Durgabai Deshmukh was an Indian freedom fighter, lawyer, social worker and politician. She was a member of the Constituent Assembly of India and the Planning Commission of India. Today on July 15, let’s know about Durgabai Deshmukh.
Durgabai Deshmukh was born on July 15, 1909 in a small village in Rajahmundry, Andhra Pradesh. She belonged to a Gummidithala Brahmin family. Durgabai Deshmukh is known as the Iron Lady of India. She was a learned and accomplished lawyer, an ardent social worker and a freedom fighter.
Durgabai was married to her cousin Subba Rao at the age of 8. When he decided to end the marriage to focus on his studies, he received the full support of his family. She joined the Indian independence movement at a very young age. When she was 12, she left school in protest against the imposition of English as the main medium of instruction. She started Balika Hindi Pathshala in Rajahmundry to promote Hindi education for girls.
Deshmukh, who was an example of women empowerment, remarried at the age of 44 to Chintan Deshmukh, who is the inspiration for the title of her autobiography ‘Chintaman and I’. Her husband was the first Indian to become the Governor of the Reserve Bank of India.
Durgabai Deshmukh Biography
Example of Women Empowerment
She was the main driving force behind women in Andhra and successfully gained their support for the freedom movement. In 1936, she founded the Andhra Mahila Sabha to help young Telugu girls in Madras get education, health services and vocational training for the matriculation examination conducted by Banaras Hindu University. Durgabai also founded and edited a Telugu magazine called Andhra Mahila.
Additionally, Durgabai was also the president of the Blind Relief Organization and in that capacity, she established various schools, hostels and workshops on light engineering for the blind. Indira Gandhi gave her the title of mother of social work in India.
Member of the Constituent Assembly
She was elected to the Constituent Assembly from Madras Province. She was the only woman in the panel of Speakers in the Constituent Assembly. He stressed the need for separate family courts and it was he who proposed that ‘Hindustani’ be made the national language. He highlighted the importance of non-Hindi speakers learning Hindi. She was also made the first chairperson of the National Council for Women’s Education, established by the Government of India in 1958. In 1963, he was sent to Washington D.C. as a member of the Indian delegation to the World Food Congress.
Durgabai Deshmukh wrote a book named ‘The Stone That Speaketh’. He wrote his autobiography ‘Chintaman and I’.
Deshmukh died on May 9, 1981. He died in Narasannapeta in Srikakulam district. Throughout her life, she fought for women’s rights, but unlike other activists, she freed herself from all the suffering and then went on to change the lives of millions of women in India and made their lives worth living.
To read this article in hindi- https://hindi.ultranewstv.com/personality/durgabai-deshmukh/
