Mona Chandravati Gupta (1896–1984) was a British Burma born Indian social worker, educationist and the founder of ''Nari Sewa Samiti'', a

non governmental organization A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...

working for the social and economic upliftment of women.

Biography

Gupta was born in Rangoon, present day Yangon and the capital city of Myanmar, on 20 October 1896 and after early education at

Yangon Yangon ( my, ရန်ကုန်; ; ), formerly spelled as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar (also known as Burma). Yangon served as the capital of Myanmar until 2006, when the military government ...

and London, she secured her graduate degree from Diocesan College,

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

. Taking up a career in education, she worked as the vice principal of the Government Girls College,

Lucknow Lucknow (, ) is the capital and the largest city of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is also the second largest urban agglomeration in Uttar Pradesh. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and division ...

and served as a member of the University Review Committee for women's education. Gupta started two women's organizations in the 1930s, ''Zenana Park League'' in 1931 and ''Women's Social Service League'' in 1936. Almost a decade later, she founded the ''Women's Academy'' and after the Indian independence in 1947, the academy was merged with Women's Social Service League to form ''Nari Sewa Samiti''. The organization has now grown to cover four educational institutions, two vocational centres for women, three women's welfare centres, a cultural centre and a medical facility. Gupta was a former member of

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 ...

Legislative Council and served the courts of

Allahabad University , mottoeng = "As Many Branches So Many Trees" , established = , type = Public , chancellor = Ashish Chauhan , vice_chancellor = Sangita Srivastava , head_label ...

and

Lucknow University The University of Lucknow (informally known as Lucknow University, and LU) is a public state university based in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. Founded in 1920, the University of Lucknow is one of the oldest government owned institutions of higher edu ...

in 1939 and 1940 respectively. A winner of the

Kaisar-i-Hind Medal The Kaisar-i-Hind Medal for Public Service in India was a medal awarded by the Emperor/Empress of India between 1900 and 1947, to "any person without distinction of race, occupation, position, or sex ... who shall have distinguished himself (o ...

from the

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

n administration in 1939, she was honoured by the

Government of India The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, c ...

in 1965, with the award of

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, ...

, the fourth highest Indian civilian award for her contributions to the society.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gupta, Mona Chandravati Recipients of the Padma Shri in social work 1896 births 1984 deaths 20th-century Indian women educational theorists Recipients of the Kaisar-i-Hind Medal 20th-century Indian educational theorists 20th-century Indian women scientists Women educators from Uttar Pradesh Educators from Uttar Pradesh Social workers from Uttar Pradesh People from Kolkata Scholars from Uttar Pradesh Women in Uttar Pradesh politics 20th-century Indian politicians 20th-century Indian women politicians 20th-century Indian educators 20th-century Indian women educators Indian expatriates in British Burma Expatriates from British India in the United Kingdom

Biography

See also

References