Masud Choudhary (10 April 1944 – 16 December 2022) was an Indian educator, social reformer, thinker and an administrator of Jammu and Kashmir union territory. He was the founding Vice Chancellor of Baba Ghulam Shah Badshah University in Rajouri, J&K. He was also the Chief Patron of the Gurjar Desh Charitable Trust. Choudhary served in the police and retired as the Additional Director of the General Police (IPS) in 2004.

Early life

Born in a middle-class Bajar

Gujjar Gurjar or Gujjar (also transliterated as ''Gujar, Gurjara and Gujjer'') is an ethnic nomadic, agricultural and pastoral community, spread mainly in India, Pakistan and Afghanistan, divided internally into various clan groups. They were tradit ...

family in Kala Ban, a village near

Line of Control The Line of Control (LoC) is a military control line between the Indian and Pakistanicontrolled parts of the former princely state of Jammu and Kashmir—a line which does not constitute a legally recognized international boundary, but serve ...

Poonch Poonch, sometimes also spelt Punchh, may refer to: * Historical Poonch District, a district in the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir in British India, split in 1947 between: ** Poonch district, India ** Poonch Division, in Azad Kashmir, Pakistan, ...

in Jammu and Kashmir Masud Choudhary's father, Babu Faiz Ahmed

was also a prominent educator.

Biographic Account

The first biography of Dr. Masud Ahmed Choudhary compiled by Ghani Ghayoor and Dr. Shams Kamal Anjum was released at Gurjardesh Charitable Trust auditorium by former Chief Minister Dr. Farooq Abdullah on 18 January 2021. The book contains research articles about Masud Choudhary – a living hero of Jammu and Kashmir who created many institutions of literacy to reduce the darkness of illiteracy and to end backwardness and ignorance faced by marginalized groups. He spent his whole life for the betterment of his tribal community and other downtrodden groups. For his lifetime contributions, he was awarded as 'Fakhr e Qoum wa Milat' in presence of tribal elders.

Police career

As a Law Graduate from Aligarh Muslim University, he began his career in Jammu and Kashmir Police as a Deputy Superintendent of Police in 1967. He served in a number of assignments, as the District Police Chief of Jammu, Poonch, Kathua, Udhampur including

Senior Superintendent of Police Superintendent (Supt) is a rank in the British police and in most English-speaking Commonwealth nations. In many Commonwealth countries, the full version is superintendent of police (SP). The rank is also used in most British Overseas Territories ...

, Srinagar in Kashmir and also as SSP Vigilance Jammu and CID SB Jammu. As

Deputy Inspector General of Police A Deputy Inspector General of Police (abbreviated as DIG) is a high-ranking official position in Police in Bangladesh, India, Kenya, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan, Nigeria and Sri Lanka. India Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) is a rank ...

he was posted

DIG Digging, also referred to as excavation, is the process of using some implement such as claws, hands, manual tools or heavy equipment, to remove material from a solid surface, usually soil, sand or rock (geology), rock on the surface of Earth. Di ...

Vigilance J&K, DIG Jammu-Kathua range; DIG Administration PHQ; Director Police Academy, Udhampur;

Inspector General of Police An Inspector General of Police is a senior police officer in the police force or police service of several nations. The rank usually refers to the head of a large regional command within a police service, and in many countries refers to the most se ...

, Crime and Railway; and, Additional Director General Police in Jammu and Kashmir. He became the first

of Jammu and Kashmir to rise to the rank of Additional Director General of Police in

Indian Police Service The Indian Police Service ( IPS) is a civil service under the All India Services. It replaced the Indian Imperial Police in 1948, a year after India became independent from the British Raj. Along with the Indian Administrative Service (IAS ...

in 2002. His last position was as Additional Director General, Headquarters. He retired from the

IPS IPS, ips, or iPS may refer to: Science and technology Biology and medicine * ''Ips'' (genus), a genus of bark beetle * Induced pluripotent stem cell or iPS cells * Intermittent photic stimulation, a neuroimaging technique * Intraparietal sulcus, ...

in 2004.

Baba Ghulam Shah Badshah University

Choudhary was the founder

Vice-Chancellor A chancellor is a leader of a college or university, usually either the executive or ceremonial head of the university or of a university campus within a university system. In most Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth and former Commonwealth n ...

of Baba Ghulam Shah Badshah University located in the border district of Rajouri, 150 km from

Jammu Jammu is the winter capital of the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), Jammu and Kashmir. It is the headquarters and the largest city in Jammu district of the union territory. Lying on the banks of the river Tawi Ri ...

. The university came into existence by an Act of the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly in 2002. In 2012, the university awarded him the honorary degree of Doctor of Letters for his extraordinary contributions to Indian society, especially in the fields of education and social development. The Community has celebrated this honour across the State of Jammu and Kashmir.

Contributions

Choudhary set up the Gurjar Desh Charitable Trust in Jammu in 1989, a voluntary organization established with the objective of improving the condition of the tribal and marginalised community of Jammu and Kashmir. His efforts have won national and international recognition. Other aims of this trust are Preservation, documentation and publication of tribal rare unwritten medicinal and other herbal knowledge, documentation of the tribal cultural heritage and suggesting ways and means of preserving and promoting it, making a study of the tribal handicrafts and undertaking measures to revive and boost their handicrafts. Making such exercise income-oriented, giving boost to social and cultural activities by organizing cultural meets besides development of tribal arts and artifacts.

Awards

* Police Medal for Meritorious Service (1985) * Presidents Police Medal for Distinguished Service (1994). * Sher-e-Kashmir Police Medal for Distinguished Service. * Fakhar-e-Qoum by Adabi Sangat Kashmir.

References

External links

* '
Masud Choudhary on YouTube
'
Gojri Interview of Dr. MASUD A. CHAUDHARY on YouTubeBaba Ghulam Shah Badshah University, RajouriGujjars of Jammu and KashmirJammu & Kashmir Police - In the service of the Nation since 1873
{{DEFAULTSORT:Choudhary, Masud 1944 births 2022 deaths 20th-century Indian Muslims Indian Police Service officers Indian social reformers Aligarh Muslim University alumni People from Poonch district, India