Daughters of India

Concept: Women Superstars of India

• Women in India are doing excellent in various sectors.
• They have made us proud, whether it is in the field of politics, sports, culture, or science.
• Women’s empowerment in India has been slowly gaining significance after independence.
• Women and men worldwide have worked hard to pass laws in favour of women, their rights, growth, and development.

Some famous women personalities of India:

1. Sarojini Naidu:

• Sarojini Naidu, an excellent orator, and women’s rights activist, was born in Hyderabad, British India.
• She was a social activist who fought for women’s education and later joined the National Congress Party.
• Sarojini Naidu was greatly inspired by Gandhiji and his non-violence theory.
• She worked as the President of the Indian National Congress and became the first Governor of the United Provinces.
• Gandhiji gave her the nickname ‘Nightingale of India’.

2. Indira Gandhi:

• Indira Gandhi was the first and the only female Prime Minister of India.
• Her father, Jawaharlal Nehru, was a notable figure in Indian politics.
• Indira Gandhi acted as the President of the Indian National Congress.
• She played a key role in the Bangladesh Liberation.
• Her Sikh bodyguards assassinated her in 1984.

3. Sushma Swaraj:

• Sushma Swaraj, a famous politician and diplomat was born in Haryana.
• She practised as an advocate in the Supreme Court.
• She was an active member of the Bharatiya Janata Party and became the first female Chief Minister of Delhi.
• Sushma Swaraj became the youngest Cabinet Minister in the Government of Haryana at 25 years of age in 1977.
• After two years, she became State President of the Janata Party, Haryana, at 27.
• She was also the first female Spokesperson of a national political party in India.
• She became the minister of External Affairs in 2014.

4. Sania Mirza:

• Sania Mirza is a professional tennis player in India who won six Grand Slam titles.
• She is one of the highest-ranked female players from India.
• She became famous for defeating many prominent players in singles, but due to a wrist injury, she gave up on singles and concentrated on doubles.
• She won numerous medals in the Asian Games and the Commonwealth games.
• She is married to the famous Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Malik.

5. Arundhati Roy:

• Arundhati Roy is a famous author and social activist.
• She is well known for her novel ‘The God of Small Things’, which won the prestigious Man Booker Prize.
• She is also a political activist and fights for several environmental causes and human rights issues.
• She spent her childhood with her mother, who was a teacher and lived in Kerala.
• Early in her career, she used to write screenplays for movies.

6. Kiran Bedi:

• Kiran Bedi was born in Punjab, India.
• She is a social activist turned politician who is the first woman in India to join the Indian Police Services.
• As a teenager, she used to be a professional tennis player.
• After joining the police, she played a key role in the anti-corruption movement and worked hard to reduce crimes against women.
• She also launched several campaigns against drug abuse.
• She has written a few books and hosted a show named ‘Aap Ki Kachehri’.

7. Indra Nooyi:

• Indra Nooyi is a famous Indian-American business executive born in Chennai, India.
• She completed her bachelors from Madras Christian College, and later moved to the United States of America to pursue a Master’s degree in management.
• She worked as the Chief Executive Officer of PepsiCo.
• She was named in the World’s 100 Most Powerful Women.
• As a teenager, she used to play cricket and had a deep passion for music.

8. Sudha Murti:

• Sudha Murti is a famous social activist married to the Infosys co-founder, N.R. Narayana Murthy.
• She is renowned for her contribution to Kannada and English literature.
• She worked for Karnataka Government Schools and introduced computer labs and libraries for students.
• She is the chairperson of Infosys Foundation and also worked as a member of the Gate’s Foundation.
• She worked for rural development and established many orphanages for children.
• In 2006, she received Padma Shri from the Government of India.
• She is an engineer by profession and joined TATA Engineering and Locomotive Company.
• She has also acted in a few Kannada movies.

9. Barkha Dutt:

• Barkha Dutt is a popular Indian television journalist who became famous for reporting from conflict-stricken areas.
• Dutt’s mother was an eminent journalist who inspired her to choose this profession.
• She started her career as a columnist for a few newspaper agencies.
• Dutt became famous when she started reporting on the Kargil War in 1999.
• She reported from the locations where the conflict occurred and gained recognition for an interview, she took with Captain Vikram Batra.
• She also covered conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.
• She received Padma Shri from the Government of India for reporting on the Tsunami.

10. Mithali Raj:

• Mithali Raj is an Indian cricketer who plays as a right-handed batsman.
• She was born in Rajasthan, India.
• She captained both the test and ODI teams of the Indian Women’s National Cricket Team.
• She is a right-arm bowler and has a record of achieving the highest runs in ODI cricket.
• Due to her accomplishments in cricket, she received many awards like the Arjuna Award and the Major Dhyanchand Khel Ratna Award by the Government of India.
• She was awarded the Padma Shri in 2015.

11. Tessy Thomas:

• Tessy Thomas is an Indian space scientist known as the ‘Missile Woman of India’.
• She was born in Kerala, India, and from childhood, she started developing an interest in space launching programmes.
• She excelled in mathematics and physics and later studied Armament Technology at a reputed institute in south India.
• She worked on several projects for the development of ballistic missiles.
• She also collaborated with Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam on some notable projects.

12. Kalpana Chawla:

• Kalpana Chawla was an astronaut born in Haryana, India.
• She did her Bachelors in Aeronautical Engineering from Punjab, India.
• Later she moved to the United States of America to pursue a Master’s in Aerospace Engineering.
• She started working at NASA and got selected for her first space mission.
• Her second space mission was tragic because the spaceship was destroyed, causing all its members' deaths.
• After her death, she was honoured by various educational departments of the Government of India.

13. Gunjan Saxena:

• Gunjan Saxena is an Indian Air Force officer and a former helicopter pilot in the Indian Air Force.
• She is the first woman who flew in a combat zone.
• During the Kargil War in 1999, she evacuated more than 900 troops from the conflict zone, including injured and deceased soldiers.
• She was born in an Army family in New Delhi, India.
• After the Kargil War, she received ‘Shaurya Veer’ from a civilian organisation in Uttar Pradesh.
• The Bollywood film Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl is based on her life.

New Words

Did You Know?

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