A Great Person I Like Essay in English

I like Mr. Arthur V. Dias so much ! Why ? Because , he was a good environmentalist and a philanthropist. In addition to this he was an independent activist and a national hero. He also helped a lot to develop education in the country.

Arthur Dias was born on the February 10 , 1886 in Panadura. He received his primary education from St. John ' s College Panadura and his secondary education from St. Thomas College , Mt. Lavinia. His father died in 1902. After completing his education , Dias took over his family ' s plantation businesses. He became a planter by profession and he died July 31 , 1960 at the age of 74.

This simple person wore a white banian and cloth instead of western clothing , and encouraged writing and singing in Sinhala. Once , he was imprisoned by the British government and sentenced to death ; however , he was later released.

After all these , British rulers offered him a Knighthood ; he declined it . At another time , Prime Minister , S. W. R.D. Bandaranayake offered him a seat in Senate ; it was also rejected.

Dias was very wise ; he understood that the people in future would have to suffer due to insufficient food production. Therefore , he started a jackfruit propagation campaign with the aim of planting one million jackfruit trees throughout the country .

During this time , our people was very poor. He distributed packets of seedlings and plants free to charge. He moved around the country and convinced the people to popularize planting jackfruit trees. Thereby , he earned the popular loving name " Kos Mama " .

Even today we are benefitted with these jack threes and their fruits. Through all these things , we can see how Arthur V. Dias loved all living beings in the past and present.  Unfortunately , heartless people cut down millions of trees including jack trees a month for money and other development requirements now. That is very pathetic.