Nirmala Deshpande
Encyclopedia
Nirmala Deshpande also called Nagari , is an abugida alphabet of India and Nepal...
: निर्मला देशपांडे) (October 19, 1929 - May 1, 2008) was a noted India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n social activist who had embraced Gandhian philosophy. She devoted her adult life to promotion of communal harmony and service to women, tribal people, and the dispossessed in India.
She was awarded Padma Vibhushan
Padma Vibhushan
The Padma Vibhushan is the second highest civilian award in the Republic of India. It consists of a medal and a citation and is awarded by the President of India. It was established on 2 January 1954. It ranks behind the Bharat Ratna and comes before the Padma Bhushan...
, the second highest civilian award of India in 2006.
Early life and family
Deshpande was born to Vimala (विमला) and Purushottam Yashawant Deshpande (पुरुषोत्तम यशवंत देशपांडे) in NagpurNagpur
Nāgpur is a city and winter capital of the state of Maharashtra, the largest city in central India and third largest city in Maharashtra after Mumbai and Pune...
on October 19, 1929. Her father was the recipient of a Sahitya Akademi Award
Sahitya Akademi Award
Sahitya Akademi Award is a literary honor in India which Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, annually confers on writers of outstanding works in one of the following twenty-four major Indian languagesAssamese, Bengali, Bodo, Dogri, English, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri,...
in 1962 for his work in Marathi
Marathi language
Marathi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people of western and central India. It is the official language of the state of Maharashtra. There are over 68 million fluent speakers worldwide. Marathi has the fourth largest number of native speakers in India and is the fifteenth most...
Anamikachi Chintanika (अनामिकाची चिंतनिका).
She did MA in Political Science from Nagpur, India, She also studied Fergusson College
Fergusson College
Fergusson College is a degree college in western India, situated in the city of Pune. It was founded in 1885 by the Deccan Education Society and at that time was the first privately governed college in India. It is named after Sir James Fergusson, the Governor of Bombay, who donated a then...
, Pune. Thereafter, she served as lecturer in Political Science in Morris College, Nagpur
Morris College, Nagpur
Vasantrao Naik Government Institute of Arts and Social Sciences , in Nagpur, India, established in 1885 as Morris College, is one of the oldest colleges in the country. It takes its name from the former Chief Minister of Maharashtra, the late Vasantrao Naik, who was an alumnus of the college...
.
Social Activities
Vinoba Bhave
Vinoba Bhave , born Vinayak Narahari Bhave often called Acharya , was an Indian advocate of nonviolence and human rights. He is best known for the Bhoodan Andolan...
's Bhoodan movement
Bhoodan movement
The Bhoodan Movement or Land Gift Movement was a voluntary land reform movement in India started by Acharya Vinoba Bhave in 1951 started at Pochampally village now known as Bhoodhan Pochampally.-Method:...
in 1952. She undertook a 40,000-km journey on foot --padayatra
Padayatra
Padayatra is a journey undertaken by a politician and/or prominent citizens to interact more closely with different parts of society, educate them about issues concerning them and to galvanize his or her supporters...
-- across India to carry Gandhi's message of Grām Swarāj. She recognized that it was difficult to practice Gandhian principles, yet believed that doing so was the only way towards a truly democratic society.
Deshpande was known to be the spirit behind peace marches in Punjab
Punjab (India)
Punjab ) is a state in the northwest of the Republic of India, forming part of the larger Punjab region. The state is bordered by the Indian states of Himachal Pradesh to the east, Haryana to the south and southeast and Rajasthan to the southwest as well as the Pakistani province of Punjab to the...
and Kashmir
Kashmir
Kashmir is the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term Kashmir geographically denoted only the valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal mountain range...
when violence was at its peak in those states. Her peace mission to Kashmir in 1994 and her initiative in organizing India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
-Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
meet in 1996 were her two major public service achievements. The Tibet
Tibet
Tibet is a plateau region in Asia, north-east of the Himalayas. It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people as well as some other ethnic groups such as Monpas, Qiang, and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han and Hui people...
an cause against Chinese
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
suppression was also close to her heart.
