More Human Values: Malala, Nightingale, JP, Rajaji

Malala Yousafzai is remembered for courage in standing up for a cause. Her cause was girls’ education. She was born on 12 July 1997 in Mingora, Pakistan.

What happened to her?

On 9 October 2012, the Taliban shot her. She was 15 and riding a bus home from school. She survived and was flown to Birmingham, England, for treatment.

In March 2013, she began attending school in Birmingham. She went back to her public campaign for girls’ education within months. The threat against her had not gone away.

Why did she become famous worldwide?

In 2014, she won the Nobel Peace Prize. At 17, she became the youngest person ever to receive this prize.

What is a common mix-up?

The prize did not go to Malala alone. She shared it, as card 7 explains.

Florence Nightingale is remembered for dedicated service and evidence-based reform. She is remembered for her work in military hospitals.

Evidence-based means using facts and numbers to decide what works. Good intentions alone are not enough.

What did she do in the Crimean War?

The Crimean War ran from 1853 to 1856. Nightingale worked in the military hospitals that treated British troops. She pushed to improve hospital sanitation, which means cleanliness and safe waste removal. She then used statistics to make the case for reform.

Why was she called “The Lady with the Lamp”?

She made her rounds at night to look after wounded soldiers. She reportedly carried a lamp and checked on them personally. That earned her the nickname “The Lady with the Lamp.”

Jayaprakash Narayan, known as JP, is remembered for leading the “Total Revolution” movement in the 1970s. He was an Indian freedom fighter and social reformer.

The movement called for sweeping change against corruption and authoritarian government. An authoritarian government rules with too much power and too few checks.

What was unusual about his return?

JP then came back to lead the movement.

How did India honour him?

He was born on 11 October. His birth centenary year began on that day in 2002.

In 1999, JP received the Bharat Ratna after his death. An award given after death is called posthumous.

C. Rajagopalachari, called Rajaji, is remembered for simplicity and integrity in public life. He was India’s last Governor-General.

How did he live?

He chose to give up a comfortable official life for one of frugality and principle. Frugality means spending little and living simply.

Rajaji is remembered for a simple way of life. He treated simplicity itself as a public example.

What honour did he receive?

On 15 August 1954, India named three Bharat Ratna awardees. The list had three names: Rajaji, S. Radhakrishnan and C.V. Raman.

What is a common mix-up?

Rajaji was not the only first awardee. All three names appear in the same notice, on the same day.

She turned her records into pictures that officials could read at a glance. Her work is a good example of reform driven by evidence.

What did her records show?

She carefully recorded the numbers and causes of deaths. Dirty conditions could lead to diseases such as cholera and typhoid. These diseases killed more soldiers than war wounds did.

What did her famous chart look like?

It was a polar area diagram, not a pie chart. The circle is cut into twelve equal slices, one for each month. The area of each coloured wedge shows how many soldiers died from that cause.

• Blue outer wedges: deaths from contagious diseases.
• Red central wedges: deaths from wounds.
• Black wedges in between: deaths from all other causes.

The blue wedges were far bigger than the rest. One glance showed that disease was the greatest killer. She used the chart to argue that better sanitation could prevent deaths.

How did statisticians honour her?

In 1858, she became the first woman Fellow of the Statistical Society of London. The statistician William Farr nominated her. That body is now the Royal Statistical Society.

Why is it not a pie chart?

In a pie chart, the slices have different angles. In her chart, every slice has the same angle. The size of each coloured wedge shows the count.

It teaches that citizens can hold power to account through mass, non-violent protest. JP’s movement is a commonly cited example. It opposed a government its leaders believed had grown authoritarian.

Accountability means people in power must answer for how they use it. This echoes the tension between political power and public accountability, already covered on this site.

Who joined the movement?

JP’s movement drew students, workers and opposition parties into one protest coalition. A coalition is a group of different sides working for one aim.

How had he earned public trust earlier?

In 1965, JP won the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Public Service. The citation praised his “constructive articulation of a public conscience for modern India.”

His main tool was the Sarvodaya, or “Force of Service”, movement. Its volunteers worked on bhoodan, or “land gift”, and on local self-government. He wanted panchayat raj, or village-based rule, to give villagers control over their own lives.

He also gave new meaning to non-violence as a way to settle conflict.

Malala survived and kept on campaigning. That turned a targeted local attack into a worldwide campaign for girls’ education.

