Vidyaben Shah is a distinguished Indian freedom fighter, social worker and activist known for her tireless and selfless work for the betterment of Indian society over more than eighty years. When she was only 11 years old studying in Vanita Vishram High School in Rajkot (Gujarat), she came to know freedom fighter Urmila Mehta, Principal of nearby Barton Training College. Urmilaben encouraged Vidyaben to join the Freedom Movement and Vidyaben plunged into it, creating a stir in her school by bringing the message of nonviolence to fellow students. In later years as a University student she participated in the Quit India Movement under the guidance of Gandhiji.

Since 1933, she has dedicated her entire life to the nation. Both Manubhai and Vidyaben have been institution builders and some of the leading institutions in Gujarat and Delhi were jointly built by them. Vidyaben has been in social and public service relentlessly making extensive contributions in Child Welfare, Education, Women and Family Welfare, Civic Administration, Fine Arts and Culture, Welfare of the Disabled, Senior Citizens Welfare, and many other social and relief work activities. While she was already serving as Vice-President, Vidyaben was appointed the first non-officio President of the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) in 1975. She was Chairperson of the Central Social Welfare Board (CSWB) between 1995 and 1998. Vidyaben has also received numerous awards for her distinguished work, including the Padma Shri by the Government of India in 1992, and Woman of the Century Award (Shatabdi Mahila) "for Social Work spanning the entire lifetime" in 2000. Despite having held leading positions in welfare organisations and civic administration, she has remained humble and full of grace and simplicity.

  Manubhai Shah at his desk in Rajkot, 1952

Quick witted, having an acutely sharp memory with facts and figures at his finger tips, he was a brilliant orator, planner and executor of outstanding ideas and concepts on economic development of India. Journalists and the public were attentive to his every word, his speeches in the Indian Parliament and other public forums having become legendary. On his demise in December 2000, the then President of India K R Narayanan called Manubhai Shah the architect of Modern India. The very foundation of modern Indian industry was laid by him, the President said, and Manubhai was therefore also called the builder of Indian Industry and the originator of India’s industrial revolution; and as such was the first to liberalise and push the building of Industry in India years before the so-called liberal wave of 1992. ^{[1] [2]}