Lal Bahadur Shastri was an Indian politician and statesman who served as the prime minister of India from 1964 to 1966. Here are some key facts about him and his tenure as prime minister: ¹

Early Life:

- Born on October 2, 1904, in Mughalsarai, Uttar Pradesh, India

- Dropped his caste-derived surname of "Srivastava"

- Joined the Indian Independence movement in the 1920s

Career:

- Served as the sixth home minister of India from 1961 to 1963

- Became the prime minister of India on June 9, 1964

- Retained many members of Nehru's Council of Ministers

- Appointed Indira Gandhi as the Minister of Information and Broadcasting

Domestic Policies:

- Promoted the White Revolution to increase milk production

- Created the National Dairy Development Board

- Encouraged food grain production, especially in Punjab, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh

- Promoted the Green Revolution in India in 1965

Economic Policies:

- Continued Nehru's socialist economic policies with central planning

- Supported the Amul milk co-operative of Anand, Gujarat

Foreign Policies:

- Continued Nehru's policy of non-alignment

- Built closer relations with the Soviet Union

- Signed an accord to provide adequate facilities to shelter repatriates from Pakistan

War with Pakistan:

- Led the country during the Second India–Pakistan War

- Gave the seminal 'Jai Jawan Jai Kishan' ("Hail the soldier, Hail the farmer") slogan

- The war formally ended with the Tashkent Declaration on January 10, 1966

- Shastri died the next day, January 11, 1966