<Tr> <Th> Spouse (s) </Th> <Td> Prabhavati Devi </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Awards </Th> <Td> Ramon Magsaysay Award (1965) Bharat Ratna (1999) (posthumously) </Td> </Tr> <P> Jayaprakash Narayan (listen (help info); 11 October 1902--8 October 1979), popularly referred to as JP or Lok Nayak (Hindi for The People's Leader), was an Indian independence activist, theorist, communist and political leader, remembered especially for leading the mid-1970s opposition against Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, for whose overthrow he called a "total revolution". His biography, Jayaprakash, was written by his nationalist friend and an eminent writer of Hindi literature, Ramavriksha Benipuri . In 1999, he was posthumously awarded the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian award, in recognition of his social work . Other awards include the Magsaysay award for Public Service in 1965 . </P> <P> Jayprakash Narayan was born on 11 October 1902 in the village of Sitabdiara (It was in Saran district of Bihar when JP was born . At present it is in Ballia district of Uttar Pradesh, India). Sitabdiara is a large village, straddling two states and three districts--Chhapra and Arrah in Bihar and Ballia in Uttar Pradesh . His house was near the banks of the flood - prone Ghagra river in Lala Tola, Bihar . Every time the river swelled, the house would get a little bit damaged, eventually forcing the family to move a few kilometres away to a settlement which is now known as Jay Prakash Nagar and falls in Uttar Pradesh . He came from a kayastha family . He was the fourth child of Harsu Dayal and Phul Rani Devi . His father Harsu Dayal was a junior official in the Canal Department of the State government and was often touring the region . When Narayan was 9 years old, he left his village to enroll in 7th class of the collegiate school at Patna . This was his first break from village life . JP stayed at a student hostel--Saraswati Bhawan--in which most of the boys were a bit older . Among them were some of Bihar's future leaders including its first chief minister, Krishna Singh, his deputy Anugrah Narayan Sinha and several others who were to widely become known in politics and academic world . </P>

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