Nafees Fazal (4November 1947) is an Indian politician who was the first woman Muslim to hold a ministerial post in

South India South India, also known as Southern India or Peninsular India, is the southern part of the Deccan Peninsula in India encompassing the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Telangana as well as the union territories of ...

. She was at first the minister of Medical Education and later the minister of Science & Technology during the Krishna ministry in Karnataka. She was elected as a member of the

Karnataka Legislative Council The Karnataka Legislative Council (formerly the Mysore Legislative Council) is the upper house of the state legislature of Karnataka. Karnataka is one of six Indian states with a bicameral legislature; the Legislative Assembly is the lower ho ...

for two terms, from 1994 to 2006.

Early life

Nafees Fazal was born on 4 November 1947. She is the granddaughter of Khan Bahadur Mohammed Moosa Sait, a former sheriff of

Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...

. She went to boarding school in Lovedale and

Yercaud Yercaud, also spelt Erkad, is a town and hill station in Salem District in Tamil Nadu, India. Located in Servarayan Hills in the Eastern Ghats, it is situated at an altitude of . History Stone-age implements have been found near an ancient s ...

Political career

In 1983, she unsuccessfully contested in the

Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) was the administrative body responsible for civic amenities and some infrastructural assets of the Greater Bangalore, Greater Bengaluru metropolitan area. It was the fourth List of municipal corporat ...

municipal elections from the Shivajinagar ward, under a

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

ticket. Her political mentor was

Margaret Alva Margaret Nazareth Alva (born 14 April 1942) is an Indian politician. She served as the 17th Governor of Goa, 23rd Governor of Gujarat, 19th Governor of Rajasthan and 4th Governor of Uttarakhand at various times between 2009 and 2014. She has ...

. She was the president of the Bangalore wing of the Mahila Congress. In 1994, she was elected to the

and was an MLC until 2006. During the Krishna ministry, she served as the Minister of Medical Education and the Minister of Science & Technology.

Personal life

In 1964, she married Hassan Fazal, whose family owned the clothing store Fazal's in Commercial Street, Bengaluru. They had 2 daughters. Her daughter Nooraine Fazal is the CEO and Co-founder of Inventure Academy and a core committee member of Bangalore Political Action Committee.

References

External links

Nafees Fazal

Breaking Barriers: The Story of a Liberal Muslim Woman’s Passage in Indian Politics
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fazal, Nafees 1947 births 20th-century Indian politicians Karnataka politicians 21st-century Indian politicians