Sarojini Bindurao Mahishi (3 March 1927 – 25 January 2015) was an Indian teacher, lawyer, activist and politician. She was the first woman Member of Parliament from the

State State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

Karnataka Karnataka ( ) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed as Mysore State on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, States Re ...

, who represented the constituency Dharwad North for four terms between 1962 and 1980. In 1983 she was elected to the

Rajya Sabha Rajya Sabha (Council of States) is the upper house of the Parliament of India and functions as the institutional representation of India’s federal units — the states and union territories.https://rajyasabha.nic.in/ It is a key component o ...

as member of the

Janata Party The Janata Party (JP, ) is an unrecognised political party in India. Navneet Chaturvedi is the current president of the party since November 2021, replacing Jaiprakash Bandhu. The JP was established as an amalgam of Indian political partie ...

. Mahishi is best known for heading the committee appointed by the

government of Karnataka The Government of Karnataka, abbreviated as GoK or GoKA, formerly known as Government of Mysore (1956–1974), is a democratically elected state body with the governor as the ceremonial head to govern the Southwest Indian state of Karnataka ...

in 1983 to recommend criteria for reservation in employment in the State. Submitting the recommendations in 1986, the committee recommended that a major percentage of employment in Karnataka should be reserved to the local people.

Early life

Sarojini Mahishi was born to Kamalabai and Bindurao Mahishi on 3 March 1927 in

Dharwad Dharwad (), also known as Dharwar, is a city located in the northwestern part of the Indian state of Karnataka. It is the headquarters of the Dharwad district of Karnataka and forms a contiguous urban area with the city of Hubballi. It was merged ...

, a city in the erstwhile Bombay Presidency of

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

(in present-day

). She was the second of eight children. Her father Bindurao was a leading advocate and

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

scholar. Sarojini was schooled in the government-run schools of Dharwad before she attended Willingdon College in

Sangli Sangli (ISO 15919, ISO: ''Sāṁgalī''; ) is a metropolitan town and the headquarters of Sangli District in Maharashtra, in south-western India. It has earned the nickname "Turmeric City of India" for being the hub of the Asia's largest produ ...

. She received a degree in law from the Raja Lakhamgouda Law College in

Belgaum Belgaum (Kannada ISO 15919, ISO: ''Bēḷagāma'', ), officially known as Belagavi (also Belgaon), is a city in the Indian state of Karnataka located near its northern western border in the Western Ghats. It is the administrative headquarters ...

, and a master's degree in

Sanskrit language Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

Career

Sarojini Mahishi began her career as a teacher and taught Sanskrit and law for a few years at Janata Shikshana Samiti College in Dharwad before joining the State Social Welfare Board. During

1980 Indian general election General elections were held in India on 3 and 6 January 1980 to elect the members of the 7th Lok Sabha, seventh Lok Sabha. The Janata Party alliance came into power in the 1977 Indian general election, 1977 general elections amidst public anger ...

, she was a member of Central Election Committee of

to select the candidates for election. In 1983, Sarojini Mahishi was elected to the

from the state of

as a member of

. In 1989, she refused to accept the merger of Janata Party into

Janata Dal Janata Dal () was an List of political parties in India, Indian political party which was formed through the merger of Lok Dal, Indian National Congress (Jagjivan), and the Jan Morcha on 11 October 1988—the birth anniversary of Jayaprakash Na ...

. She continued to be member of Janata Party along with Indubhai Patel,

Subramanian Swamy Subramanian Swamy (born 15 September 1939) is an Indian politician, economist and statistician. Before joining politics, he was a professor of Mathematical Economics at the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. He is known for his Hindu ...

, Syed Shahabuddin and H. D. Deve Gowda. Mahishi died on 25 January 2015 at her residence in

Ghaziabad Ghaziabad () is a city in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and a part of Delhi NCR. It is the administrative headquarters of Ghaziabad district and is the largest city in Western Uttar Pradesh, with a population of 1,729,000. Ghaziaba ...

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh ( ; UP) is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. With over 241 million inhabitants, it is the List of states and union territories of India by population, most populated state in In ...

