Vasundhara Raje Scindia (born 8 March 1953) is an Indian politician, who has held two terms as the

chief minister of Rajasthan The chief minister of Rajasthan is the chief executive of the Indian state of Rajasthan. In accordance with the Constitution of India, the governor is a state's '' de jure'' head, but '' de facto'' executive authority rests with the chief ...

. She was previously a minister in the Union Cabinet of

Atal Bihari Vajpayee Atal Bihari Vajpayee (; 25 December 1924 – 16 August 2018) was an Indian politician who served three terms as the 10th prime minister of India, first for a term of 13 days in 1996, then for a period of 13 months fr ...

and was India's first

Minister of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Minister may refer to: * Minister (Christianity), a Christian cleric ** Minister (Catholic Church) * Minister (government), a member of government who heads a ministry (government department) ** Minister without portfolio, a member of government w ...

. She is currently one of the national vice presidents of the

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major List of political parties in India, Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the List of ruling p ...

(BJP). A member of the Scindia family, she is also the matriarch of the Bamraulia family of Dholpur.

Early life

Vasundhara Raje singh was born on 8 March 1953 in

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' fin ...

(now Mumbai). She is the daughter of

Vijayaraje Scindia Vijaya Raje Scindia (12 October 1919 – 25 January 2001), born Lekha Divyeshwari Devi and known popularly as the Rajmata of Gwalior, was a prominent Indian political personality. In the days of the British Raj, as consort of the last ruling Ma ...

-Shinde and

Jivajirao Scindia Maharaja Jivajirao Scindia KStJ (26 June 1916 – 16 July 1961) was an Indian prince and government official. In the British Raj, he was the ruling Maharaja of the princely state of Gwalior in central India from 1925 until 1947. After ...

-Shinde,

Maharaja Mahārāja (; also spelled Maharajah, Maharaj) is a Sanskrit title for a "great ruler", "great king" or " high king". A few ruled states informally called empires, including ruler raja Sri Gupta, founder of the ancient Indian Gupta Empire, a ...

Gwalior Gwalior() is a major city in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh; it lies in northern part of Madhya Pradesh and is one of the Counter-magnet cities. Located south of Delhi, the capital city of India, from Agra and from Bhopal, the s ...

, members of the prominent

Scindia The Scindia dynasty (anglicized from Shinde) is a Hindu Maratha dynasty of maratha origin that ruled the erstwhile State of Gwalior. It had the Patil-ship of Kumberkerrab in Wai. It was founded by Ranoji Scindia, who started as a personal serva ...

royal

Maratha The Marathi people ( Marathi: मराठी लोक) or Marathis are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group who are indigenous to Maharashtra in western India. They natively speak Marathi, an Indo-Aryan language. Maharashtra was formed a ...

family. Raje completed her school education at Presentation Convent School in

Kodaikanal Kodaikanal () is a hill station which is located in Dindigul district in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. Its name in the Tamil language means "The Gift of the Forest". Kodaikanal is referred to as the "Princess of Hill stations" and has a long ...

, Tamil Nadu, and later graduated with economics and

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and ...

degrees from the

Sophia College for Women Sophia College (Autonomous) is an undergraduate women's college established in 1941 by Society of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. It is affiliated to the University of Mumbai. The governing body of The Society for the Higher Education of Women in In ...

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the secon ...

Personal life

She married Maharaj Rana

Hemant Singh Jat Maharaja Hemant Singh (born 5 January 1951) was the Jat Maharaj Rana of Dholpur from 1954–71, when the all royal titles and privy purses were abolished by Republic of India. Life Hemant Singh was born as the second son of Maharaja Pra ...

, of the royal

Dholpur Dholpur is a city in the Dholpur district in Rajasthan state of India. It is situated on the left bank of the famous Chambal river. The city is the administrative headquarters of Dholpur District and was formerly seat of the Dholpur pri ...

family, on 17 November 1972, but they separated a year later. Her son, Dushyant Singh, was elected to the Lok Sabha from her former constituency, Jhalawar. Her siblings are

Yashodhara Raje Scindia Yashodhara Raje Scindia (born 19 June 1954) is an Indian politician and Minister of Sports and Youth Welfare, Technical Education and Skill Development and Employment of Madhya Pradesh. She is also the former Minister for Commerce, Industries a ...

, a former industries minister of

Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh (, ; meaning 'central province') is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal, and the largest city is Indore, with Jabalpur, Ujjain, Gwalior, Sagar, and Rewa being the other major cities. Madhya Pradesh is the second ...

, the late Madhavrao Scindia, the late Padmavati Raje "Akkasaheb" Burman (1942–64), who married Kirit Deb Burman, the last ruling Maharaja of

Tripura Tripura (, Bengali: ) is a state in Northeast India. The third-smallest state in the country, it covers ; and the seventh-least populous state with a population of 36.71 lakh ( 3.67 million). It is bordered by Assam and Mizoram to the ea ...

, and Usha Raje Rana (b. 1943) who married into the Rana family of Nepal.

Children

She has one son Dushyant Singh a four-time member of Parliament through Loksabha and the Yuvraj of Dholpur.

Political career

In 1984, Raje entered the Indian political system. Initially, she was made a member of the national executive of the newly formed Bharatiya Janata Party. She was also elected as a member of the 8th Rajasthan Assembly from

. In the same year, she was appointed vice president of the Yuva Morcha,

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; lit. 'Land of Kings') is a state in northern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the largest Indian state by area and the seventh largest by population. It is on India's northwestern ...

