Indira Anant Maydeo was an Indian parliamentarian who represented Pune South in the

1st Lok Sabha The First Lok Sabha was constituted on 17 April 1952 after India's first general election. The 1st Lok Sabha lasted its full tenure of five years and was dissolved on 4 April 1957. The First Session of this Lok Sabha commenced on 13 May 1952. ...

as a member of the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Em ...

Early life

Born on 7 September 1903, Maydeo attended the

Fergusson College Fergusson College is an autonomous public-private college offering various courses in the streams of arts and science in the city of Pune, India. It was founded in 1885 by the Deccan Education Society. Professor Vaman Shivram Apte was its fir ...

, from where she received her B.Sc. degree.

Career

Maydeo was actively involved in the

Indian independence movement The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events with the ultimate aim of ending British Raj, British rule in India. It lasted from 1857 to 1947. The first nationalistic revolutionary movement for Indian independence emerged ...

and was a member of the

(INC). In 1933, she joined the Maharashtra division of

Harijan Sevak Sangh Harijan Sevak Sangh is a non-profit organisation founded by Mahatma Gandhi in 1932 to eradicate untouchability in India, working for Harijan or Dalit people and upliftment of Depressed Class of India. It is headquartered at Kingsway Camp in D ...

. She was the most prominent women member of the party in Pune (then in

Bombay State Bombay State was a large Indian state created at the time of India's Independence, with other regions being added to it in the succeeding years. Bombay Presidency (roughly equating to the present-day Indian state of Maharashtra, excluding Sou ...

) and when the first general elections of independent India were held, the INC made her its official candidate for Pune South constituency. Maydeo obtained roughly 64% of the votes cast and defeated the

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of th ...

candidate Shridhar Limaye to become the first women representative of Pune in the house. She still holds this record. As a

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

, she brought a bill in the Lok Sabha concerning divorce but it was not discussed and eventually lapsed. Maydeo became the president of

National Students' Union of India The National Students Union of India, the student wing of the Indian National Congress (INC or Congress), was established on 9 April 1971. The organisation was founded by Indira Gandhi after merging the Kerala Students Union and the West Benga ...

in 1952.

Personal life

Indira married Anant Govind Maydeo in 1927, from whom she had one son and three daughters.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maydeo, Indira Anant 1903 births Year of death missing India MPs 1952–1957 Women members of the Lok Sabha Lok Sabha members from Maharashtra Indian National Congress politicians from Maharashtra Fergusson College alumni Politicians from Pune Indian independence activists from Maharashtra