Rajasthan’s first women minister Kamla Beniwal no more

Rajasthan’s first woman minister, Kamla Beniwal, passed away on 15 May 2024 in Jaipur, Rajasthan. She was 97 years old. During her long political career, Kamla Beniwal, who was associated with the Congress party, held many constitutional posts.

About Kamla Beniwal 

Kamla Beniwal was born in 1927 in Jhunjhunu district’s Gaurir village in a Jat family,

She was a freedom fighter who completed her BA from the Maharaja College in Jaipur and MA in History from the famous Banasthali Vidyapeeth in Tonk, Rajasthan.

In 1952, she was elected as a Member of the Rajasthan Assembly after winning the Amber A legislative assembly seat. She was further elected seven times as  MLA from Jaipur district.

 In 1954, at the age of 27, she was appointed a minister in the Mohanlal Sukhadia government. Thus, she became the first woman to become a minister in Rajasthan. She later held various portfolios as a minister in different Congress governments in the state.

In 2003, she was appointed the deputy chief minister in the Ashok Gehlot government.

Kamla Beniwal as a Governor 

Kamal Beniwal also held the constitutional post of State Governor. She was Governor of Tripura, Gujarat and Mizoram. Her tenure as the Governor of Gujarat was controversial. Narendra Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat who, in 2011, wrote a letter to the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to recall her as she had bypassed the state government in the appointment of Lokayukta.  

When the Narendra Modi-led NDA government came into power in 2014 at the centre, Kamla Beniwal was transferred from Gujarat to Mizoram for the remainder of her term. 

First Women in Rajasthan 

• The first woman Governor of Rajasthan -Pratibha Patil, from 08th November 2004 to 23rd June 2007
• The first woman chief minister of Rajasthan - Vasundhara Raje Scindia. She has been chief minister twice, from 08th November 2004 to 23rd June 2007 and again from 13 Dec 2013 to 16 Dec 2018
• First women minister in Rajasthan - Kamla Beniwal in 1954
• First woman speaker of the Rajasthan Legislative Assembly -Sumitra Singh of BJP. She was the 12th speaker of the Rajasthan Assembly, and her tenure was from 2004-2009.

Other facts to know 

• Shanno Devi was the first woman speaker of a state Legislative Assembly. She was elected the speaker of the Haryana Legislative Assembly( from 6 December 1966 to 17 March 1967)
• The first woman speaker of the Lok Sabha was Meira Kumar from 4 June 2009 to 5 June 2014.
• Sarojini Naidu, the Nightingale of India, was the first woman governor of India. She was appointed as the governor of the United Provinces from 15 August 1947 to 2 March 1949. On 26 January 1950, the name of the United Provinces was changed to Uttar Pradesh.
•  Sucheta Kriplani became the first woman chief minister of a state when she was appointed as the Chief Minister of Uttar Pardesh (1963-1967). 
• Indira Gandhi was the first woman Prime Minister of India. She became the Prime Minister in 1966.
• Pratibha Patil Singh was the first woman President of India (2007 to 2012)
• Amrit Kaur was the first female cabinet minister in India. She was the minister of Health in the Nehru government from 16 August 1947 to 1957.