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{{Short description| Indian politician (1929-1985)}}
{{Use Indian English| date=January 2023}}
{{Use dmy dates| date=January 2023}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific_prefix =
| honorific_suffix = '''[[Member of Parliament|MP]]'''
| name = Kalyan Roy
| image =
| caption =
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1929|12|27|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[Calcutta]], [[Bengal Presidency]], [[British Raj|British India]]
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1985|1|31|1929|12|27|df=y}}
| death_place = [[Calcutta]], [[West Bengal]], [[India]]
| alma_mater = [[Presidency College, Calcutta]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]])<br />[[Syracuse University]] ([[Master of Arts|MA]])
| office1 = [[Indian Parliament|Member of Parliament]], [[Rajya Sabha]]
| term_start1 = 10 July 1969
| term_end1 = 31 January 1985
| constituency1 = [[West Bengal]]
| predecessor1 =
| successor1 = [[Gurudas Dasgupta]]
| party = [[Communist Party of India]]
| party position =
| spouse = {{marriage|[[Purabi Roy]]|1975}}
| father = [[Kiran Shankar Roy]]
| mother = Padma Roy
| relatives =
| website =
|}}

'''Kalyan Roy''', also credited as '''Kalyan Shankar Roy''' ({{langx|bn|কল্যাণ রায়}}; 27 December 1929 - 31 January 1985) was an Indian politician and a leader of [[Communist Party of India]] and also a leader of [[All India Trade Union Congress]]. A trade union leaders of [[Raniganj Coalfield|Asansol-Raniganj coalfield area]], Kalyan Roy was one of the senior [[Communist Party of India|CPI]] leader and parliamentarian in [[Rajya Sabha]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/economy/story/19840915-coal-india-virtual-one-to-one-confrontation-between-chairman-and-aituc-leader-803238-1984-09-14|title=Coal India: Virtual one-to-one confrontation between chairman and AITUC leader | publisher=[[India Today]]}}</ref>

== Family background and education ==

Kalyan Shankar Roy was born to [[Kiran Shankar Roy]] and Padma Roy (''[[Birth name|née]]'' Roy Chowdhury) on 27 December 1929 in [[Calcutta]], India. Kiran Shankar Roy was a freedom fighter, Congress leader and former Home Minister of [[West Bengal]] immediately after India's independence.
<ref>{{cite web|url=https://cms.rajyasabha.nic.in/UploadedFiles/ElectronicPublications/Member_Biographical_Book.pdf |title=Rajya Sabha Members Biographical Sketches 1952-2019|page=422| publisher=[[Rajya Sabha]]}}</ref>

== Political Life ==

Since the end of 1945, many changes took place when the leadership of the [[Trade unions in India|Indian Trade Union]] movement had fallen to the Communists and the followers of [[M.N.Roy]]. In 1946 Trade Union membership tripled and the Congress party, leader of Trade Union movement in the early twenties, was in a dominating position. After 7 years in 1953, according to the [[Lok Sabha]] speech of Deputy labour Minister [[Abid Ali Jaferbhai|Abid Ali]], then in India 4 Trade Unions: [[Indian National Trade Union Congress|INTUC]], [[All India Trade Union Congress|AITUC]], [[Hind Mazdoor Sabha|HMS]] and [[United Trade Union Congress|UTUC]] had a major influence on the workers.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Ornati|first=Oscar|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3024265|title=Indian Trade Unions Since Independence|journal=[[Asian Survey|Far Eastern Survey]]|year=1954 |volume=23|issue=8|pages=113–122|doi=10.2307/3024265 |jstor=3024265|issn=0012-9976|url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://thewire.in/labour/seventy-five-years-since-independence-industrial-working-class-still-struggles-for-rights|title=Seventy-Five Years Since Independence, Industrial Working Class Still Struggles for Rights| publisher=[[The Wire (India)|The Wire]]}}</ref> At that time, ''Colliery Mazdoor Sabha'' and ''Indian Mine Workers Federation'' led by [[All India Trade Union Congress|AITUC]] leader Kalyan Roy, had a stronghold in [[Raniganj Coalfield|India's oldest coal belt]] in [[Raniganj]] area.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Mahaldar|first=Sanjiban|url=https://www.thecho.in/files/17.---------------.pdf|title=বর্ধমান জেলার কোলিয়ারি শ্রমিক সংগ্রামঃ একটি পর্যালোচনা |journal=Pratidhwani the Echo|year=2019 |volume=8|issue=3|pages=149–162|issn=2278-5264}}</ref>