Her case shows how one act of courage, especially by a young person, can grow into a much larger cause. It connects to the moral courage theme already covered on this site.

What happened after the attack?

• On 12 July 2013, her 16th birthday, she spoke at the United Nations in New York.
• On 10 October 2013, the European Parliament gave her the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought.
• In 2014, she shared the Nobel Peace Prize with India’s Kailash Satyarthi.

What did the Nobel Committee praise?

The prize honoured “their struggle against the suppression of children and young people and for the right of all children to education”.

The Committee also valued the pairing itself. It praised “a Hindu and a Muslim, an Indian and a Pakistani” joining one struggle for education.

Rajaji founded the Swatantra Party to oppose Nehru’s style of state-led economic planning. He broke from the Congress party he had once belonged to. He chose his own economic beliefs over old political loyalty.

Who founded it with him?

Rajaji founded it with Minoo Masani, N.G. Ranga, K.M. Munshi and others.

How far did it rise?

After the 1967 election, it became the largest opposition party. It held 44 seats in the fourth Lok Sabha. It merged into the Bharatiya Lok Dal in 1974.

What value does this show?

Some exam questions test this value directly. Principled disagreement with one’s own former allies can itself be a form of integrity. It is not disloyalty.

What is a common mix-up?

UPSC in 2024 paired Rajaji with the Socialist Party. That pair was wrong. Rajaji led Swatantra, and Acharya Narendra Dev led the Socialist Party.

Because good intentions alone are usually not enough to achieve lasting change. Reform-minded courage often works best when paired with practical skill. Nightingale had her statistics. JP had his organising ability.

Where does Manmohan Singh fit?

Dr. Manmohan Singh was India’s Finance Minister in 1991 and later Prime Minister. He is remembered for his role in India’s economic liberalisation, which opened the economy to more competition.

Separately, he had a reputation for personal integrity. It is part of how he is remembered.

What does the exam test?

As with the earlier articles in this series, the exam typically tests the value linked to each figure. It does not test every detail of a life story.

Its design has cleared one stage, but not the final one. The Delhi Urban Art Commission (DUAC) approved the design proposal for a memorial to Dr. Manmohan Singh. The approval comes with conditions.

The memorial is planned at Rashtriya Smriti Sthal, near Rajghat.

When was it approved?

The approval is recorded in the minutes of the DUAC meeting of 25 August 2026. News reports came out in early September 2026.

What does the approval cover?

• It covers only architecture, urban design and looks.
• It is not the final clearance.
• Conditions set by the Land and Development Office still apply. That office works under the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.

Why does it matter here?

It is a live sequel to the integrity legacy in card 9. It comes nearly two years after his death.

Fifteen nurses received them. On 12 May 2026, President Droupadi Murmu gave the awards at Rashtrapati Bhavan. The day was International Nurses Day.

What does the award include?

• A Certificate of Merit.
• A cash prize of Rs 1,00,000.
• A medal.

Who can receive it?

The awards go to nurses, midwives, Auxiliary Nurse Midwives (ANMs) and Lady Health Visitors. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare set them up.

The award carries Nightingale’s name for the value in card 2: dedicated service.

UPSC has asked about Rajaji and the Swatantra Party in 2024, 2018 and 2015. Here they are, newest first.

Answer: (b) Only two. Pairs 2 and 4 are swapped. Rajaji founded the Swatantra Party, as card 8 shows.

Answer: (b) 2 only. Swatantra was not in the first Lok Sabha. Its peak came after the 1967 election, as card 8 shows.

Answer: (b) C. Rajagopalachari. Read more in The Vedaranyam Salt March.

Pairs of similar facts are the usual trap. Check each pair against this list.

1. Bharat Ratna 1954 vs 1999. Rajaji was in the 1954 list, with Radhakrishnan and Raman. JP was named in 1999, after his death.
2. Magsaysay vs Bharat Ratna for JP. The Magsaysay Award came in 1965. The Bharat Ratna came in 1999.
3. Polar area diagram vs pie chart. Nightingale’s slices all had the same angle. The wedge size showed the count.
4. Swatantra vs Socialist Party. Rajaji led Swatantra. Acharya Narendra Dev led the Socialist Party.
5. Nobel 2014. Malala shared it with Kailash Satyarthi of India.
6. DUAC approval vs final clearance. The DUAC approved only the design. Other conditions still apply.

Use the timeline to fix the order of the honours in your mind.