Smt. Sumitra Mahajan

Personal Details

Date of Birth : 12.04.1943

Place of Birth : Chiplun, Distt. Ratnagiri (Maharashtra)

Mother's Name : Smt. Usha

Father's Name : Shri Purushotam Neelkanth Sathe

Marital Status : Married

Date of Marriage : 29 January 1965

Spouse's Name : Late Shri Jayant Mahajan

Children : Two sons

Educational Qualifications

Bachelor of Law(LL.B), M.A.(Psychology)

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Position Held

• 1982-85 Corporator, Municipal Corporation, Indore (M.P.)
  
  
• 1984-85 Deputy Mayor, Municipal Corporation, Indore
  
  
• 1989 Elected to 9th Lok Sabha (the House of People) for the first time
  
  
• 1990-91 Member, Parliamentary Consultative Committee, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India
  
  
• President, Mahila Morcha (Women Wing), Bharatiya Janata Party (B.J.P.), Madhya Pradesh
  
  
• 1991 Re-elected to 10th Lok Sabha (2nd term)
  
  
• 1991-92 Member, Joint Parliamentary Committee for 73rd Constitution Amendment Bill
  
  
• 1991-93 Member, Joint Parliamentary Committee for Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Regulation and Prevention of Misuse) Bill, 1991
  
  
• 1991-96 Member, Parliamentary Consultative Committee, Ministry of Communications, Government of India
  
  
• 1992-94 Vice-President, B.J.P., Madhya Pradesh
  
  
• 1995-96 Secretary, B.J.P., Parliamentary Board
  
  
• Chairman, Parliamentary Board, Madhya Pradesh
  
  
• 1996 Re-elected to 11th Lok Sabha (3rd term)
  
  
• 1996 Secretary, B.J.P.
  
  
• 1997 Member, Parliamentary Committee on Public Accounts
  
  
• 1998 Re-elected to 12th Lok Sabha (4th term)
  
  
• 1998 General-Secretary, B.J.P.
  
  
• 1998-99 Convenor, Sub-Committee on Drug Control, Parliamentary Committee on Human Resource Development
  
  
• Member, Parliamentary Committee on Human Resource Development and its Sub-Committee on Value-based Education
  
  
• Member, Joint Parliamentary Committee on Empowerment of Women
  
  
• Member, Parliamentary Committee on Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS)
  
  
• Member, Parliamentary Consultative Committee, Ministry of Human Resource Development
  
  
• 1999 Re-elected to 13th Lok Sabha (5th term)
  
  
• October 1999- June 2002 Union Minister of State, Ministry of Human Resource Development
  
  
• July 2002 - May 2003 Union Minister of State, Ministry of Communication & Information Technology
  
  
• 24 May 2003- May 2004 Union Minister of State, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas
  
  
• 2004 Re-elected to 14th Lok Sabha( 6th term)
  
  
• 2004-2009 Member, General Purposes Committee of Parliament
  
  
• Chairperson, Parliamentary Commmittee on Social Justice and Empowerment
  
  
• Member, Panel of Chairpersons (Lok Sabha)
  
  
• 2005 Prabhari (In charge) Mahila Morcha, B.J.P.
  
  
• Member, Parliamentary Consultative Committee on Civil Aviation
  
  
• 5 Aug. 2007 - May 2009 Chairperson, Parliamentary Standing Committee on Social Justice & Empowerment
  
  
• 2009 Re-elected to 15th Lok Sabha (7th term)
  
  
• June 2009 Member, Panel of Chairpersons (Lok Sabha)
  
  
• 31 August 2009 -18 May 2014 Chairperson, Parliamentary Standing Committee on Rural Development
  
  
• 23 September 2009- 18 May 2014 Member, Parliamentary Committee on Empowerment of Women
  
  
• 18 May 2014- Re-elected to 16th Lok Sabha (8th term)
  
  
• 6 June 2014 - Unanimously elected as Speaker, Lok Sabha (House of People).
  
  
• Chairperson, (i) Business Advisory Committee, (ii) Rules Committee, (iii) Joint Parliamentary Committee on Maintenance of Heritage Character and Development of Parliament House Complex, (iv) Committee on Installation of Portraits/Statues of National Leaders and Parliamentarians in Parliament House Complex, (v) General Purposes Committee, (vi) Committee on Security in Parliament House Complex, (vii) Standing Committee of All India Presiding Officers’ Conference; and (viii) Executive Committee of CPA India Region.
  
  
• President, (i) Indian Parliamentary Group; and (ii) India Branch of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA).
  
  

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International Conferences Attended

• 4th World Conference on Women, Beijing (China) September, 1995.
  
  
• International Forum on Parliamentarians and Local Authorities with an interest in tourism from 24-26 September, 1996, Bali ((Indonesia)
  
  
• 112th Assembly of the IPU held from 3 to 8 April, 2005 in Manila, Philippines
  
  
• Sixth Canadian Parliamentary CPA Seminar in Ottawa, Canada from 21 to 27 October, 2007.
  
