biography
| name: |
Pandit, Vijaya Lakshmi
|
| |
née Swarup Kumari Nehru
|
| sex:
| female
|
| lived:
| (1900–90)
|
| biography:
| Indian diplomat, born in Allahabad, NE India, the sister of Nehru. She was active in the nationalist movement, and was three times imprisoned. In the Legislative Assembly of the United Provinces (later, Uttar Pradesh) she was minister for local self-government and public health (1937–9), the first Indian woman to hold a cabinet post. Leader of the Indian UN delegation (1946–8, 1952–3), she also held several ambassadorial posts (1947–51). In 1953, she became the first woman president of the UN General Assembly, and was Indian High Commissioner in London (1954–61). |
|
|
