Renuka Ray

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Renuka Ray
Malda, West Bengal
Personal details
Born4 January, 1904
Malda, West Bengal, India
Political partyIndian National Congress
ParentSatish Chandra Mukherjee
AwardsPadma Bhushan

Renuka Ray (1904–1997) was a noted freedom-fighter, social activist and politician of India.[1]

She was a descendant of

All India Women’s Conference.[2] She was awarded the Padma Bhushan by the Government of India in 1988.[3]

Early life and education

She came in contact with Mahatma Gandhi at an early age of sixteen and was greatly influenced by him. She left college to answer Gandhiji's call for boycotting the British Indian educational system. However, later when her parents persuaded Gandhiji to ask her to go to London for further studies, she joined London School of Economics in 1921.[4] She was married to Satyendra Nath Ray at an early age.[2][5]

Her maternal grandparents were the most distinguished couple of their times. Maternal grandfather Prof. P K Roy was the first Indian to receive a D Phil from

Calcutta University
. Sarala Roy was the daughter of renowned Brahmo reformer Durgamohan Das and sister of Lady Abala Bose and S R Das, the founder of prestigious Doon School and a cousin of Deshbandhu C R Das.

Career

On returning to India, she joined

All India Women’s Conference
and worked hard to champion women's rights and inheritance rights in parental property. In 1932 she became President of All India Women’s Conference. She was also its president for the years 1953–54.[5]

In 1943 she was nominated to Central Legislative Assembly as a representative of women of India. She was also a member of Constituent Assembly of India in 1946–47.[2][5]

She was appointed as Minister of Relief & Rehabilitation, West Bengal in the years 1952–57. She was also

Malda Lok Sabha constituency. In year 1959 she headed a committee on Social Welfare and Welfare of Backward Classes, which is popularly known as Renuka Ray Committee.[6][7]

Among her siblings

Subroto Mukherjee was the first air chief marshal of Indian Air Force who died in Tokyo and was married to Sharda Mukherjee (née' Pandit) a niece-in-law of Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit
and Prashanta Mukherjee who was the chairperson of the Indian Railway Board and was married to Keshab Chandra Sen's granddaughter Violet. Her younger sister Nita Sen's daughter Geeti sen is a noted art historian and editor-inchief of IIC, Quarterly and married to renowned Bollywood film director Muzaffar Ali.

Works

She is author of the book My Reminiscences: Social Development During the Gandhian Era and After.[4]

References

  1. ^ Women parliamentarians in India by CK Jain, Published for Lok Sabha Secretariat by Surjeet Publications, 1993
  2. ^
    ISBN 9788180693366
    .
  3. ^ "Padma Awards Directory (1954-2009)" (PDF). Ministry of Home Affairs. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 May 2013.
  4. ^ a b "LIFE LIVED IN AN AGE OF EXTREMES". Archived from the original on 23 June 2006. Retrieved 22 June 2012.
  5. ^ a b c "RENUKA RAY (1904–1997)". Retrieved 22 June 2012.
  6. ISBN 9788185565354
    .
  7. ^ Prasad, Rajeshwar (1982). Social administration: an analytical study of a state. pp. 47, 52, 53.
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