''Bengali Bhadralok'' [[Pranab Mukherjee]], an active [[Indian National Congress|Congress]] leader in the 1970s and senior communist leaders like Kalyan Ray shared a close association though their ideological views were different.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/the-bengali-bhadralok-back-in-focus/articleshow/15100419.cms|title=The Bengali bhadralok back in focus | work=[[The Times of India]]}}</ref>

Kalyan Roy was elected in the year [[1969 Rajya Sabha elections|1969]], [[1975 Rajya Sabha elections|1975]] and [[1982 Rajya Sabha elections]] as a [[Communist Party of India|CPI]] leader from [[West Bengal]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://cms.rajyasabha.nic.in/UploadedFiles/ElectronicPublications/Journey_1952.pdf |title=Rajya Sabha The Journey Since 1952|page=34| publisher=[[Rajya Sabha]]}}</ref>

'''Coal Belt Review 1958'''- General Secretary of Indian Mine Workers’ Federation, Kalyan Roy expressed his views in his article, ''Coal Belt in 1958—A Review'' for the 'Crisis and Workers Report to AITUC General Council' in 1959. He ended the article by saying,
"both the Indian Mine Workers Federation and the Indian National Mine Workers Federation have come out with more or less similar demands. The conferences of the iMWF at Bhurkunda and inmwf at Dhanbad have raised the slogans of: Nationalisation of Mines, Wage Board for Coal Industry, Abolition of Contract labour; Gratuity and change in the present Bonus Act."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://indianlabourarchives.org/xmlui/bitstream/handle/20.500.14121/2214/83.%20Crisis%20and%20Workers%20%20Report%20to%20AITUC%20General%20Council%20%28Bangalore%20Session%2C%2014-18%20January%201959%29.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y |title=Crisis and Workers Report to AITUC General Council|pages=125–133| publisher=Indian Labour Archives}}</ref>

'''Coal Mine Nationalization''' (''The Mines (Amendment) Bill, 1972'')- Kalyan Roy was a member of a 45-member joint parliamentary committee, [[Government of India]]. The committee consists of 30 members from [[Lok Sabha]] and 15 from [[Rajya Sabha]]. After the twenty-sixth sitting on 27 August 1973, the committee's report was tabled in [[Rajya Sabha]] on 30 August 1973. Kalyan Roy was a fierce advocate for the nationalization of coal mines and later exposed "slaughter mining" practices by private contractors in the Hazaribagh and Giridih districts.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://dspace.gipe.ac.in/xmlui/bitstream/handle/10973/52381/GIPE-150842.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y|title=Report of the Joint Committee: The Mines (Amendment) Bill, 1972|pages=1–101| publisher=[[Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics]]}}</ref> The government of India [[Coal in India|nationalized coal mining]] in phases – cooking coal mines in 1971–72 and non-coking coal mines in 1973, all coal mines in India were nationalized in May 1973. On the occasion of the 29th session of [[All India Trade Union Congress|AITUC]], in an article, Roy addressed the gloomy situation of coal workers and collieries at Asansol-Raniganj coal belt before the ''Coal Mines (Nationalization) Act, of 1973''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://indianlabourarchives.org/handle/20.500.14121/2185 |title=An area of darkness? What is happening in non-coking coal mines|pages=47–57| publisher=Indian Labour Archives}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.coal.nic.in/en/about-us/agencies-under-ministry#:~:text=1973%20and%20they%20were%20nationalised,manage%20non%2Dcoking%20coal%20mines. |title=COAL INDIA LIMITED (CIL)AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES|publisher=[[Ministry of Coal]]}}</ref> On 1 November 1975, the public-sector company [[Coal India | Coal India Limited]] was formed to enable better organizational and operational efficiency in coal sector of India.