. Her remains were cremated in a crematorium in

Lodi Road Lodi Road () in New Delhi, India, is named after the Lodi Gardens located on it. Two Mughal mausoleums, Humayun's Tomb and Safdarjung's Tomb, lie at the eastern and western ends of the road respectively. A number of cultural, educational, and ...

, Delhi, and her last rites were performed by her brother P. B. Mahishi.

Literary activities

Mahishi translated a number of Kannada and Marathi works into Hindi. Most prominent among them is the translation of Manku Thimmana Kagga of Kannada Poet D. V. Gundappa.

Positions held

*Member of

*Vice Chairperson of

(1982–84) *4 time member of

Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, also known as the House of the People, is the lower house of Parliament of India which is Bicameralism, bicameral, where the upper house is Rajya Sabha. Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha, Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by a ...

from Dharwad North constituency *President of Sansadiya Hindi Parishad *President of Delhi Karnataka Sangha

Sarojini Mahishi Report

The

Ramakrishna Hegde Ramakrishna Mahabaleshwar Hegde (29 August 1926 – 12 January 2004) was an Indian politician who served as the third Chief Minister of Karnataka for three terms between 1983 and 1988. He was elected to the Karnataka Legislative Assembly in 1 ...

government appointed Mahishi in 1983 to head the committee which recommended a certain percentage of jobs to Kannadigas in public sector undertakings, private companies and multinational companies. Pro Kannada lobby groups such as

Karnataka Rakshana Vedike The Karnataka Rakshana Vedike, popularly known as, KaRaVe and abbreviated as the KRV (English: Karnataka Protection Forum) is a Pro-Kannada organization located in the state of Karnataka, India. The organization claims to have more than 6 ...

have been pressurising the implementation of Dr. Sarojini Mahishi Report in Karnataka The committee headed by Mahishi included four retired officers of the

Indian Administrative Service The Indian Administrative Service (IAS) is the Public administration, administrative arm of the All India Services of Government of India. The IAS is one of the three All India Services along with the Indian Police Service (IPS) and the Indian ...

(IAS). The members were poet Gopalakrishna Adiga, G. K. Satya, K. Prabhakara Reddy, G. Narayana Kumar, a legislator, and retired IAS officers B. S. Hanuman and Siddayya Puranik.

Salient features of the Report

The committee was constituted in 1983, submitted interim report on 13.6.1984 and final report on 30.12.1986 and it made 58 recommendations. Of these recommendations, Government of Karnataka accepted 45 recommendations for implementation. Some of the recommendations are: 100 per cent reservation for Kannadigas in all State Government establishments and Public Sector units. 100 percent reservation for Kannadigas in group 'c' and group 'd' jobs in Central Government departments and PSUs operating in Karnataka. A Minimum of 80 percent and 65 reservation for Kannadigas for Group 'b' and Group 'a' jobs respectively, in Central Government units and PSUs operating in Karnataka. All Personnel officers in all industrial units in the state should invariably be a Kannadiga. Industries should appoint local people on priority.

Consequences

As an initiation towards implementation of Sarojini Mahishi report Government of Karnataka has established a separate department named "Kannada Abhivridhi Pradhikara" (Kannada Development Authority) to oversee that the accepted recommendations of the report are implemented in Karnataka effectively.

List of works

* ''Sakuntala'' (1952) * ''Kasuti Kale'' (1953)

Awards

*Hindi Ratna Samman *Honorary D Litt at the 58th annual convocation of Karnataka University

References

External links

Sarojini Mahishi bioprofile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mahishi, Sarojini Rajya Sabha members from Karnataka 20th-century Indian translators 1927 births 2015 deaths Union deputy ministers of India Lok Sabha members from Karnataka People from Dharwad district India MPs 1971–1977 Indian National Congress politicians from Karnataka Janata Party politicians 20th-century Indian women politicians Women union ministers of state of India India MPs 1962–1967 India MPs 1967–1970 India MPs 1977–1979 Women members of the Lok Sabha Women members of the Rajya Sabha Women members of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly