held the office of the President in the Bihar and Orissa Legislative Council. He was appointed Executive Councillor and Finance Member of the Government of Bihar and Orissa, and, thus, was the first Indian who was ever appointed as a Finance Member of a Province. Later, he also was a member of the Bihar Legislative Assembly. In 1946, he was made the Interim President of the Constituent Assembly of India.
Dr. Sinha also distinguished himself as a journalist. He was the publisher of the Indian Nation and editor of Hindustan Review. He wrote rich biographical sketches of his eminent contemporaries from Bihar and the rest of India which were later published in two volumes: 1) Some Eminent Behar Contemporaries and 2) Some Eminent Indian Contemporaries, which was published in year 1944.
A constituent college in Aurangabad is dedicated to him and was named Sachchidanand Sinha College, which was founded by Akhouri Krishna Prakash Sinha along with eminent Gandhian Dr. Anugrah Narayan Sinha {later First Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar} before independence in the year 1943, who named it after Sachchidanand Sinha, as a living tribute to him, who was at that time 72 years of age.