Mridula Sinha (27 November 1942 – 18 November 2020) was an Indian writer and politician who served as

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 ...

from August 2014 to October 2019. She was the first woman Governor of Goa. Mridula Sinha was also a former president of

BJP Mahila Morcha BJP Mahila Morcha, or simply Mahila Morcha (IPA: Mahilā Mōrcā, ), is the women's wing of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of India. Vanathi Srinivasan, former Tamil Nadu BJP Unit Vice president and current Member of the Tamil Nadu Legislat ...

. She was awarded India's fourth highest civilian award the

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, ...

posthumously in 2021.

Early life

Mridula Sinha was born on 27 November 1942,one kayasth family Birth, in the

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...

Chhapra Dharampur Yadu in

Muzaffarpur district Muzaffarpur District is one of the thirty-eight districts of Bihar States and territories of India, state, India. Muzaffarpur district is part of and also the headquarters of Tirhut division, Tirhut Division Tirhut is the ancient name of all of ...

Mithila region Mithila (), also known as Tirhut, Tirabhukti and Mithilanchal is a geographical and cultural region of the Indian subcontinent bounded by the Mahananda River in the east, the Ganges in the south, the Gandaki River in the west and by the foothill ...

Bihar Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West Be ...

state in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. Her father was Babu Chhabile Singh and her mother was Anupa Devi. She attended the local school in Chhapra and later studied at ''Balika Vidyapeeth,'' a residential school for girls in

Lakhisarai district Lakhisarai district is one of the thirty-eight districts of Bihar state, India, and Lakhisarai town is the administrative headquarters of this district. Lakhisarai district is a part of Munger Division. The district occupies an area of . History ...

. Shortly before she completed her bachelor's degree, Mridula's parents arranged for her to marry Ram Kripal Sinha, who at that time was a college lecturer based in

Muzaffarpur Muzaffarpur () is a city located in Muzaffarpur district in the Tirhut region of the Indian state of Bihar. It serves as the headquarters of the Tirhut division, the Muzaffarpur district and the Muzaffarpur Railway District. It is the fourth m ...

town,

. After marriage, Mridula continued her studies and took a post-graduate degree in

Psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries betwe ...

. She then took a job as a lecturer in the Dr. S.K. Sinha Women's College in Motihari. Shortly afterwards, her husband received his doctorate degree. She left the job and started a school in Muzaffarpur where her husband was working in a college.

Career

Meanwhile, with encouragement from her husband, Mridula experimented with the short story format. She was interested in cultural matters and village traditions. She wrote short stories on these topics and on folk tales that she gathered from the villages where she and her husband worked. Many of these stories were published in

Hindi language Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...

magazines and were later compiled into a two-volume anthology named ''Bihar ki lok-kathayen'' ("folk-tales of Bihar"). She also wrote several novels and a biography of

Rajmata ''Rajmata'' (''lit.'' king's mother) is an Indian term used for the mother of the head of a princely family in India. Examples include * Rajmata Jijau, mother of Shivaji *Rajmata Vijaya Raje Scindia of Gwalior, mother of Madhavrao Scindia * Raj ...

Vijayaraje Scindia Vijaya Raje Scindia (12 October 1919 – 25 January 2001), born Lekha Divyeshwari Devi and known popularly as the Rajmata of Gwalior, was a prominent Indian political personality. In the days of the British Raj, as consort of the last ruling Ma ...

titled '' Ek Thi Rani Aisi Bhi.'' A film of the same name was later made based on this book. Mridula initially helped her husband in reaching out to the women of the constituency during his campaigns for election to the district committee. She found that with her knowledge of local tradition and cultural nuances, she had a strong connect with the people, especially women. She developed a very strong interest and commitment for social welfare, although she had no interest in electoral politics and never contested any election. She was named

Chairperson The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the grou ...

of Central Social Welfare Board.

Political career

At this time, her husband was a cabinet minister in the Bihar state government. She was, until August 2014, a member of the national executive of

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 ...

