Power & Politics: Women Who Led India After 1947

TNIE online desk

Amrit Kaur | Union Minister of Health (1947–1957)

India’s first Cabinet Minister. She played a key role in founding the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and served as its first president.

Photo | PIB

Sarojini Naidu |Governor of the United Provinces (now Uttar Pradesh) (1947–1949)

The first woman to serve as a Governor of a state in independent India.

File Photo | Express

Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit | Ambassador to the USSR (1947–1949) and USA (1949–1951); President of the UN General Assembly (1953)

​India’s first top female diplomat and the first woman elected President of the United Nations General Assembly.

File Photo | PTI

Sucheta Kripalani | Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh (1963–1967)

​The first woman Chief Minister of an Indian state.

File Photo | Express

Indira Gandhi | Prime Minister of India (First term: 1966–1977)

The first (and to date, only) female Prime Minister of India.

File Photo | Express
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