Saroj Nalini Dutt (''née'' De) MBE (9 October 1887 – 19 January 1925) was an Indian feminist and social reformer.

Background

She was born in her father,

Brajendranath De Brajendranath Dey (23 December 1852 – 20 September 1932) was an early Indian member of the Indian Civil Service. Early life and education De studied at Hare School, Calcutta, and then Canning Collegiate School and Canning College, Lucknow. ...

's, country house in

Bandel Bandel is a city in the Hooghly district of the Indian state of West Bengal. It was founded by Portuguese Empire, Portuguese settlers and falls under the jurisdiction of Chandernagore Police Commissionerate. It is a part of the area covered by ...

, near Hooghly, in Bengal Province. She was brought up with her brothers and sisters and shared with them an education under a tutor and a governess. Members of her paternal family frequently visited the

Brahmo Bengali Brahmos are those who adhere to Brahmoism, the philosophy of Brahmo Samaj which was founded by Raja Rammohan Roy. A recent publication describes the disproportionate influence of Brahmos on India's development post-19th Century as un ...

Sammilan Samaj in

Bhowanipore Bhowanipore (also Bhowanipur; ) is a neighbourhood of South Kolkata in Kolkata district in the Indian state of West Bengal. History In 1717, the East India Company obtained the right to rent from 38 villages surrounding their settlement from ...

Calcutta Kolkata, also known as Calcutta (List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern ba ...

. In 1905, she married

Gurusaday Dutt Gurusaday Dutt (10 May 1882 – 25 June 1941) was a civil servant, folklorist, and writer. He was the founder of the ''Bratachari'' Movement in the 1930s. Early life and education Gurusaday was the son of the Ramkrishna Dutta Chaudhuri and A ...

. Her only child, Birendrasaday Dutt, was born in 1909.

Work

She was a reformer and a pioneer of the movement for the uplifting of women in Bengal. She pioneered the formation of Mahila Samitis (women's institutes) in Bengal. She started her first Mahila Samiti in 1913 in Pabna district with the object of developing friendly cooperation among the ''purdahnashin'' ladies. Subsequently, she started the Mahila Samitis of Birbhum (1916), Sultanpur (1917), and Rampurhat (1918) districts respectively. She was the secretary of the Indian Section of the Calcutta League of Women's Workers (later Bengal Presidency Council of Women), member of the Council of the Nari Siksha Samiti (Women's Educational League), and Member of the Calcutta Municipal Corporation's committee which was to make suitable arrangements for allowing women to elect councillors. She was also the vice president of the Sylhet Union, an association set up for the promotion of female education in

Sylhet district Sylhet District (), located in north-east Bangladesh, is one of the four districts in Sylhet Division, which contains Sylhet, the regional capital. History Sylhet District was established on 3 January 1782, and until 1878 it was part of Benga ...

Death

She died suddenly of jaundice on 19 January 1925.

Awards

Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

, 1918.

Legacy

Institutions named after her: *The Saroj Nalini Dutt Memorial Association (1925).Saroj Nalini Dutt Memorial Association
/ref> *A girls high school in Suri, earlier named after its founder, Sir Rivers Thompson, which she helped to reorganise, is now named after her.

References

External links

Saroj Nalini Dutt Memorial Association
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dutta, Saroj Nalini 1887 births 1925 deaths 20th-century Indian educational theorists Indian women scientists Indian feminists Bengali Hindus People from the Bengal Presidency People from Hooghly district Scholars from British India Indian social workers Indian social reformers Indian educators