Anna Rajam Malhotra (née George; 17 July 1927 – 17 September 2018) was an

Indian Administrative Service The Indian Administrative Service (IAS) is the administrative arm of the All India Services of Government of India. Considered the premier civil service of India, the IAS is one of the three arms of the All India Services along with the Indian ...

officer. She was the first woman in India to hold this position. Anna Rajam belonged to the 1951 batch of the IAS and married

R. N. Malhotra Ram Narain Malhotra popularly known as R. N. Malhotra (1926 – 29 April 1997) was the seventeenth governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), serving from 4 February 1985 to 22 December 1990. Malhotra was a member of the Indian Administrativ ...

, her batchmate.

Early life and education

Anna Malhotra was born in 1927 in

Niranam Niranam is a village in Tiruvalla, Kerala, India. It was a port in ancient Kerala, on the confluence of the Manimala River, Manimala and Pamba River. It is almost 7 km from Tiruvalla SCS Junction in Pathanamthitta District of Kerala, lies t ...

Thiruvalla Thiruvalla, alternately spelled Tiruvalla, is a town in Kerala and the Headquarters of the Taluk of the same name located in Pathanamthitta district in the State of Kerala, India. The town is spread over an area of . It lies on the banks of ...

Pathanamthitta Pathanamthitta (), is a municipality situated in the Central Travancore region in the state of Kerala, India, spread over an area of 23.50 km2. It is the administrative capital of Pathanamthitta district. The town has a population of 37 ...

as the daughter of Ottavelil O. A. George and Anna Paul. She was the granddaughter of Malayalam author Pailo Paul. She grew up in

Calicut Kozhikode (), also known in English as Calicut, is a city along the Malabar Coast in the state of Kerala in India. It has a corporation limit population of 609,224 and a metropolitan population of more than 2 million, making it the second la ...

(Kozhikode district, Kerala) and completed her intermediate from Providence Women's College and bachelor's degree from

Malabar Christian College The Malabar Christian College (MCC), established in 1909, is one of the oldest institutions located in Kozhikode, Kerala, India. History It was established by Protestant Christian missionaries from Basel, Switzerland with the aim to impart educa ...

in Calicut. In 1949 she obtained her master's in English literature from

University of Madras The University of Madras (informally known as Madras University) is a public university, public State university (India), state university in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. Established in 1857, it is one of the oldest and among the most prestigiou ...

. She passed the civil services examination in 1950, and was the second woman to do so.

Career

Malhotra was discouraged from joining the service by the board which consisted of four ICS officers, headed by R.N. Banerjee the Chairman of UPSC. She was instead offered the Foreign Service and Central Services because they were 'more suitable for women'. But, she argued her case and stood her ground. Her first posting as a civil servant was in

Madras State Madras State was a state of India during the mid-20th century. At the time of its formation in 1950, it included the whole of present-day Tamil Nadu (except Kanyakumari district), Coastal Andhra, Rayalaseema, the Malabar region of North and c ...

and reportedly chief minister

C. Rajagopalachari Chakravarti Rajagopalachari (10 December 1878 – 25 December 1972), popularly known as Rajaji or C.R., also known as Mootharignar Rajaji (Rajaji'', the Scholar Emeritus''), was an Indian statesman, writer, lawyer, and independence activis ...

was sceptical about giving a woman the charge of a district sub-collector and instead offered her a post in the Secretariat. She had undergone training in horse riding, rifle and revolver shooting and in using magisterial powers and hence did not comply and was eventually posted as the Sub Collector of

Tirupattur Tirupathur or Tirupattur is the headquarters of Tirupathur district in the state of Tamil Nadu in India and is one of the oldest inhabited places in the state, with a history of over 1,600 years. The town is known for an abundance of sandalwood ...

in Madras State, becoming the first woman to do so. She held other positions in the Government of Madras including Under Secretary, Agriculture, Under Secretary and Deputy Secretary, Public, and Secretary to Government, Agriculture department. She also held several important positions in the Government of India including Deputy Secretary, department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture, Chairperson, National Seeds Corporation, and Secretary to the Government of India, Ministry of Education and Culture. She worked under seven chief ministers and worked closely with

Rajiv Gandhi Rajiv Gandhi (; 20 August 1944 – 21 May 1991) was an Indian politician who served as the sixth prime minister of India from 1984 to 1989. He took office after the 1984 assassination of his mother, then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, to beco ...

in the Asiad Project and briefly with

Indira Gandhi Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (; Given name, ''née'' Nehru; 19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984) was an Indian politician and a central figure of the Indian National Congress. She was elected as third prime minister of India in 1966 ...

. As Chairperson, Nhavasheva Port Trust, Anna Malhotra was responsible for building India's first computerised port, Nhavasheva, in Mumbai and was also the first woman to serve as a Secretary to the Government of India. She was awarded the

Padma Bhushan The Padma Bhushan is the third-highest civilian award in the Republic of India, preceded by the Bharat Ratna and the Padma Vibhushan and followed by the Padma Shri. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is given for "distinguished service ...

in 1989. Malhotra died in September 2018 at the age of 91.India’s first woman IAS officer dead
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References

1927 births 2018 deaths Indian Administrative Service officers Indian Christians People from Ernakulam district People from Kerala People from Kochi Recipients of the Padma Bhushan in civil service Saint Thomas Christians {{India-bio-stub