Mridula Sinha

Mridula Sinha
17th Governor of Goa
In office 26 August 2014 – 23 October 2019
Chief Minister	Manohar Parrikar Laxmikant Parsekar Pramod Sawant
Preceded by	Om Prakash Kohli
Succeeded by	Satya Pal Malik
Personal details
Born	(1942-11-27)27 November 1942 Muzaffarpur, Bihar, British India
Died	18 November 2020(2020-11-18) (aged 77) Delhi, India
Political party	Bharatiya Janata Party
Spouse	Ram Kripal Sinha

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.^[1][2][3]

Mridula Sinha was also a former president of BJP Mahila Morcha.^[4] She was awarded India's fourth highest civilian award the Padma Shri posthumously in 2021.^[5][6]

Early life

Mridula Sinha was born on 27 November 1942, in a Bhumihar Brahmin family, in the village Chhapra Dharampur Yadu in Muzaffarpur district in Mithila region of Bihar state in India.^{[citation needed]} 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.^[7]

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, Bihar.^[8] After marriage, Mridula continued her studies and took a post-graduate degree in Psychology. 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.^[8]

Career

Meanwhile, with encouragement from her husband, Mridula experimented with the short story format.^[9] 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 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.^[2]

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 of Central Social Welfare Board.^[10]

Political career

At this time, her husband was a cabinet minister in the Bihar state government.^[11] She was, until August 2014, a member of the national executive of Bharatiya Janata Party.^[12] During the BJP's campaign for 2014 general elections, she was in charge of the BJP Mahila Morcha (women's wing).^[13] On 25 August 2014, she was appointed the Governor of Goa.^[14]

Sinha was also appointed an ambassador for the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, by the Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi.^[15][16] 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.^[17][18]

Literary contribution

Source(s):^[19][20][21]

• 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)^[22]
• 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^[21]

Translations into Marathi

• Paritapt Lankeshwari, a translation by Rajashree Khandeparkar^[23]

Honours

• Sinha received an honorary doctorate by the Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar Bihar University in Muzaffarpur, Bihar.^[24][25]
• She was conferred with Acharya Tulsi Kartritva Puraskar in 2017 by Akhil Bhartiya Terapanth Mahila Mandal.

See also

• List of Indian writers

References

1. "PRESS COMMUNIQUE". Press Information Bureau. 26 August 2014. Archived from the original on 27 August 2014. Retrieved 26 August 2014.
2. "Sheila Dikshit resigns; Kalyan Singh is new Governor of Rajasthan". Indian Express. PTI. 26 August 2014. Archived from the original on 27 August 2014. Retrieved 26 August 2014.
3. "Mridula Sinha appointed Goa Governor". Goa News. Goa News Desk. 26 August 2014. Archived from the original on 27 August 2014. Retrieved 26 August 2014.
4. "Mridula Sinha, first woman Governor of Goa, passes away at 77". 19 November 2020.
5. "Padma Awards 2021 announced". Ministry of Home Affairs. Retrieved 26 January 2021.
6. "Ram Vilas Paswan, Mridula Sinha among five Padma awardees from Bihar". Piyush Tripathi. The Times of India. 25 January 2021. Retrieved 25 January 2021.
7. "Balika Vidyapeeth". Archived from the original on 27 August 2014. Retrieved 26 August 2014.
8. "Her Excellency « Harmony Magazine". Retrieved 25 May 2019.
9. "ENTRANCEINDIA | Smt. Mridula Sinha | ENTRANCEINDIA". www.entranceindia.com. 12 September 2017. Retrieved 25 May 2019.
10. "Governing Body, Social action through integrated work". SATHI. 19 November 2008. Retrieved 19 November 2008.^{[permanent dead link‍]}
11. "Want to Serve People: New Goa Governor Mridula Sinha". The New Indian Express. IANS. 26 August 2014. Archived from the original on 30 August 2014. Retrieved 26 August 2014.
12. "National Executive - Bharatiya Janata Party". Archived from the original on 3 July 2014. Retrieved 26 August 2014.
13. "Amit Shah is Uttar Pradesh in-charge of BJP, Om Mathur is Gujarat in-charge". Desh Gujarat. 19 May 2013. Archived from the original on 27 August 2014. Retrieved 26 August 2014.
14. Kamat, Prakash (31 August 2014). "Mridula Sinha sworn-in as Goa Governor". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 18 November 2020.
15. "'Swachh Bharat': PM Modi ropes in nine people including Tendulkar, Salman Khan, Baba Ramdev - the Times of India". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 12 May 2015. Retrieved 22 March 2015.
16. "PM launches Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan | Home | www.narendramodi.in". Archived from the original on 16 March 2015. Retrieved 22 March 2015.
17. "Herald: Cowshed at Raj Bhavan gets a cow". Archived from the original on 24 March 2015. Retrieved 22 March 2015.
18. "Goa Governor adopts cow for daily worship". The Hindu. 19 November 2014. Archived from the original on 26 November 2014. Retrieved 22 March 2015.
19. "I want to do something special for Goa: Sinha". oHeraldo. Retrieved 18 November 2020.
20. "Books by Mridula Sinha". flipkart.com. Archived from the original on 27 August 2014. Retrieved 26 August 2014.
21. "Books by Mridula Sinha". books.google.com. Retrieved 26 August 2014.
22. Archived copy. ASIN 935186166X.
23. "Goa News, Latest Goa Breaking News & Live TV - Prudent Media". Archived from the original on 19 February 2018. Retrieved 19 February 2018.
24. "Focus on true spirit of education". Archived from the original on 26 September 2015. Retrieved 25 September 2015.
25. "BIHAR UNIVERSITY TO CONFER HONARARY [sic] D.LITT ON SMT. MRIDULA SINHA. – www.Goainfomedia.com". Archived from the original on 26 September 2015. Retrieved 25 September 2015.

Political offices
Preceded by Om Prakash Kohli Additional Charge	Governor of Goa 26 August 2014 - 2 November 2019	Succeeded by Satya Pal Malik