Maulana Abul Kalam Muhiyuddin Ahmed (11 November 1888 – 22 February 1958) was one of the foremost leaders of the Indian freedom struggle. He was also a great scholar and poet. He was appointed as independent India's first Minister for Education and inducted in the Constituent Assembly to draft India's Constitution. Under Maulana Azad's tenure, a number of measures were undertaken to promote primary and secondary education, scientific education, the establishment of universities and the promotion of avenues of research and higher studies. The Maulana established many institutions such as the Sahitya Akademi, the Sangeet Natak Akademi, the Lalit Kala Akademi, and the Indian Council for Cultural Relations, and also provided a major stimulus for the setting up of the Indian Institutes of Technology. Maulana Azad death was a loss deeply felt in the country. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, paying tribute to the Maulana in Parliament, said, “We have had great men and we will have great men, but the peculiar and special kind of greatness that Maulana Azad represented is not likely to be reproduced in India or anywhere else.”