Background
Shiva Kumar Rai was born on 26 April 1919 at Rhenock, Sikkim. His father Dhojbir Rai was post-master and because of the constant transfer of this father"s post, Rai initially took his primary lessons at home.
Shiva Kumar Rai was born on 26 April 1919 at Rhenock, Sikkim. His father Dhojbir Rai was post-master and because of the constant transfer of this father"s post, Rai initially took his primary lessons at home.
He completed his I.A. from Saint Joseph"s College, Darjeeling in 1939 and graduated from Saint Xavier"s College, Kolkata in 1941.
He was the first Gorkha minister in the state of West Bengal after becoming a deputy minister in 1952. Only after coming to Kurseong, did he have a regular education. He passed his metric examination in 1937.
After finishing college, in 1942, Rai became a secretary of Burma Saranarthi Mukti Samiti, a committee set up for helping the Burmese refugees of World World War World War II During this time, he came into contact with many Nepali refugees from Burma.
While conversing with them, he felt the need to write about their turmoils in life, which took shape into his famous novel Dak Bangla, published in 1957. Rai was very active in politics and was affiliated with the All India Gorkha League.
In 1948, he was elected as an Modern Language Association from the erstwhile Jorebungalow constituency to the West Bengal Assembly. He was the Deputy Labour Minister of West Bengal from 1952 to 1957.
Rai died on 22 July 1995.
