Veena George (born 3 August 1976) is an Indian politician and former journalist who has served as the Minister for Health and Family Welfare of Kerala since 2021. She represents Aranmula State Assembly Constituency in the

Kerala Legislative Assembly The Kerala Legislative Assembly, popularly known as the Kerala Niyamasabha, is the State Assembly of Kerala, one of the 28 states in India. The Assembly is formed by 140 elected representatives. Each elected member represents one of the 140 c ...

since 2016. She is a member of the

Communist Party of India (Marxist) The Communist Party of India (Marxist) (abbreviated as CPI(M)/CPIM/CPM) is a Marxism–Leninism, Marxist–Leninist communist List of political parties in India, political party in India. It is the largest communist party of India in term ...

. Prior to joining politics, she has worked with major Malayalam news channels for over 16 years. She is also the first female executive editor among Malayalam news channels.

Personal life

Born in

Thiruvananthapuram Thiruvananthapuram (; ), also known by its former name Trivandrum (), is the capital of the Indian state of Kerala. It is the most populous city in Kerala with a population of 957,730 as of 2011. The encompassing urban agglomeration populati ...

on 3 August 1976 to Rosamma Kuriakose and Adv. P. E. Kuriakose, she did her basic schooling from Mount Bethany High School

Mylapra Mylapra is a village in Pathanamthitta district in the Indian state of Kerala. It comes under the Mylapra Panchayath. It is on the way to the famous Hindu pilgrim center of Sabarimala. The Main Eastern Highway (Punalur– Pathanamthitta&nd ...

Pathanamthitta Pathanamthitta (), is a municipality situated in the Central Travancore region in the state of Kerala, India, spread over an area of 23.50 km2. It is the administrative capital of Pathanamthitta district. The town has a population of 37 ...

district. She pursued

Physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...

for graduation and postgraduation from

Government College for Women, Thiruvananthapuram Government College for Women, Thiruvananthapuram, also known as H.H. The Maharaja's College for Women, is one of the oldest women's college located in Trivandrum, Kerala. It was established in the year 1864 under the University of Madras. Acade ...

and completed her

B.Ed. A Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.) is an undergraduate professional degree which prepares students for work as a teacher in schools. In some countries such as Tanzania and Kenya, additional tasks like field work and research are required in order for ...

as a

University of Kerala University of Kerala, formerly the University of Travancore, is a state-run public university located in Thiruvananthapuram, the state capital of Kerala, India. It was established in 1937 by a promulgation of the Maharajah of Travancore, Chit ...

rank holder. She had taught

Catholicate College Pathanamthitta Catholicate College, Pathanamthitta, established in 1952, is an institution of higher education at Pathanamthitta of Kerala, India. Catholicate College belongs to the first group of colleges in Kerala to receive academic accreditation from the ...

for one year before taking up journalism as her career choice. She joined

Kairali TV Kairali TV is an Indian Malayalam-language general entertainment television channel owned by Kairali TV Network (Malayalam Communications Limited). It is headquartered at Thiruvananthapuram. It was launched on 17 August 2000. The channel is bac ...

as a journalist trainee and had a 16 year old successful career with prominent Malayalam news channels. In 2015, she took charge as the executive editor of the Malayalam news channel

TV New TV New was an Indian television channel broadcasting in Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry ( Mahé district) by the Malay ...

and become the first woman to do so. She is married to Dr. George Joseph, a higher secondary school teacher.

Career

Television career

Veena George began her career at

as a journalist trainee, later she joined

Manorama News Manorama News is a free-to-air Malayalam-language news channel operated and owned by Malayala Manorama Television (MMTV). The channel, based at Aroor, near Cherthala, Alappuzha Alappuzha or Alleppey () is the administrative headquarters of ...

as a news anchor and also presented morning shows and special international news programmes. Later she was associated with Malayalam news channels

Indiavision Indiavision was an Indian pay television news channel based at Kochi, Kerala, India. It broadcast in Malayalam. History Indiavision was launched on 14 July 2003. The network launched a second channel, YES Indiavision (Youth, Entertainment & Spo ...

Reporter TV Reporter TV is an Indian Malayalam language free to air news channel broadcasting in the Malayalam language. The channel is owned by Indo Asian News Channel Pvt Limited based at Kochi. The channel was launched on 13 May 2011. M. V. Nikesh K ...

in prominent roles and joined TV New in the role of executive editor in 2015.

Political career

She was a

Students' Federation of India The Students' Federation of India (abbreviated as SFI) is an Indian left-wing student organisation politically aligned to the ideologies of Independence, Democracy and Socialism. Currently, V. P. Sanu and Mayukh Biswas are elected as the All ...

(SFI) activist in her college days. She contested elections for the first time when the

CPI (M) The Communist Party of India (Marxist) (abbreviated as CPI(M)/CPIM/CPM) is a Marxist–Leninist communist political party in India. It is the largest communist party of India in terms of membership and electoral seats and one of the nat ...

fielded her from an

INC Inc. or inc may refer to: * Incorporation (business), as a suffix indicating a corporation * ''Inc.'' (magazine), an American business magazine * Inc. No World, a Los Angeles-based band * Indian National Congress, a political party in India * I ...

held

Aranmula Aranmula is a temple town in the state of Kerala, India. It is known as the cultural capital of Pathanamthitta district, located at a distance of around 116 km from Trivandrum, the capital of Kerala, it is situated on the banks of the ...

seat in 2016 assembly polls. She defeated senior INC leader, K. Sivadasan Nair with a margin of 7646 votes. In

2019 Indian general election General elections were held in India in seven phases from 11 April to 19 May 2019 to elect the members of the 17th Lok Sabha. Votes were counted and the result was declared on 23 May. Around 912 million people were eligible to vote, and voter ...

, Veena contested from

Pathanamthitta Lok Sabha constituency Pathanamthitta Lok Sabha constituency is a Lok Sabha constituencies in Kerala state in southern India. It is a newly formed constituency in the Central Travancore region of Kerala for the election of a member of the Lok Sabha. The district, wh ...

and came second in a fierce tri-cornered battle with the

BJP 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 ...

and INC. She retained her seat in 2021 assembly elections with an increased margin of 19,003 votes. On 20 May 2021, she was sworn in as a cabinet minister in the first

Left Democratic Front The Left Democratic Front (LDF) is an alliance of left-wing political parties in the state of Kerala, India. It is the current ruling political alliance of Kerala, since 2016. It is one of the two major political alliances in Kerala, the oth ...

government to retain power and the first government to be re-elected since

1977 Events January * January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democratic R ...

. On 21st, she took charge as the Minister of Health and Family Welfare as the successor of renowned CPI (M) leader,

K. K. Shailaja K. K. Shailaja (born 20 November 1956) is an Indian politician and former Health Minister of Kerala who hails from Kannur district. Shailaja currently serves as the Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) representing Mattanur constituency ...

Election candidature history

Assembly election candidature history

Parliament election candidature history

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:George, Veena 1976 births Living people University of Kerala alumni People from Aranmula Communist Party of India (Marxist) politicians from Kerala Kerala MLAs 2016–2021 Journalists from Kerala Indian Christians 20th-century Indian journalists Indian women journalists Indian Marxist journalists 21st-century Indian women writers 21st-century Indian journalists 20th-century Indian women writers Indian women television journalists Indian television journalists Indian women television presenters Television personalities from Kerala