. During the BJP's campaign for 2014 general elections, she was in charge of the BJP Mahila Morcha (women's wing). On 25 August 2014, she was appointed the

. Sinha was also appointed an ambassador for the

Swachh Bharat Abhiyan Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM), Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, or Clean India Mission is a country-wide campaign initiated by the Government of India in 2014 to eliminate open defecation and improve solid waste management. It is a restructured version of ...

, by the

Prime Minister of India The prime minister of India (IAST: ) is the head of government of the Republic of India. Executive authority is vested in the prime minister and their chosen Council of Ministers, despite the president of India being the nominal head 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 ...

. During her tenure as Governor of Goa, she also adopted a cow and a calf at the Raj Bhavan for the purpose of daily worship.

Literary contribution

Source(s): *''Ek thi rani aisi bhi'' (Short biography) * ''Nayi devyani'' (Novel) * ''Gharwaas'' (Novel) * ''Jyon mehandi ko rang'' (Novel) * ''Dekhan mein choten lagen'' (Stories) * ''Sita puni boli'' (Novel) * ''Yayavari ankhon se'' (Interviews) * ''Bihar ki lok kathayen -I'' (Stories) * ''Bihar ki lok kathayen-II'' (Stories) * ''Dhai beegha zameen'' (Stories) * ''Matr deh nahin hai aurat'' (Women liberation) * ''Nari na kathputli na udanpari'' (2014) by Yash Publications, New Delhi * ''Apna jivan'' (2014) by Yash Publications, New Delhi * ''Antim ichha'' (2014) by Yash Publications, New Delhi * ''Paritapt Lankeshwari'' (2015) * ''Mujhe Kuch Kehna Hain'' (2015, Poetry) By Yash Publications, New Delhi * ''Aaurat aaviksit purush nahi hain'' (2015) by Yash Publications, New Delhi * ''chinta aur chintan ke inderdhanushyain rang'' by Mridula Sinha (2016) by Yash Publications, New Delhi * ''India women new images on ancient foundation'' (2016) By Yash Publications, New Delhi * ''ya nari sarvbuteshu'' (2016) By Yash Publications, New Delhi * ''Relfications'' (2017) By Yash Publications, New Delhi * ''Ek Sahitya Tirth Sw lauthkar'' (2017) By Yash Publications, New Delhi Films & TV adaptation : Mridula Sinha's work like ''Jyon Mehendi Ko Rang'', a novel is adapted into a T.V. Serial and short Story l "Dattak Pita" and autobiography on Vijayaraje Scindia ''Rajpath se lok path par'' are made into feature films as ''Dattak'' and ''Ek thi Rani Aisi Bhi'' respectively. All her major literary works adapted in films and TV are by National awards winner film maker

Gul Bahar Singh Gul Bahar Singh is a six time National Film Awards, national award winning Indian Filmmaking, film-maker. He received first national award in 1986 for his documentary film, ''Anukaran''. Early life Singh was born in Pakur, Jharkhand in a Sikh f ...

Translations into English

* ''Flames of Desire''

Translations into Marathi

* ''Anutapt Lankeshwari'', a translation by Rajashree Khandeparkar

Honours

* Sinha received an honorary doctorate by the

Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar Bihar University Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar Bihar University, formerly Bihar University, popularly known as Dr. B. R. Ambedkar Bihar University (BRABU), is a public university located in Muzaffarpur, Bihar, India. Established in 1960, the university has 38 const ...

in Muzaffarpur, Bihar. * She was conferred with Acharya Tulsi Kartritva Puraskar in 2017 by Akhil Bhartiya Terapanth Mahila Mandal.

References

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Sinha, Mridula 1942 births 2020 deaths Governors of Goa Recipients of the Padma Shri in literature & education Hindi-language writers Bharatiya Janata Party politicians from Bihar Women in Bihar politics Women state governors of India 20th-century Indian women writers 20th-century Indian women politicians 20th-century Indian politicians People from Muzaffarpur district Women writers from Bihar 21st-century Indian women politicians 21st-century Indian politicians 21st-century Indian novelists 20th-century Indian novelists 21st-century Indian short story writers 20th-century Indian short story writers Indian women poets 21st-century Indian poets Indian women novelists Indian women short story writers Poets from Bihar Novelists from Bihar 21st-century Indian women writers 21st-century Indian writers Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar Bihar University alumni Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in India