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Margaret Nazareth Alva ( born 14 April 1942) is an Indian politician. Alva served as the 17th
Governor of Goa The governor of Goa is a nominal head and representative of the president of India in the state of Goa. The governor is appointed by the president for a term of five years. P. S. Sreedharan Pillai became governor on 7 July 2021. Powers and func ...
, 23rd
Governor of Gujarat The governor of Gujarat Is a nominal head and representative of the president of india In the state of Gujarat. The governor is appointed by the president for a term of five years and resides in Raj Bhavan (Gujarat), Raj Bhavan in Gandhinagar. ...
, 20th
Governor of Rajasthan A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...
and 4th
Governor of Uttarakhand The governor of Uttarakhand 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 jure'' head of the state government; all its executive actions are taken in the gov ...
the until the end of her tenure in August 2014. She has formerly served as the Cabinet Minister. She took over in Rajasthan from the Punjab governor,
Shivraj Patil Shivraj Vishwanath Patil (born 12 October 1935) is an Indian politician who was the Minister of Home Affairs of India, from 2004 to 2008 and 10th Speaker of the Lok Sabha from 1991 to 1996. He was Governor of the state of Punjab and Administra ...
, who had been holding an additional charge of that state. Before being appointed governor, she was a senior figure in 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 ...
and was Joint Secretary of the
All India Congress Committee The All India Congress Committee (AICC) is the presidium or the central decision-making assembly of the Indian National Congress. It is composed of members elected from state-level Pradesh Congress Committees and can have as many as a thousan ...
. Her mother-in-law,
Violet Alva Violet Hari Alva (24 April 1908 – 20 November 1969) was an Indian lawyer, journalist and politician, and Deputy Chairperson of the Rajya Sabha, and member of the Indian National Congress (INC). She was the first woman lawyer to appear before ...
, was Second
Deputy Chairperson of the Rajya Sabha The Deputy Chairperson of the Rajya Sabha (International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration, IAST: ) presides over the proceedings of the Rajya Sabha in the absence of the Chairperson of the Rajya Sabha (Vice President of India). The Deputy C ...
in 1960s. On 17 July 2022, the
United Progressive Alliance United Progressive Alliance (UPA) is a centre-left political alliance of predominantly left-leaning political parties in India. It was formed after the 2004 general election with support from left-leaning political parties when no single party ...
along with some other non-UPA opposition parties nominated her for the post of
Vice President of India The vice president of India (IAST: ) is the deputy to the head of state of the Republic of India, i.e. the president of India. The office of vice president is the second-highest constitutional office after the president and ranks second in the ...
in the 2022 election. But she was defeated by her opponent Jagdeep Dhankhar by a margin of 346 votes on 6 August 2022.


Early life

Margaret Nazareth Alva was born Margaret de Nazareth on 14 April 1942, to a
Mangalorean Christian Mangalorean Catholics ( kok, Kōdiyālcheñ Kathōlikā) are an ethno-religious community of Latin Catholics in India typically residing in the Diocese of Mangalore in the erstwhile South Canara area, by the southwestern coast of present-day Ka ...
family at
Mangalore Mangalore (), officially known as Mangaluru, is a major port city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It is located between the Arabian Sea and the Western Ghats about west of Bangalore, the state capital, 20 km north of Karnataka–Ker ...
, in
Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...
. She obtained a BA degree from
Mount Carmel College, Bangalore Mount Carmel College (MCC) is an autonomous college located in Bangalore, India, affiliated to Bengaluru City University. It is one of the first women’s colleges established in 1944 in Trichur as 'Carmel College' under the Madras University a ...
and a law degree from Government Law College in the same city. She was a keen and appreciated debater during her time at college and had some involvement in students' movements. Alva combined her work as an advocate with involvement in welfare organisations, eventually becoming president of the
Young Women's Christian Association The Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) is a nonprofit organization with a focus on empowerment, leadership, and rights of women, young women, and girls in more than 100 countries. The World office is currently based in Geneva, Swi ...
. One of her early involvements was with the Karuna
non-governmental organisation A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see American and British English spelling differences#-ise, -ize (-isation, -ization), spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from g ...
, which she founded and which was focused on issues relating to women and children. On 24 May 1964 she married Niranjan Thomas Alva, whom she had met while they were both students at Government Law College. The couple had one daughter and three sons, the oldest being
Niret Alva Niret Alva is an Indian television producer who is the co-founder and chairman of television production company Miditech. Miditech first made a documentary series on the environment, ''Living on the Edge'' for Doordarshan, and went on to make ...
. Niranjan Alva ran a successful export business, which gave his wife a financial security that proved beneficial in her later
career The career is an individual's metaphorical "journey" through learning, work and other aspects of life. There are a number of ways to define career and the term is used in a variety of ways. Definitions The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' defin ...
.


