Lakshmi N. Menon | |
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| Born | (1899-03-29)29 March 1899 |
| Died | 30 November 1994(1994-11-30) (aged 95) |
Lakshmi N. Menon (29 March 1899[1] – 30 November 1994[2]) was an Indianfreedom fighter[3] and politician. She was Minister of State from 1962 to 1966.[4] As delegate she held a speech at theUnited Nations General Assembly in December 1948 at the adoption of theUniversal Declaration of Human Rights.[5]
Born inTrivandrum, she was the child of Rama Varma Thampan and Madhavikutty Amma. In 1930, she married Professor V. K. Nandan Menon, who later became vice-chancellor of theUniversity of Travancore (1950–1951)[6] and ofPatna University, as well as director for theIndian Institute of Public Administration.
She was a Rajya Sabha member from 1952 to 1966.[7] She served in the Ministry of External Affairs as parliamentary secretary from 1952 to 1957, as deputy minister from 1957 to 1962 and as Minister of State to 1966.[4] Retiring from political service in 1967, she turned to social work and also to writing, authoring among other things a book on Indian women for theOxford Pamphlets on Indian Affairs series, published byOxford University Press. She helped to found theFederation of University Women in India.[8] In recognition of her services, she was awarded thePadma Bhushan in 1957 and she was the secondMalayali to receive the award.[9]
Menon dedicated her active life after politics for the cause of the nation. She served the All India Women's Conference as president and patron for many years. She was the vice president of All India Prohibition Council along withMorarji Desai. In 1988, she along withA. P. Udhayabhanu and Johnson J. Edayaranmula established Alcohol & Drug Information Centre (ADIC)-India and served as its president till her death. She also served as president of the All India Committee for the Eradication of Illiteracy Among Women and as chairman of theKasturba Gandhi National Memorial Trust from 1972 to 1985.[10]
Lakshmi Menon's tenure as Minister of State inNehru Government was instrumental in smoothing the bureaucratic procedure involved in setting upThumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station at Trivandrum.[11]
She was the Founder – member of the All – India Women's Conference, and of the Federation of University Women.
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