Lakshmi N. Menon

Lakshmi N. Menon on a state visit to the USA in 1963

Lakshmi N. Menon ( Malayalam ലക്ഷ്മി എൻ. മേനോൻ ; born March 27, 1899 in Thiruvananthapuram ; † November 30, 1994 ) was an Indian diplomat and politician.

Education and employment

Lakshmi N. Menon was born in 1899 as the daughter of Rama Varma Thampan and Madhavikutty Amma in Thiruvananthapuram, the capital of the southern Indian province of Kerala . She lost her mother at the age of 6 and was raised by her grandmother. She studied history and English in her hometown and received her BA in 1920. Subsequently, she taught at the Maharajas high school , at the same time she studied economics and social sciences up to her master's degree in 1922. She then went on to qualify further in education at the Maria Gray training college for teachers in London . During the 1920s and 1930s, her thinking was very much influenced by personalities such as Annie Besant , Margret Cousins and Sarojini Naidu . In 1930 she married Prof. VK Nandan Menon (later Vice Chancellor of the University of Travancore in Kerala, professor at Patna University in Bihar and director of the Indian Institute of Public Administration in New Delhi ). She followed her husband to Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh , where she continued teaching and at the same time trained as a lawyer at Lucknow University . In the following years she worked as a lawyer. In 1939 she obtained a French language diploma in Paris . In 1944 she published a book on the situation of Indian women for the Oxford Pamphlets on Indian Affairs book series .

Political and social work

In London, Lakshmi N. Menon met Jawaharlal Nehru , which led to an intensive collaboration until Nehru's death in 1964. Along with Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit , Hansa Jivraj Mehta and Shareefah Hamid Ali , she was one of the women who also represented India on an international level. In 1948 she was a member of the 3rd General Assembly of the United Nations and worked among other things on the formulation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights . In particular, she campaigned for the express equal treatment of men and women and for human rights to apply regardless of whether someone lives under colonial rule or not. As a result, she worked in various functions at the UN.

Lakshmi N. Menon was a member of the Rajya Sabha , the second chamber of the Indian parliament , from 1952 to 1966 . She worked from 1952 to 1957 as parliamentary state secretary in the foreign ministry, then until 1962 as deputy minister and finally as state minister until 1966. During her term of office, the Indo-Chinese border war and clashes with the USA fell. Voice of America . After retiring from all political offices, in 1967 she turned to society as a whole. She supported the founding of the Federation of University Women in India and was president and leading figure of the All India Women's Conference for many years . In addition to Morarji Desai, she was Vice President of the All India Prohibition Council and founded the Alcohol & Drug Information Center (ADIC) India together with AP Udhayabhanu and Johnson J. Edayaranmula in 1988 , which she directed until her death. In addition, she was President of the Indian Committee for the Elimination of Illiteracy Among Women and from 1972 to 1985 chairwoman of the " Kasturba Gandhi National Memorial Trust " founded by Mahatma Gandhi , a foundation dedicated to the advancement of women and children in rural areas.

reception

In recognition of her services, she was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 1957.

literature

Shobana Ranade, Sushila Nayar, Women Pioneers in India's Renaissance , Kamla Mankekar (ed.), Lakshmi N. Menon (1899–1994) , National Book Trust India , New Delhi, 2003, ISBN 9788123737669
Lakshmi N. Menon: The Position of Women , H. Milford ed., Oxford University Press , 1944
from International Affairs , Vol. 22, Issue 3, (July 1, 1946) with an appreciation for The Position of Women

Web links

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^ ^A ^b Rajya Sabha members biographical sketches 1952 - 2003 . rajyasabha.nic.in.
↑ Iasi Quarterly , Volume 15, Indian Association of Social Science Institutions., 1996
↑ CS Lakshmi: Strong voice, solid ideas . In: The Hindu , March 2, 2000. Retrieved March 5, 2016.
^ University of Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram . way2universities.com. Retrieved March 6, 2016.
↑ Lakshmi N. Menon: The Position of Women , Ed. H. Milford, Oxford University Press , 1944
↑ List of MPs on the page of the second chamber (PDF). Retrieved December 20, 2018 .
↑ https://maddy06.blogspot.com/2016/01/remembering-lakshmi-n-menon-lady.html
↑ Annual Report 2014-15 . Kasturba Gandhi National Memorial Trust.
^ Padma Awards . Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. 2015. Archived from the original on November 15, 2014. Retrieved July 21, 2015.

personal data
SURNAME	Menon, Lakshmi N.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Indian politician
DATE OF BIRTH	March 27, 1899
PLACE OF BIRTH	Thiruvananthapuram
DATE OF DEATH	November 30, 1994

[RS-1] A ^b Rajya Sabha members biographical sketches 1952 - 2003 . rajyasabha.nic.in.

[2] Iasi Quarterly , Volume 15, Indian Association of Social Science Institutions., 1996

[3] CS Lakshmi: Strong voice, solid ideas . In: The Hindu , March 2, 2000. Retrieved March 5, 2016.

[4] University of Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram . way2universities.com. Retrieved March 6, 2016.

[5] Lakshmi N. Menon: The Position of Women , Ed. H. Milford, Oxford University Press , 1944

[6] List of MPs on the page of the second chamber (PDF). Retrieved December 20, 2018 .

[7] ttps://maddy06.blogspot.com/2016/01/remembering-lakshmi-n-menon-lady.html

[8] Annual Report 2014-15 . Kasturba Gandhi National Memorial Trust.

[Padma_Awards-9] Padma Awards . Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. 2015. Archived from the original on November 15, 2014. Retrieved July 21, 2015.