  
• Regional Seminar for Asian Parliaments Preventing and responding to violence against women and girls: from legislation to effective enforcement held in New Delhi from 15 to 17 September, 2011
  
  
• Commonwealth Women Parliamentarian (CWP) India Region Seminar on 'Gender Justice and Responsive Governance' in New Delhi from 8 to 9 March, 2012.
  
  
• 58th Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference in Colombo from 7 to 15 September, 2012
  
  
• As a Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha) and as Union Minister attended and participated in the following Conferences and Seminars held in India and abroad: 4th World Conference on Women, Beijing (China), Sept. 1995; International Forum on Parliamentarians and Local Authorities with an interest in Tourism, Bali (Indonesia), Sept. 1996; As Minister of State for Women and Child Development, led an Indian Delegation to Australia to discuss bilateral issues. As Minister of State for Women and Child Development, attended various Conferences/Bilateral visits to USA, Sri Lanka, Maldives, 2001; As Minister of State for Communications and Information Technology, led the Indian Delegation to ITU Conferences, Hong Kong and Morocco, 2002; 112th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), Manila, Philippines, April, 2005; Sixth Canadian Parliamentary CPA Seminar in Ottawa, Canada, Oct. 2007; Regional Seminar for Asian Parliaments on ‘Preventing and Responding to Violence against Women and Girls: From Legislation to Effective Enforcement’, New Delhi, Sept. 2011; Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians (CWP) India Region Seminar on ‘Gender Justice and Responsive Governance’, New Delhi, March, 2012; 58th Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference in Colombo (Sri Lanka), Sept. 2012.
  
  
• As Speaker Lok Sabha, attended and also led Indian Parliamentary Delegations at the following Meetings / Conferences and Bilateral visits : 9th Meeting of Women Speakers of Parliament, Geneva (Switzerland), Sept. 2014; 131st Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, Geneva (Switzerland), Oct. 2014; 2nd Meeting of the Preparatory Committee of The Fourth World Conference of Speakers of Parliaments in New York (USA), Nov. 2014; Meeting of the Standing Committee of the Conference of Speakers and Presiding Officers of the Commonwealth (CSPOC), Jersey, Jan. 2015; 132nd Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, Hanoi (Vietnam), March- April 2015; 3rd Meeting of the Preparatory Committee of The Fourth World Conference of Speakers of Parliament, Geneva (Switzerland), June 2015; Visit to European Parliament (Belgium), June 2015; 10th Meeting of Women Speakers of Parliament, New York (USA), Aug. 2015; 4th Meeting of Preparatory Committee of The Fourth World Conference of Speakers of Parliament, New York (USA), Aug. 2015; 4th World Conference of Speakers of Parliament, New York (USA), Aug. - Sept. 2015; 133rd Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, Geneva (Switzerland), Oct. 2015; The 23rd Conference of Speakers and Presiding Officers of Commonwealth (CSPOC), Malaysia, Jan. 2016; The South Asian Speakers’ Summit on Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Dhaka (Bangladesh), Jan. 2016; The Pre-Assembly Event, March, 2016 and the 134th Assembly of Inter - Parliamentary Union in Lusaka (Zambia), March 2016; Visit to Mongolia, April 2016; visit to New Zealand, Sept. 2016; and visit to South Korea, Sept.-Oct. 2016; 135th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, Geneva, (Switzerland), Oct. 2016; Meeting of the Standing Committee of the Conference of Speakers and Presiding Officers of the Commonwealth (CSPOC), London, January 2017; 136th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, Dhaka (Bangladesh) April 2017; Visit to Mauritius, June 2017; Visit to Russian Federation, July 2017; World Parliamentary Forum on Sustainable Development, Nusa Dua (Bali), Indonesia, Sept. 2017; 8th Conference of the Association of SAARC Speakers and Parliamentarians, Colombo, Oct. 2017; 137th Assembly of the Inter Parliamentary Union, St. Petersburg (Russia), Oct. 2017; Meeting of BRICS Parliamentary Forum, St. Petersburg (Russia), Oct. 2017; The 63rd Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference, Dhaka (Bangladesh), Nov. 2017; 24th Conference of Speakers and Presiding Officers of the Commonwealth (CSPOC) in Victoria (Seychelles), Jan. 2018; Visit to Belarus, Latvia and Finland, June 2018; Third South Asian Speakers’ Summit on Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Colombo (Sri Lanka), July 2018; 139th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, Geneva (Switzerland), Oct. 2018; Parliamentary Forum, G-20 Speakers’ Summit and G-20 Women Speakers’ Summit held in the context of G-20 Leaders Summit, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 31 Oct. – 2 Nov. 2018.
  
  
• Conceptualised and Chaired the first ever National Conference of Women Legislators, New Delhi, 5-6 March 2016; and the first ever National Legislators Conference, New Delhi, 10-11 March 2018.
  
