Isha Basant Joshi (born Isha Basant Mukand; 31 December 1908, date of death unknown) was an Indian Administrative Service officer and author. She published books under the name of Esha Joshi. She was the first Indian to be accepted into the "Bastion of the British" school of La Martiniere Girls High School in

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 ...

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 ...

.Uncivil Treatment
Shahira Naim ''The Tribune'' 14 November 2004, Chandigarh, India accessed July 2007 She was the first woman Indian Administrative Services officer of British India.

Early life and education

Joshi was born on 31 December 1908. After attending the La Martinere Girls High School,

, She went to

Isabella Thoburn College The Isabella Thoburn College, formerly the Lucknow Women's College and often called informally IT College, is a college for women in Lucknow, India, named after its founder, Isabella Thoburn, the first woman American missionary of the Methodist ...

and the

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 ...

, where she gained her Master of Arts. She undertook higher studies in

Britain Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...

and then became a part of the

Indian Administrative Service The Indian Administrative Service (IAS) is the administrative arm of the All India Services of Government of India. Considered the premier civil service of India, the IAS is one of the three arms of the All India Services along with the Indian ...

Career

The first woman IAS officer of Independent India, Joshi was posted as

Magistrate The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a '' magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judici ...

and then as Assistant Commissioner in Delhi. She held senior and honorable positions in various departments and became the Commissioner-cum-State-Editor of the District Gazette. She then served in senior roles in the

Ministry of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...

. She edited a magazine before retiring from service in 1966. Joshi started her next phase of career as an author after her service as a

civil servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...

of India. She published a number of books under the name of Esha Joshi.

Personal life

In 2004, it was reported that Joshi, who at that time was a 96-year-old widow, was being looked after by distant relatives in the servant quarters of a mansion on Kabir Marg in

. Following media reports, she was taken inside.The Lucknow Observer
January 2016

Major works

* ''The Jewel in the Case and other stories'', Esha Joshi at Alibris.com
accessed July 2007 * ''Spindrift: Poems'', , 1994, Writers Workshop * ''Sanctuary'', poems, 1987

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Joshi, Isha Basant 1908 births Year of death missing La Martinière College, Lucknow alumni Indian women short story writers 20th-century Indian women writers Indian civil servants Writers from Lucknow University of Lucknow alumni Indian women editors Indian editors Indian magazine editors 20th-century Indian poets 20th-century Indian short story writers Women writers from Uttar Pradesh Indian women poets Women magazine editors