Sumitra Mahajan

Sumitra Mahajan
Mahajan (left) and Prime Minister Narendra Modi interact with a young artificial limb beneficiary.
16th Speaker of the Lok Sabha
Incumbent
Assumed office 6 June 2014
Deputy	Dr. M. Thambi Durai
Preceded by	Meira Kumar
Personal details
Born	(1943-04-12) 12 April 1943 Chiplun, India
Political party	Bharatiya Janata Party
Other political affiliations	National Democratic Alliance
Spouse(s)	Jayant Mahajan
Children	2 sons
Alma mater	Devi Ahilya University

Sumitra Mahajan (born 12 April 1943) is an Indian politician who has been Speaker of the Lok Sabha since 2014.^[1] She belongs to Bharatiya Janata Party. In 2014, she won election to the Lok Sabha for the eighth time, one of three members of the 16th Lok Sabha to do so,^[2] and is currently the longest-serving woman member.^[3] She has represented the Indore constituency of Madhya Pradesh since 1989.

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.^[4] She is the eldest and senior most among woman members of parliament in the 16th Lok Sabha MP's list. She is the second woman after Meira Kumar to be elected as Lok Sabha Speaker. An active parliamentarian, she not only headed important committee, but has also been a keen debater and avid questioner inside the house, often seen putting minister on the mat with her calm but firm intervention.

Early life and education

Sumitra Mahajan was born to Usha and Purushotam Sathe in Chiplun, Maharashtra, to a Chitpavan family. She received her M.A. and LL.B from Indore University (now Devi Ahilya University) after marrying the late Jayant Mahajan of Indore. Sumitra Mahajan hobbies include reading, music, drama and cinema as well as an enthusiasm for singing.

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.^[5]

1984-85 Deputy Mayor, Municipal Corporation, Indore

1989 Elected to 9th Lok Sabha

1990-91 Member, Consultative Committee, Ministry of Health and Family WelfarePresident, Mahila Morcha, Bharatiya Janata Party (B.J.P.), 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

1991-96 Member, Consultative Committee, Ministry of Communications

1992-94 Vice-President, B.J.P., Madhya Pradesh

1995-96 Secretary, B.J.P., Parliamentary Board

Chairman, Parliamentary Board, Madhya Pradesh

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

1996 onwards Secretary, B.J.P.

1997 Member, Committee on Public Accounts

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

1998 onwards General-Secretary, B.J.P.

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)

Oct. 1999- Jun. 2002 Union Minister of State, Ministry of Human Resource Development

Jul. 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, B.J.P. Member, Consultative Committee on Civil Aviation

5 Aug. 2007 - May 2009 Chairperson, Standing Committee on Social Justice & Empowerment

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

Jun. 2009 Member, Panel of Chairmen

31 Aug. 2009 Chairperson, Standing Committee on Rural Development

23 Sep. 2009 Member, Committee on Empowerment of Women

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

Speaker of the Lok Sabha

On 6 June 2014, Mahajan was unanimously elected as^[6] the Speaker of the 16th Lok Sabha. She had earlier worked as a member of the ‘Panel of Chairmen’ in the Lok Sabha.^[7][8][9]

References

Members of the 16th Lok Sabha from Madhya Pradesh State 15th LS Members 17th LS Members GE 2014 Bodh Singh Bhagat Jyoti Dhurve Bhagirath Prasad Alok Sanjar Kamal Nath Prahlad Singh Patel Manohar Untwal Savitri Thakur Jyotiraditya Scindia Narendra Singh Tomar Uday Pratap Singh Sumitra Mahajan Rakesh Singh Nagendra Singh Nandkumar Singh Chauhan Subhash Patel Faggan Singh Kulaste Sudhir Gupta Anup Mishra Rodmal Nagar Dileep Singh Bhuria Janardan Mishra Laxmi Narayan Yadav Ganesh Singh Riti Pathak Dalpat Singh Paraste Dr Virendra Kumar Prof Chintamani Malviya Sushma Swaraj Members of the 16th Lok Sabha from States: AP BH CT GA GJ HR HP JK JH KL KA MP MH OR PB RJ TN TG UP UT WB Northeast: AR AS MN ML MZ NL SK TR Union Territories: AN CH DN DD LD DL PY