Politics


Beginnings

Alva's decision to enter politics in 1969 was influenced by her husband's parents,
Joachim Alva Joachim Ignatius Sebastian Alva or Joachim Piedade Alva (21 January 1907 – 28 June 1979) was an Indian lawyer, journalist and politician from Mangalore. He was a prominent Mangalorean Christian figure involved in the Indian independence movem ...
and
Violet Alva Violet Hari Alva (24 April 1908 – 20 November 1969) was an Indian lawyer, journalist and politician, and Deputy Chairperson of the Rajya Sabha, and member of the Indian National Congress (INC). She was the first woman lawyer to appear before ...
, both of whom had served
Members 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 ...
representing the Indian National Congress. She has acknowledged this encouragement, saying that "I never had to face any family constraints on my political activities" and she has also said that the death of Violet in 1969 provided the impetus. She aligned herself with the Congress (Indira) faction led by
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 ...
and worked for its state unit in uttar Pradesh. She served as Joint Secretary of the All India Congress Committee between 1975 and 1977 and as General Secretary of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee between 1978 and 1980,


Rajya Sabha

In April 1974, Alva was elected to the Rajya Sabha as a representative of Congress. She served a six-year term and was then re-elected for three more six-year terms, in 1980, 1986, and 1992. During her time in the Rajya Sabha, she was its vice-chairman (1983–85) and also served terms as
Union Minister of State The Union Council of Ministers Article 58 of the ''Constitution of India'' is the principal executive organ of the Government of India, which is responsible for being the senior decision making body of the executive branch. It is chaired by t ...
in the ministries for Parliamentary Affairs (1984–85) and for Youth and Sports and Women and Child Development, an arm of the
Ministry of Human Resource Development The Ministry of Education ( MoE; formerly the Ministry of Human Resource Development from 1985 to 2020) is a ministry of the Government of India, responsible for the implementation of the National Policy on Education. The Ministry is further di ...
. She also served on various House committees, which garnered her a considerable degree of procedural expertise, and was briefly Minister for Science and Technology. In her HRD role, between 1985 and 1989, Alva oversaw the
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 ...
-led government's 28-point plan intended to improve the rights and involvement of women and children. In addition, she made proposals for various development corporations for women, only some of which materialised, and also campaigned for a greater prominence of
women in government In many countries, women have been underrepresented in the government and different institutions. This historical tendency still persists, although women are increasingly being elected to be heads of state and government. As of October 20 ...
and in her party's official posts. Her 1989 proposal that 33 per cent of seats in
panchayat raj The Panchayat raj is a political system, originating from the Indian subcontinent, found mainly in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Nepal. It is the oldest system of local government in the Indian subcontinent, and historical menti ...
(local government) elections should be reserved for women became law in 1993 and, according to Laura Jenkins, "marked a further shift from the former abhorrence of reservations as a nationally divisive policy". She continued her efforts to improve the lot of women during her period as Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions and Parliamentary Affairs (1991 and 1993-96), where she tried to increase the number of female officeholders in various ministries and government organisations, such as the
Union Public Service Commission The Union Public Service Commission (ISO: ), commonly abbreviated as UPSC, is India's premier central recruitment agency for recruitment of all the Group 'A' officers under Government of India. It is responsible for appointments to and exami ...
and the judiciary. Alva has also been involved with women's issues and related matters such as population growth on the international stage, notably through various
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...
bodies and in writings.


Lok Sabha

Alva was elected to the
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 ...
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 ...
in 1999 for the Uttara Kannada constituency, serving a five-year term. She lost a subsequent re-election attempt in the 2004. Between 2004 and 2009, she served as General Secretary of the All India Congress Committee and was an advisor to the Bureau of Parliamentary Studies & Training, a government body that works with newly elected parliamentary representatives at both national and state level.


Governorships

In November 2008, Alva said that Congress seats for the elections in Karnataka were open to bidders rather than subject to meritocratic appointment. Congress denied her claims and a meeting with the party president,
Sonia Gandhi Sonia Gandhi ('' née'' Maino; born 9 December 1946) is an Indian politician. She is the longest serving president of the Indian National Congress, a social democratic political party, which has governed India for most of its post-independ ...
resulted in Alva resigning or being removed from her numerous official responsibilities in the party. Subsequently, Alva patched up her differences with Congress leadership. She has declined to go into details of the 2008 controversy even as her resignation letter continues to be a subject of media speculation. On 6 August 2009, Alva became the first female
Governor of Uttarakhand The governor of Uttarakhand 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 jure'' head of the state government; all its executive actions are taken in the gov ...
. Although she said then that she was enthusiastic about the challenges facing the nascent state, she found herself sidelined outside national politics and frustrated by the
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 ...
state government. She remained in the post until May 2012, at which time she was appointed
Governor of Rajasthan A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...
, which was a more important region in political terms. Of her time in Uttarakhand, Alva said that "The quietude allowed me to recharge my batteries and even spare some time for working on my biography". The autobiography is not expected to appear until after her retirement. The move to Rajasthan relieved Shivraj Patil, the Governor of Punjab, of his temporary adjunct responsibility for that state which had arisen due to the death of the incumbent governor,
Prabha Rau Prabha Rau (4 March 1935 – 26 April 2010) was an Indian politician and the Governor of Rajasthan state of India when she died. She was appointed Governor of Rajasthan after she was transferred from Governor of Himachal Pradesh after Urmila S ...
, in April 2010; on 7 August 2014 she was dismissed by the President of India on the advice of the
Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (; born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician serving as the 14th and current Prime Minister of India since 2014. Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Parliament from ...
ministry.


Electoral performance


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alva, Margaret 1942 births Living people Politicians from Mangalore Indian National Congress politicians from Karnataka Governors of Uttarakhand India MPs 1999–2004 Rajya Sabha members from Karnataka Governors of Rajasthan Governors of Gujarat Governors of Goa Lok Sabha members from Karnataka Women state governors of India 20th-century Indian women politicians 20th-century Indian politicians 21st-century Indian women politicians 21st-century Indian politicians Recipients of the Rajyotsava Award 2018 Mount Carmel College, Bangalore alumni Women members of the Lok Sabha Women members of the Rajya Sabha Women members of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly