Anita Arya is a former member of

Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, constitutionally the House of the People, is the lower house of India's bicameral Parliament, with the upper house being the Rajya Sabha. Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by an adult universal suffrage and a first-past ...

. She is a leader of

Bharatiya Janata party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Modi ...

. She represented

Karol Bagh Karol Bagh is a neighbourhood in Central District of Delhi, India. It is a mixed residential and commercial neighborhood known for shopping streets such as the Ghaffar Market and Ajmal Khan Road. It was home to the Karol Bagh Lok Sabha cons ...

, Delhi in

13th Lok Sabha The 13th Lok Sabha (10 October 1999 – 6 February 2004) is the thirteenth session of the Lok Sabha (House of the People, or lower house in the Parliament of India). It was convened after 1999 Indian general election held during September–Oc ...

. She was mayor of Delhi in 1999.

Early life and education

Anita Arya was born on 26 January 1963, at

Agra Agra (, ) is a city on the banks of the Yamuna river in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, about south-east of the national capital New Delhi and 330 km west of the state capital Lucknow. With a population of roughly 1.6 million, Agra is ...

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...

. She was born to father Kundan Lal Nimal and mother Premwati. She went to Smt. Singhuri Bal Girls Intermediate College in Agra for her 10th–12th standard education. She received her PhD,

M.A A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

. and,

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

from

Agra College Agra College is an government aided college, which is one of the oldest institutions of higher education in India. Pandit Gangadhar Shastri, a noted Sanskrit scholar, founded the college in 1823, long before the first university in India was es ...

, Agra (Uttar Pradesh). She received her B.ED from

Maharshi Dayanand University Maharshi Dayanand University, also called M.D. University or simply MDU, is a university in Rohtak, Haryana, India. Established in 1976 and named after the saint Dayananda Saraswati. Maharshi Dayanand University, ab initio established as Rohtak ...

, Rohtak (Haryana). Her PhD thesis was titled "Sir Jadunath Sarkar- His Biography and contributions to Medieval Indian History".

Career

Delhi

From February 1997 to October 1999 she served as a Municipal Councillor in New Delhi. She also served as the Mayor of Delhi for a short period of time from April to October 1999, where she also continued in the Municipal Corporation as a Deputy Chairperson of the Education Committee. During her time serving as Mayor, she worked on creating better hygienic conditions and decreasing pollution. She also created better educational facilities at government run schools. She also created special health care programs for women and children.

Lok Sabha

In 1999 she was elected to the 13th

from the

Karol Bagh Lok Sabha Constituency Karol Bagh Lok Sabha constituency was a Lok Sabha (parliamentary) constituency in the Indian National Capital Territory of Delhi. This constituency came into existence in 1961. It was abolished after the recommendations of the Delimitation Commis ...

. Karol Bagh being the only reserved constituency in Delhi, she was up against

Meira Kumar Meira Kumar (born 31 March 1945) is an Indian politician and former diplomat. A member of the Indian National Congress, she was the Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment from 2004 to 2009, the Minister of Water Resources for a brief per ...

, another

Dalit Dalit (from sa, दलित, dalita meaning "broken/scattered"), also previously known as untouchable, is the lowest stratum of the Caste system in India, castes in India. Dalits were excluded from the four-fold Varna (Hinduism), varna syste ...

woman who had previously won the constituency. Her supporters are said to have chanted, "Here comes the Daughter of the Dalits!" during her campaign.

Committees

From 1999 to 2000 she served on the Committee on Railways. From 2000 to 2001 she served on the Committee on the Empowerment of Women. From 2000 to 2004 she was a member of the Consultative Committee of the Ministry of Mines and Minerals.

Controversies

In 2001, Union Minister

Shanta Kumar Shanta Kumar (born 12 September 1934) is an Indian politician who was the 3rd Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh and a Union Minister in the Government of India. He is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party. He was elected to the 9th Lok Sabha ...

made casteist remarks against former President

Bangaru Laxman Bangaru Laxman (17 March 1939 – 1 March 2014) was an Indian politician. He was a member of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). He was President of party from 2000 to 2001 and served as a minister of state for ra ...

. Anita Arya along with

Ramnath Kovind Ram Nath Kovind (; born 1 October 1945) is an Indian politician who served as the 14th President of India from 2017 to 2022. He is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party. He is the second person after K. R. Narayanan, from the Dalit community ...

and Ashok Pradhan had met with

Bhartiya Janta Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Modi ...

president K.

Jana Krishnamurthy K. Jana Krishnamurthi (24 May 1928 – 25 September 2007) was an Indian political leader who rose to be the President of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 2001. A former Union Law Minister and a member of the Parliament of India, Krish ...

to demand action against Kumar, for hurting

sentiments and potentially losing a block of Dalit votes.

Current roles

Anita Arya is only one of eight women in the

Bharatiya Janta Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Modi ...

's National Executive Members. She also has written a volume of three books titled "Indian Women", the volumes are "Society and Law", "Education and Empowerment", and "Work and Development". She is also a non-official member of the

New Delhi Municipal Council New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) is the municipal council of the city of New Delhi, Delhi, India. It covers an area of 42.7 km2 under its administration, which is commonly referred as Lutyens' Delhi. The only owner is Government of In ...

Personal life

Anita Arya got married in 1990 to Parveen Chandra Arya. She has two children. Her hobbies include reading books or magazines related to politics or religion. She also enjoys cooking, watching movies, and listening to the public.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Arya, Anita Living people 1963 births Women mayors of places in Delhi Mayors of Delhi India MPs 1999–2004 Lok Sabha members from Delhi People from Central Delhi district Women in Delhi politics Bharatiya Janata Party politicians from Delhi 20th-century Indian women politicians 20th-century Indian politicians 21st-century Indian women politicians 21st-century Indian politicians Women members of the Lok Sabha