[2] He was born on 12 January 1901 at village Ugu of Unnao of Uttar Pradesh state, to the Kanyakubja Brahmin parents Ram Sarup and Shiv Pyari.

[citation needed] He also served as treasurer of All India Congress Committee, and Managing Director of Associated Journals at Lucknow.

He founded a Girls Intermediate College at his village Ugu in the memory of his mother.

[6] After Independence, he remained close to Nehru and later sided with Indira Gandhi during the 1969 split in Indian National Congress.

He joined the Indira Gandhi cabinet in 1971, thereafter he remained Minister for Works and Housing, Govt.