Occupation Banker Died 1898, Lahore, Pakistan Name Dyal Majithia | Spouse(s) Rani Bhagwan Kaur Religion Sikh Parents General Lehna Singh | |
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Born 1848 Varanasi | ||
Controversy about changing the name of Dyal Singh College, Delhi
Sardar Dyal Singh Majithia (1848–98) was an Indian banker and activist in progressive and social reform measures in Punjab. He established the The Tribune newspaper in Lahore in 1881, and later remained founder chairman of the Punjab National Bank, established in 1894. He established dyal singh trust society.
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Biography
Born in Varanasi, Dyal Singh was the only son of General Lehna Singh. He lost his parents at the age of six. He got his early education in the Mission School at Amritsar and was later self-educated.
He founded the newspaper The Tribune and managed the affairs of the Harmandir Sahib ("Golden Temple") for nearly thirty years. He took up business in real estate and diamonds and earned huge wealth. He was the first president of the Indian Association of Lahore and continued in that capacity till his death. He was a founding Trustee of the Sadharan Brahmo Samaj.
He was Chairman, Board of Directors of the country's first indigenous bank, the Punjab National Bank. The Bank was founded on 23 May 1894 (its first meeting was held at 6:30 PM at Dyal Singh's house). At the second meeting on 27 May 1894, Dyal Singh was appointed Chairman and Lala Harkishen Lal, the Secretary of the Board. He was also a pillar of the Brahmo Samaj and donated liberally for educational institutions and libraries, including numerous colleges all over Upper India, like Dayal Singh College, Lahore and Dyal Singh Memorial Library, Lahore. He was closely associated with Punjab University. He also founded The Tribune newspaper (now HQ in Chandigarh)
Raja Rammohun Roy's greatest follower in Upper India was Sirdar Dyal Singh, in whose person the two strands (of Western ideas and Indian thought) seem to have been fused. Born nine years after Ranjit Singh's death and fifteen years after Rammohun Roy's demise, this scion of the family that helped Ranjit Singh carve out a Sikh kingdom was one of the greatest Brahmos in the Punjab.