BJP.Life and Career – Vasundhara Raje
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Membership of legislative assembly

* 1985-90 member, 8th Rajasthan legislative assembly from Dholpur * 2003-08 member, 12th Rajasthan legislative assembly from

Jhalrapatan Jhalrapatan is a city and municipality, near city of Jhalawar in Jhalawar district in the state of Rajasthan in India. Its population is approximately 37,506. The former Chief Minister of Rajasthan, Vasundhara Raje, has been three times elected ...

* 2008–13, 13th Rajasthan legislative assembly from Jhalrapatan * 2013–18, member, 14th Rajasthan legislative assembly from Jhalrapatan *2018–present, member, 15th Rajasthan legislative assembly from Jhalrapatan

Membership of parliament

* 1989-91 : member,

9th Lok Sabha List of Members of the 9th Lok Sabha (2 December 1989 – 13 March 1991) elections in 22–26 November 1989. The Lok Sabha (House of the People) is the lower house in the Parliament of India. Twelve sitting members from Rajya Sabha were elec ...

, from

Jhalawar Jhalawar () is a city, municipal council and headquarter in Jhalawar district of the Indian state of Rajasthan. It is located in the southeastern part of the state. It was the capital of the former princely state of Jhalawar, and is the ad ...

. * 1991-96 : member,

10th Lok Sabha List of Members of the 10th Lok Sabha, (20 June 1991 – 10 May 1996) elected during 1991 Indian general election held during May–June 1991. The Lok Sabha (House of the People) is the lower house in the Parliament of India, four sitting membe ...

* 1996-98 : member,

11th Lok Sabha General elections were held in India in April–May 1996 to elect the members of the 11th Lok Sabha. The result of the election was a hung parliament, which would see three Prime Ministers in two years and force the country back to the polls ...

* 1998-99 : member,

12th Lok Sabha This is the list of members of the 12th Lok Sabha, (10 March 1998 – 26 April 1999) after the 1998 Indian general election held during February–March 1998. This was the second consecutive Lok Sabha, like the 11th Lok Sabha elections that d ...

* 1999-03 : member,

13th Lok Sabha The 13th Lok Sabha (10 October 1999 – 6 February 2004) is the thirteenth session of the Lok Sabha (House of the People, or lower house in the Parliament of India). It was convened after 1999 Indian general election held during September–Oc ...

Positions held

* 1985-87 : vice-president, Yuva Morcha BJP, Rajasthan * 1987 : vice-president, BJP, Rajasthan * 1990-91 : member, Library Committee, member, Consultative Committee, Ministries of Commerce and Tourism * 1991-96 : member, Consultative Committees, Ministries of Power, Science and Technology, Environment and Tourism * 1996-97 : member, Committee on Science and Technology, Environment and Forests, Member, Consultative Committees, Ministries of Power, Science and Technology and Tourism * 1997-1998 : joint secretary, BJP Parliamentary Party * 1998-99 : Union minister of state, External Affairs * 13 October 1999 – 31 August 2001: Union minister of state (Independent Charge), Small Scale Industries and Agro & Rural Industries; Department of Personnel and Training; Department of Pensions and Pensioners' Welfare in the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions; Department of Atomic Energy and Department of Space * 1 September 2001 – 1 November 2001: Union minister of state, Small Scale Industries; Personnel, Training, Pensions, Administrative Reforms & Public Grievances; Department of Atomic Energy; and Department of Space (Independent Charge) 2 November 2001- * 29 January 2003 – 8 December 2003: Union minister of state, Small Scale Industries; Personnel, Training, Pensions, Administrative Reforms & Public Grievances; Planning; Department of Atomic Energy; and Department of Space (Independent Charge) 14 November 2002 - * 14 December 2003 – president, BJP, Rajasthan * 8 December 2003 – 8 December 2008: chief minister, Rajasthan * 2 January 2009 – 8 December 2013: leader of opposition, Rajasthan legislative assembly * 8 December 2013 – 11 December 2018: chief minister, Rajasthan * 11 January 2019 : national vice president of Bharatiya Janata Party

Works

* Vasundhara Raje, ''Rajasthan Gaurav Yatra'' * Vasundhara Raje, '' Bhamashah Yojana'' * Satyam Kumar and Vasundhara Raje, ''iStart Rajasthan'' * Vasundhara Raje, ''Jal Swavlamban'' * See More Schemes of Vasundhara Raje

Achievements

In 2007, she received the "Women Together Award" from the UNO for services rendered towards the self-empowerment of women. In 2018, she received the 'Best Chief Minister of the Year' Award at the 52nd Skoch Summit.

Book

A book on the life of Vasundhara Raje named '' Vasundhara Raje aur Vikasit Rajasthan'' was written by the historian Vijay Nahar and published by

Prabhat Prakashan Prabhat Prakashan is an Indian publishing house. It was co-founded in 1958 by Shyam Sunder. They publish books in English and Hindi languages. They are the first Indian publisher to bring out Hindi translations of Russian classics including the ...

References

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External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Raje, Vasundhara 1953 births Living people Chief ministers from Bharatiya Janata Party Scindia dynasty of Gwalior Chief Ministers of Rajasthan Sophia College for Women alumni Women in Rajasthan politics Rajasthan MLAs 1985–1990 People from Jhalawar district Rajasthani people India MPs 1989–1991 India MPs 1991–1996 India MPs 1996–1997 India MPs 1998–1999 India MPs 1999–2004 Lok Sabha members from Rajasthan Women chief ministers of Indian states Rajasthan MLAs 2013–2018 Rajasthan MLAs 2003–2008 Rajasthan MLAs 2008–2013 Leaders of the Opposition in Rajasthan Indian female royalty Bharatiya Janata Party politicians from Rajasthan 20th-century Indian women politicians 20th-century Indian politicians 21st-century Indian women politicians 21st-century Indian politicians Women members of the Lok Sabha Women union ministers of state of India Rajasthan MLAs 2018–2023