Sumitra Mahajan

Sumitra Mahajan
16th Speaker of the Lok Sabha
In office 6 June 2014 – 17 June 2019
Deputy	M. Thambidurai
Preceded by	Meira Kumar
Succeeded by	Om Birla
Minister of State, Human Resources Development, Government of India
In office October 1999 – June 2002
Minister of State, Communication and Information Technology, Government of India
In office June 2002 – May 2003
Minister of State, Petroleum and Natural Gas, Government of India
In office May 2003 – May 2004
General Secretary, Bhartiya Janta Party
In office 1998–1999
Secretary, Bhartiya Janta Party
In office 1996–1998
Secretary, BJP, Parliamentary Board and Chairman, Parliamentary Board, Madhya Pradesh
In office 1995–1996
Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha
In office 1989–2019
Preceded by	Prakash Chandra Sethi
Succeeded by	Shankar Lalwani
Constituency	Indore
Vice-President, BJP, Madhya Pradesh
In office 1992–1994
Deputy Mayor, Municipal Corporation, Indore
In office 1984–1985
Personal details
Born	Sumitra Sathe (1943-04-12) 12 April 1943 Chiplun, Bombay Presidency, British India (present-day Maharashtra, India)
Political party	Bharatiya Janata Party
Other political affiliations	National Democratic Alliance
Spouse	Jayant Mahajan
Children	2 sons
Alma mater	Indore University

Sumitra Mahajan (née Sathe; born 12 April 1943) is an Indian politician who was the Speaker of the 16th Lok Sabha from 2014 to 2019. She belongs to Bharatiya Janata Party. She represented the Indore constituency of Madhya Pradesh from 1989 to 2019, and then retired from electoral politics.

She served for a time as a Union Minister. She was minister from 2002 to 2004, holding the portfolios for Human Resources, Communications and Petroleum. She was the eldest and seniormost among woman Members of Parliament in the 16th Lok Sabha. She is the second woman after Meira Kumar to be elected as the Speaker of the Lok Sabha.

Early life and education

Sumitra Mahajan was born in a Vaishya family to Usha and Purushottam Sathe in Chiplun, Maharashtra. She received her MA and LLB from Indore University (now Devi Ahilya Vishwavidyalaya) after marrying Jayant Mahajan of Indore. Sumitra Mahajan's hobbies include reading, music, drama and cinema as well as an enthusiasm for singing. She has acknowledged the 18th century social reformer Ahilyabai Holkar as the inspirational figure throughout her life.

Political career

She ran for the first time and won the Lok Sabha elections in 1989, against former Chief Minister and senior Congress leader Prakash Chandra Sethi. She has brought many projects for Indore from Railways, Aviation, Urban Development Ministry. She is known for simplicity, honesty and clean politics. She has a clean track record and has always maintained distances from Special Interest Group. She is popularly known as Tai, among people of her constituency.

Positions held

1984-85: Deputy Mayor, Municipal Corporation, Indore

1985: Elected to 9th Lok Sabha

1990-93: Member, Consultative Committee, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare President, Mahila Morcha, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Madhya Pradesh

1991: Re-elected to 10th Lok Sabha (2nd term)

1991-92: Member, Joint Committee for 73rd Constitution Amendment Bill

1991-93: Member, Joint Committee for Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Regulation and Prevention of Misuse) Bill, 1991

1991-97: Member, Consultative Committee, Ministry of Communications

1992-93 Vice-President, BJP, Madhya Pradesh 1993-1995 PRESIDENT,BJP,INDIA

1995-96: Secretary, BJP, Parliamentary Board and Chairman, Parliamentary Board, Madhya Pradesh

1996: Re-elected to 11th Lok Sabha (3rd term)

1996-98: Secretary, BJP 1997: Member, Committee on Public Accounts

1998: Re-elected to 12th Lok Sabha (4th term)

1998 onwards: General-Secretary, BJP 1998-99: Convenor, Sub-Committee on Drug Control, Committee on Human Resource Development Member, Committee on Human Resource Development and its Sub-Committee-I on Value-based Education Member, Joint Committee on the Empowerment of Women and its Sub-Committee on Appraisal of Laws relating to Women—Criminal Laws Member, Committee on Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADs) Member, Consultative Committee, Ministry of Human Resource Development

1999: Re-elected to 13th Lok Sabha (5th term)

October 1999 - June 2002: Union Minister of State, Ministry of Human Resource Development

July 2002 - May 2003: Union Minister of State, Ministry of Communication & Information Technology

24 May 2003 - May 2004: Union Minister of State, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas

2004: Re-elected to 14th Lok Sabha(6th term)

2004-2009: Member, General Purposes Committee Chairperson, Committee on Social Justice and Empowerment Member, Panel of Chairmen

2005: Prabhari, Mahilla Morcha, BJP Member, Consultative Committee on Civil Aviation

5 August 2007 - May 2009: Chairperson, Standing Committee on Social Justice & Empowerment

2009: Re-elected to 15th Lok Sabha (7th term)

June 2009: Member, Panel of Chairmen

31 August 2009: Chairperson, Standing Committee on Rural Development

23 September 2009: Member, Committee on Empowerment of Women

2014: Re-elected to 16th Lok Sabha (8th term)

In February, Sumitra Mahajan was included in the LIMCA book of records for being first Indian woman to represent the same Lok Sabha constituency on the same party ticket eight times in a row.

Speaker of the Lok Sabha

On 6 June 2014, Mahajan was unanimously elected as the Speaker of the 16th Lok Sabha. She had earlier worked as a member of the 'Panel of Chairmen' in the Lok Sabha. She took the step of suspending 25 Congress MPs for five days (August 2015) from House for indiscipline in the House.

References

10. http://arlivenews.com

External links

Media related to Sumitra Mahajan at Wikimedia Commons

• Official biographical sketch in Parliament of India website