Usha Narayanan, born Tint Tint ( my, တင့်တင့်; 1922 — 24 January 2008), was the First Lady of India from 1997 to 2002. She was married to

K. R. Narayanan Kocheril Raman Narayanan (27 October 1921 – 9 November 2005) was an Indian statesman, diplomat, academic, and politician who served as the 9th vice president of India, Vice President of India from 1992 to 1997 and 10th President of India fr ...

, the tenth

President of India The president of India ( IAST: ) is the head of state of the Republic of India. The president is the nominal head of the executive, the first citizen of the country, as well as the commander-in-chief of the Indian Armed Forces. Droupadi Murmu ...

. Upon her husband's assumption of the presidency, Usha Narayanan became India's first foreign-born first lady. She played a key role in women social welfare activities initiated by the presidency.

Early life

Usha Narayanan was born Tint Tint in 1922, in

Yamethin Yamethin Township is a township of Yamethin District in the Mandalay Region of Burma (Myanmar). The administrative seat and principal city is Yamethin, which is also the major rail stop in the township, and it has a population of 258,091. Commun ...

Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

. She attended

Rangoon University '') , mottoeng = There's no friend like wisdom. , established = , type = Public , rector = Dr. Tin Mg Tun , undergrad = 4194 , postgrad = 5748 , city = Kamayut 11041, Yangon , state = Yangon Regio ...

, earning a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

degree. Thereafter, she worked as a lecturing tutor at the Department of Burmese Language and Literature. She continued her graduate studies at the

Delhi School of Social Work Delhi School of Social Work is a school of social work in India and the first graduate school of social work in Asia to be recognized by a university. It is currently known as the Department of Social Work (DSW) of University of Delhi. Histo ...

through a scholarship, earning a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

degree with a specialty in juvenile delinquency.

Later life

While working in

Rangoon 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 ...

(now Myanmar), K. R. Narayanan met Tint Tint, whom he later married in

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...

on 8 June 1951. Ms Tint Tint was active in the

YWCA 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 ...

and on hearing that Narayanan was a student of Laski, approached him to speak on political freedom before her circle of acquaintances. While K. R. Narayanan and Tint Tint had been born in the same country, the British colony of India, by the time they met they had different citizenship. Their marriage needed a special dispensation from

Jawaharlal Nehru Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (; ; ; 14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat— * * * * and author who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20t ...

per Indian law, because Narayanan was in the IFS and she was a foreigner. Ms Tint Tint adopted the Indian name ''Usha'' and became an Indian citizen. Usha Narayanan worked on several social welfare programs for women and children in India and had completed her Masters in Social Work from

. She also translated and published several Burmese short stories; a collection of translated stories by Thein Pe Myint, titled ''Sweet and Sour'', appeared in 1998. They have two daughters,

Chitra Narayanan Chitra Narayanan is a diplomat from India. She served as an Indian Foreign Service officer and as an ambassador of India to six countries. Career Chitra started her career as a journalist at the Press Institute of India. She was the founder-edi ...

(former Indian ambassador to Switzerland, Liechtenstein and

The Holy See The Holy See ( lat, Sancta Sedes, ; it, Santa Sede ), also called the See of Rome, Petrine See or Apostolic See, is the jurisdiction of the Pope in his role as the bishop of Rome. It includes the apostolic see, apostolic episcopal see of the ...

) and Amrita Narayanan. She died at the age of 86 on 24 January 2008 at 5:30 pm, at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Narayanan, Usha 1922 births 2008 deaths People from Mandalay Region First Ladies and Gentlemen of India Second Ladies and Gentlemen of India Burmese emigrants to India Naturalised citizens of India Indian people of Burmese descent University of Yangon alumni Burmese social workers Burmese translators Indian social workers Indian women translators

Early life

Later life

See also

References