''' Chasnala Mining Disaster 1975 ''' - [[Indira Gandhi]] declared [[The Emergency (India)|The Emergency]] on 25 June 1975. The coal miners across the country faced the worst workable conditions led to the [[Chasnala mining disaster]] on 27 December 1975. 375 miners were killed in the disaster. The miners blamed [[IISCO Steel Plant|The Indian Iron and Steel Company (IISCO)]] the then-owner of Chasnala Colliery for mismanagement and negligence. [[IISCO Steel Plant|The Indian Iron and Steel Company (IISCO)]] claimed that International standards are maintained in Chasnala Colliery.

''' Corruption in IISCO Rajya Sabha Debate 1976 '''- Roy played a central role in exposing rampant corruption within the Indian Iron and Steel Company (IISCO) at Burnpur, directly questioning the Minister of Steel and Mines about payments to corrupt contractors.

On 16 January 1976 in a debate titled ''corruption in [[IISCO Steel Plant|The Indian Iron and Steel Company (IISCO)]] in West Bengal'', [[Rajya Sabha]] MP Kalyan Roy asked the Union Minister of Steel and Mines that whether he knows
''the rampant corruption in the Indian Iron and Steel Company at Burnpur and Kulti in West Bengal; Roy also asked the Minister what administrative measures have been taken to stop this corruption? what steps have been taken so far against the corrupt officers and contractors? and what is the amount of money paid to each of the contractors in Burnpur and Kulti as .well as in Chasnala and Jitpur coal mines in 1974 and 1975?''<ref>{{cite web|url=https://rsdebate.nic.in/bitstream/123456789/439160/1/PQ_94_16011976_U328_p76_p77.pdf|title=Corruption in Iron and Steel Company in West Bengal|pages=76–77| publisher=[[Rajya Sabha]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Subrahmanyam|first=K.V.|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4366196|title=Shielding the Guilty of Chasnala|journal=[[Economic and Political Weekly]]|year=1977 |volume=12|issue=51|pages=2081–2082|jstor=4366196|issn=0012-9976}}</ref>

According to the former journalist and political commentator [[Rajeev Shukla]], Roy was one of the very few leaders who set a benchmark for the institution as a parliamentarian.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/sunday-times/deep-focus/time-to-rise-above-partisan-politics-for-reforms/articleshow/13116107.cms|title=Time to rise above partisan politics for reforms | work=[[The Times of India]]}}</ref>

== Death ==

Roy died in [[Calcutta]] on 31 January 1985 when he was only 55 years old. [[Gurudas Dasgupta]] was elected to the [[Rajya Sabha]] in the vacancy caused by the death of Kalyan Roy.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.thestatesman.com/supplements/peoples-parliamentarian-bids-adieu-1502816305.html|title=People's parliamentarian bids adieu | publisher=[[The Statesman (India)|The Statesman]]}}</ref>

Roy was then a sitting member of [[Rajya Sabha]] when on 31 January 1985, after the House passed the Constitution (Fifty-second Amendment) Bill, 1985, the Deputy Chairman, [[Najma Heptulla]] announced the passing away of Kalyan Roy at Kolkata and made obituary references about him.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://cms.rajyasabha.nic.in/UploadedFiles/Procedure/RajyaSabhaAtWork/English/463-503/CHAPTER16.pdf |title=Obituary and Other References|page=471| publisher=[[Rajya Sabha]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://cms.rajyasabha.nic.in/UploadedFiles/Debates/OfficialDebatesDatewise/Floor/132/F31.01.1985.pdf |title=Obituary Reference|pages=170–172| publisher=[[Rajya Sabha]]}}</ref>

== References ==
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[[Category:1929 births]]
[[Category:1985 deaths]]
[[Category:Rajya Sabha members from West Bengal]]
[[Category:Communist Party of India politicians from West Bengal]]
[[Category:Presidency University, Kolkata|Alumni]]
[[Category:University of Calcutta alumni|Presidency College, Kolkata]]
[[Category:Syracuse University alumni]]
[[Category:Bengali communists]]
[[Category:Politicians from Kolkata]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian politicians]]
[[Category:Indian trade union leaders]]
[[Category:Trade unionists from West Bengal]]

Kalyan Roy - Revision history

Owen79097529716 at 01:35, 24 March 2026