Jothi Venkatachalam (born 27 October 1917, date of death unknown) was an Indian politician who served as

Governor of Kerala The governor of Kerala is the constitutional head of state of the southern Indian state of Kerala. The governor is appointed by the president of India for a term of five years and holds office at the president's pleasure. The governor is ''de j ...

and

Member of the Legislative Assembly A member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) is a representative elected by the voters of a constituency to a legislative assembly. Most often, the term refers to a subnational assembly such as that of a state, province, or territory of a country. S ...

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...

Life and career

Jothi Venkatachalam was born in

Maymyo Pyin Oo Lwin or Pyin U Lwin (, ; Shan: ), formerly and colloquially referred to as Maymyo (), is a scenic hill town in the Mandalay Region, Myanmar, some east of Mandalay, and at an elevation of . The town was estimated to have a population of ...

, hill city of British Burma (now Myanmar), on 27 October 1917 to G. Kuppuram and MeenaPai. Her father was appointed to serve in Secretary office of British Burma, resigned and came back to Chennai in 1930 due to political turmoil during that time in Burma. Jothi continued her study in Ewart Matriculation Higher Secondary School, Veppery, Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Jothi was more involved in social works and came to the attention of Congress party. She was appointed minister for Liquor Prohibition and Women's Welfare in the

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 ...

cabinet between 10 October 1953 and 12 April 1954. Thus Jothi Venkatachalam became the first woman to be minister in Tamil Nadu state in the republic of India. In that very brief stint, she clubbed the liquor prohibition department with Police department. Later she was elected to the

Tamil Nadu legislative assembly The Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly is the unicameral legislature of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It has a strength of 234 members of whom are democratically elected using the First-past-the-post voting, First-past-the-post system. The pres ...

from Egmore constituency as an

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 ...

candidate in

1962 Events January * January 1 – Western Samoa becomes independent from New Zealand. * January 3 – Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro for preaching communism. * January 8 – Harmelen train disaster: 93 die in the wors ...

election, and as an

Indian National Congress (Organisation) The Indian National Congress (Organisation) also known as Congress (O) or Syndicate/Old Congress was a political party in India formed when the Congress party split following the expulsion of Indira Gandhi. On 12 November 1969, the Prime Minist ...

candidate from Srirangam constituency in

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses ( February 25, July 22 and August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 10, and August 6). The world population increased by 2.1% this year, the highest increase in history. Events Ja ...

election. This time Chief Minister

K. Kamaraj Kumaraswami Kamaraj (15 July 1903 – 2 October 1975, hinduonnet.com. 15–28 September 2001), popularly known as Kamarajar was an Indian independence activist and politician who served as the Chief Minister of Madras State (Tamil Nadu) ...

appointed her as minister for public health in

's cabinet from 1962 and continued in M. Bhakthavatchalam's ministry till 1967. Later she served as the Governor of

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

from 14 October 1977 to 26 October 1982. In 1974 Jothi Venkatachalam was conferred with a '

Padma Shri Padma Shri (IAST: ''padma śrī''), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest Indian honours system, civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. Instituted on 2 January 1954, ...

' award for her dedicated contribution in the field of Public Affairs. On 19 July 1961, her husband was killed in a road accident. Jothi Venkatachalam is also deceased.Trailblazers from another era
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References

1917 births Year of death missing 20th-century Indian politicians 20th-century Indian women politicians Governors of Kerala Indian National Congress politicians from Tamil Nadu Recipients of the Padma Shri in public affairs Tamil Nadu ministers Women in Kerala politics Women state governors of India Indian National Congress (Organisation) politicians Madras MLAs 1962–1967 Indian National Congress politicians from Kerala Women members of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly {{Kerala-INC-politician-stub