Mrs. Indira Gandhi: The First Woman PM Of India

The first women prime minister of India, Mrs. Indira Gandhi, daughter of Mr. Jawaharlal Nehru, the prime minister of India served in Indian politics from 19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984. Her tenure was one of the hardest ones for a woman to rule a nation, but due to her dedication and prime focus on her work, she succeeded in being one of the nation's renowned ministers. She was named "Woman of the Millennium" by BBC News in 1999. She was not only the first women prime minister of the nation but also served as the minister of home affairs (27 June 1970 – 4 February 1973), minister of defense affairs (14 January 1980 – 15 January 1982), and minister of external affairs (9 March 1984 – 31 October 1984).

She was born in a pandit family and was mostly taught at home and attended school intermittently until matriculation. After years, she was taught in the university of oxford by clearly the entrance exam in the second shot. She was well in history, political science, and economics but remained illiterate in Latin-one of the main subjects. She became repeatedly ill and often went to doctors which used to disturb her studies. Further, she met her husband Feroze Gandhi and proceeded herself by coming into Indian politics. Her first term as prime minister was from 24 January 1966 – 24 March 1977. She gave the slogan Garibi Hatao and made her biggest achievement in the Indo-Pakistan war, which led to the formation of independent Bangladesh.

Indira's journey ahead was a very difficult and hard life wherein she stood in elections and made her government. She won many awards like Bharat Ratna in 1972, Mexican Academy Award for Liberation of Bangladesh (1972), 2nd Annual Medal, FAO (1973), and Sahitya Vachaspati (Hindi) by Nagari Pracharini Sabha in 1976. Smt. Gandhi also received the Mothers’ Award in 1953, the Isabella d’Este Award of Italy for outstanding work in diplomacy, and Yale University’s Howland Memorial Prize. Her publications include ‘The Years of Challenge’ (1966-69), ‘The Years of Endeavour’ (1969-72), ‘India’ (London) in 1975; ‘Inde’ (Lausanne) in 1979.

Her spirit, hardship, and qualities to counter the opposition made her the top leader of the nation. Her father was a great inspiration for her who supported her day and night which resulted in her's support to the country.

By: Hitanshi Arora
Sri Venkateshwar International School