  
• As Chairperson of BRICS Parliamentary Forum for the year 2016, organised the Meeting of BRICS Women Parliamentarians Forum, Jaipur, Aug. 2016; and Meeting of Speakers and Presiding Officers of Parliaments of BRICS Parliamentary Forum, Geneva (Switzerland), Oct. 2016.
  
  
• As Chairperson of the All India Presiding Officers’ Conference, attended the 77th Conference of Presiding Officers of Legislative Bodies in India, Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh), Jan.- Feb. 2015; and the 78th Conference of Presiding Officers of Legislative Bodies in India, Gandhinagar (Gujarat), Jan. 2016.
  
  
• As Chairperson of the Executive Committee, CPA India Region, attended the 5th Conference of CPA India Region, Goa, Feb. 2015; The 16th Conference of North East Region Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (NERCPA), Imphal (Manipur), June 2017; The 6th Conference of CPA India Region, Patna, Feb. 2018; Zonal Meeting of Zone-I of CPA India Region, Dehradun (Uttarakhand), May 2018; the Conference of Presiding Officers and Training Programme for Legislators in Zone-IV of CPA India Region, Shimla, Sept. 2018; The Conferences of Zone-III of CPA India Region and North-East Chapter of Speaker’s Research Initiative (SRI), Guwahati, Oct. 2018.
  
  

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Travels Abroad

• Travelled widely across all over the globe. The countries visited by her include, Australia, Canada, China, France, Indonesia, Maldives, Morocco, Philippines, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, UK, USA etc.
  
  
• As Minister of State for Women and Child Development in 2001, led an Indian Delegation to Australia to discuss bilateral issues.
  
  
• As Minister of State for Women and Child Development, attended various conferences / bilateral visits to USA, Sri Lanka, Maldives
  
  
• In 2002 as Minister of State for Communication and Information Technology, led the Indian Delegation to ITU Conferences held in Hong Kong and Morocco.
  
  
• As a Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha), was a Member of the Indian Parliamentary Delegations and as Speaker Lok Sabha, led Parliamentary Delegations to various countries.
  
  

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Literary, Artistic and Cultural Activities

• Participated in discussions and delivered lectures on historical personalities and Ramayana including a play on Devi Ahilya Bai Holkar; Marathi literature and poetry; and associated with several cultural organizations/ forums promoting literary activities.
  
  
• Authored a book on Devi Ahilyabai Holkar titled ‘Matoshree’. The book, covering the life and times of Devi Ahilyabai Holkar, was released by the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi on 11 April 2017. Later, a play based on the book was staged by Avirat, Indore in Balayogi Auditorium, Parliament Library Building.
  
  
• During the visit of Indian Parliamentary Delegation to Republic of Korea (Seoul), Sept. – Oct., 2016, Hankuk University of Foreign Affairs (Seoul) awarded her the Honorary Doctorate.
  
  

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Special Interests

Women's Welfare, Social Reforms and Literature (poetry in particular)

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Favourite Pastime and Recreation

Reading, music, drama and cinema

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Sports and Clubs

Associated with Clubs / Organizations for promotion of Indian rural sports; protection/development of playgrounds; and women's kho-kho matches.

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Other Information

• Former President, Marathi Academy, Madhya Pradesh;
• Chairperson
  (i) Ahilya Utsav Committee, Indore;
  (ii) Contemporary Study Centre, Indore.
  

As the Presiding Officer of directly elected House of the People, the Lok Sabha, Speaker is one of the highest constitutional functionaries in India's Parliamentary system. The sustenance of people's faith in the democratic institutions depends a great deal on the finesse and effectiveness with which the Speaker conducts the proceedings of the Lower House of Parliament. Indian Parliament, down its history, has had a galaxy of eminent Speakers, who have lent dignity and prestige to the Chair. Smt. Sumitra Mahajan joined this illustrious line of Speakers, when she was elected unanimously to the exalted position on 6th June, 2014.
One of the senior most Members of Indian Parliament, she holds the unique distinction of being the only woman MP to get elected eight consecutive times from the same Constituency (Indore) located in the Central Indian State of Madhya Pradesh. Her impressive victory margins bear a testimony to her immense popularity and also a reflection on her success in meeting the aspirations of the public.
As a parliamentarian, she has contributed immensely and enriched the parliamentary debates with her eloquence and effective speeches. She has always championed the cause of women by effectively articulating their issues. She has always set an example in upholding the values and traditions that enhance the dignity of the Parliament, the sacred temple of democracy.
She has rich administrative experience having been a Minister in key social and economic Ministries in the Government of India. She is widely respected across political spectrum for her affable and non-partisan approach as Presiding Officer in Lok Sabha.
An avid reader, an ardent theatre lover, she has been actively associated with social and cultural organizations promoting music, theatre and other performing arts.

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Address

Office

Residence:

Permanent Address:

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