Mridula Sinha (27 November 1942 – 18 November 2020) was an Indian writer and politician who served as Governor of Goa from August 2014 to October 2019. She was the first woman Governor of Goa. Mridula Sinha was also a former president of BJP Mahila Morcha. She was awarded India's fourth highest civilian award the Padma Shri posthumously in 2021.

Early life

Mridula Sinha was born on 27 November 1942 in the village of Chhapra Dharampur Yadu in Muzaffarpur district in Mithila region of

Bihar Bihar ( ) is a states and union territories of India, state in Eastern India. It is the list of states and union territories of India by population, second largest state by population, the List of states and union territories of India by are ...

state in India. Her father was Babu Chhabile Singh and her mother was Anupa Devi. She attended the local school in Chhapra and later studied at ''Balika Vidyapeeth,'' a residential school for girls in Lakhisarai district. Shortly before she completed her bachelor's degree, Mridula's parents arranged for her to marry Ram Kripal Sinha, who at that time was a college lecturer based in Muzaffarpur town,

. After marriage, Mridula continued her studies and took a post-graduate degree in

Psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feel ...

. She then took a job as a lecturer in the Dr. S.K. Sinha Women's College in Motihari. Shortly afterwards, her husband received his doctorate degree. She left the job and started a school in Muzaffarpur where her husband was working in a college.

Career

Meanwhile, with encouragement from her husband, Mridula experimented with the short story format. She was interested in cultural matters and village traditions. She wrote short stories on these topics and on folk tales that she gathered from the villages where she and her husband worked. Many of these stories were published in

Hindi language Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of the Government of India, alongside English, and is the ''li ...

magazines and were later compiled into a two-volume anthology named ''Bihar ki lok-kathayen'' ("folk-tales of Bihar"). She also wrote several novels and a biography of Rajmata Vijayaraje Scindia titled '' Ek Thi Rani Aisi Bhi.'' A film of the same name was later made based on this book. Mridula initially helped her husband in reaching out to the women of the constituency during his campaigns for election to the district committee. She found that with her knowledge of local tradition and cultural nuances, she had a strong connect with the people, especially women. She developed a very strong interest and commitment for social welfare, although she had no interest in electoral politics and never contested any election. She was named

Chairperson The chair, also chairman, chairwoman, or chairperson, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a Board of directors, board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by ...

of Central Social Welfare Board.

Political career

At this time, her husband was a cabinet minister in the Bihar state government. She was, until August 2014, a member of the national executive of

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. BJP emerged out from Syama Prasad Mukherjee's ...

. During the BJP's campaign for 2014 general elections, she was in charge of the BJP Mahila Morcha (women's wing). On 25 August 2014, she was appointed the Governor of Goa. Sinha was also appointed an ambassador for the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, by the

Prime Minister of India The prime minister of India (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the head of government of the Republic of India. Executive authority is vested in the prime minister and his chosen Union Council of Ministers, Council of Ministers, despite the president of ...

Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician who has served as the Prime Minister of India, prime minister of India since 2014. Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Par ...

. During her tenure as Governor of Goa, she also adopted a cow and a calf at the Raj Bhavan for the purpose of daily worship.

Literary contribution

Source(s): *''Ek thi rani aisi bhi'' (Short biography) * ''Nayi devyani'' (Novel) * ''Gharwaas'' (Novel) * ''Jyon mehandi ko rang'' (Novel) * ''Dekhan mein choten lagen'' (Stories) * ''Sita puni boli'' (Novel) * ''Yayavari ankhon se'' (Interviews) * ''Bihar ki lok kathayen -I'' (Stories) * ''Bihar ki lok kathayen-II'' (Stories) * ''Dhai beegha zameen'' (Stories) * ''Matr deh nahin hai aurat'' (Women liberation) * ''Nari na kathputli na udanpari'' (2014) by Yash Publications, New Delhi * ''Apna jivan'' (2014) by Yash Publications, New Delhi * ''Antim ichha'' (2014) by Yash Publications, New Delhi * ''Paritapt Lankeshwari'' (2015) * ''Mujhe Kuch Kehna Hain'' (2015, Poetry) By Yash Publications, New Delhi * ''Aaurat aaviksit purush nahi hain'' (2015) by Yash Publications, New Delhi * ''chinta aur chintan ke inderdhanushyain rang'' by Mridula Sinha (2016) by Yash Publications, New Delhi * ''India women new images on ancient foundation'' (2016) by Yash Publications, New Delhi * ''ya nari sarvbuteshu'' (2016) by Yash Publications, New Delhi * ''Relfications'' (2017) by Yash Publications, New Delhi * ''Ek Sahitya Tirth Sw lauthkar'' (2017) By Yash Publications, New Delhi Films & TV adaptation : Mridula Sinha's works such as the novel ''Jyon Mehendi Ko Rang'' has been adapted for a TV serial, with the short story "Dattak Pita" and the autobiography on Vijayaraje Scindia ''Rajpath se lok path par'' are made into feature films as ''Dattak'' and ''Ek thi Rani Aisi Bhi'' respectively. All her major literary works adapted for films and TV have been by the national award-winning film maker Gul Bahar Singh.

Translations into English

* ''Flames of Desire''

Translations into Marathi

* ''Paritapt Lankeshwari'', a translation by Rajashree Khandeparkar

Honours

* Sinha received an honorary doctorate by the Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar Bihar University in Muzaffarpur, Bihar. * She was conferred with Acharya Tulsi Kartritva Puraskar in 2017 by Akhil Bhartiya Terapanth Mahila Mandal.

References

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Sinha, Mridula 1942 births 2020 deaths Governors of Goa Hindi-language writers Bharatiya Janata Party politicians from Bihar Women in Bihar politics Women state governors of India 20th-century Indian women writers 20th-century Indian women politicians 20th-century Indian politicians People from Muzaffarpur district Women writers from Bihar 21st-century Indian women politicians 21st-century Indian politicians 21st-century Indian novelists 20th-century Indian novelists 21st-century Indian short story writers 20th-century Indian short story writers Indian women poets 21st-century Indian poets Indian women novelists Indian women short story writers Poets from Bihar Novelists from Bihar 21st-century Indian women writers 21st-century Indian writers Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar Bihar University alumni Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in India Recipients of the Padma Shri in literature and education