Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit was the first woman minister in
India. In 1937, she was elected to the provincial legislature of the
United Provinces and was minister of local self-government and public
health. She held post till 1939 and again from 1946 to 1947.
Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit was sister of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. After
India's independence in 1947, Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit became free India's
first ambassador to the Soviet Union. She was ambassador from 1949 to
1951. When she returned to India in 1952, she contested the first
general elections in independent India and became an MP. In 1953, Vijaya
Lakshmi Pandit became the first woman elected president of the UN
General Assembly where she spoke against apartheid and in favour of
world peace. She strongly opposed the imposition of Emergency by Mrs.
Indira Gandhi in 1977 and retreated to Dehradun. Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit
died on December 1, 1990.
