The Hindustani Seva Dal, a volunteer organisation of the Congress, was founded in the 1920s by:

• Hardikar. The Hindustani Seva Dal, a volunteer organisation of the Indian National Congress, was founded in 1923-1924 by Dr Narayan Subbarao Hardikar (N. S. Hardikar).

About the Hindustani Seva Dal:

• It was founded at Kakinada (Andhra Pradesh) at the time of the Congress session there (December 1923), with the support of Jawaharlal Nehru, who became its first President.
• Its aim was to train volunteers for national service, such as maintaining order at Congress sessions and public meetings, organising relief work during floods and famines, and taking part in the freedom struggle.
• The volunteers were given discipline, physical training and drill, and wore uniforms.
• It was later renamed the "Congress Seva Dal" (1931).
• During the Civil Disobedience Movement, the British banned it (1932).
• After Independence, it continued as the Congress Seva Dal.

About N. S. Hardikar:

• He was born on 7 May 1889 at Dharwad, in present-day Karnataka.
• He was a medical doctor, who studied in the United States, where he was associated with Indian nationalists such as Lala Lajpat Rai.
• He returned to India and worked in the Congress.
• He was known as the "father of the Seva Dal".
• He later became a member of the Rajya Sabha.
• He was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 1958.
• He died on 26 August 1975.

Other volunteer organisations:

• The Khudai Khidmatgars in the North-West Frontier Province.
• The Rashtra Seva Dal (1941), a socialist volunteer organisation in Maharashtra.

Why not the other options?

• ✗Jamnalal Bajaj, Nehru and Vinoba Bhave were other Congress leaders; Nehru was the first President of the Seva Dal, but Hardikar founded it.