In 2006, Deshpande championed clemency for Afzal Guru, who had been convicted of a terrorist attack on Indian Parliament
2001 Indian Parliament attack
The 2001 Indian Parliament attack was a high-profile attack by Lashkar-e-Toiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists against the building housing the Parliament of India in New Delhi...
in 2001. (The attack had resulted in the death of 13 people.)
She was member of a Rajya Sabha
Rajya Sabha
The Rajya Sabha or Council of States is the upper house of the Parliament of India. Rajya means "state," and Sabha means "assembly hall" in Sanskrit. Membership is limited to 250 members, 12 of whom are chosen by the President of India for their expertise in specific fields of art, literature,...
, when she died in her sleep in the early hours of May 1, 2008, in New Delhi at the age of 79.
Authorship
Deshpande authored several novels in HindiHindi
Standard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi...
, "Seemant", on the theme of women's liberation, and "Chimlig", based on Chinese cultural ethos, (one of which got a national award), some plays, and travelogues. She also wrote a commentary on Isha Upanishad and a biography of Vinoba Bhave
Vinoba Bhave
Vinoba Bhave , born Vinayak Narahari Bhave often called Acharya , was an Indian advocate of nonviolence and human rights. He is best known for the Bhoodan Andolan...
.
Honors
Deshpande was a nominated member of Indian Rajya SabhaRajya Sabha
The Rajya Sabha or Council of States is the upper house of the Parliament of India. Rajya means "state," and Sabha means "assembly hall" in Sanskrit. Membership is limited to 250 members, 12 of whom are chosen by the President of India for their expertise in specific fields of art, literature,...
two times during August 1997- August 1997 and during 24 June 2004 to 2010. Her name was considered for the Indian Presidential position in 2007.
Deshpande received the Rajiv Gandhi National Sadbhavana Award
Rajiv Gandhi National Sadbhavana Award
Rajiv Gandhi National Sadbhavana Award is an Indian award given for outstanding contribution towards promotion of communal harmony, national integration and peace...
(2005) and the Padma Vibhushan
Padma Vibhushan
The Padma Vibhushan is the second highest civilian award in the Republic of India. It consists of a medal and a citation and is awarded by the President of India. It was established on 2 January 1954. It ranks behind the Bharat Ratna and comes before the Padma Bhushan...
title in 2006. She was a nominee for the Nobel peace prize
Nobel Peace Prize
The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes bequeathed by the Swedish industrialist and inventor Alfred Nobel.-Background:According to Nobel's will, the Peace Prize shall be awarded to the person who...
in 2005.
Nirmala Deshpande ji also received first Banarsi Das Gupta
Banarsi Das Gupta
Banarsi Das Gupta was a former chief minister of Haryana state in India.Born in Bhiwani he studied at Pilani in Rajasthan.He was renowned freedom Fighter and went to jail many times during the British rule...
"Rashtra Gaurav Puraskar" on Nov 5, 2007 in a function, present to her by Vice President of India Sh. Mohammad Hamid Ansari
Mohammad Hamid Ansari
Mohammad Hamid Ansari ) is the 12th and current Vice President of India. He is a former chairman of the National Commission for Minorities...
. in the presence of Smt. Sonia Gandhi (President UPA), Sh. Pawan Bansal (Cabinet Minister), Sh. Shriprakash Jaiswal
Shriprakash Jaiswal
Shriprakash Jaiswal is an Indian politician. He stood for the 2004 Lok Sabha elections on the Indian National Congress ticket and is currently a Member of Parliament from Kanpur...
(Minister of State), Sh. Bhupinder Singh Hooda
Bhupinder Singh Hooda
Bhupinder Singh Hooda is an Indian politician, a leader of the Indian National Congress and the current Chief Minister of Haryana. He became the chief minister of Haryana for the first time in March 2005. He created a history of sorts in the Haryana assembly elections of 2009, when Hooda led...
(Chief Minister of Haryana), Sh. Santosh Bagrodia
Santosh Bagrodia
Shri Santosh Bagrodia a politician from Indian National Congress was a Member of the Parliament of India representing Rajasthan in the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Indian Parliament till 2010.On 6 April 2008, he became the Coal Minister of India....
(Minister of State), Sh. Deepender Singh Hooda
Deepender Singh Hooda
Deepender Singh Hooda is a member of the 15th Lok Sabha of India. He represents the Rohtak constituency of Haryana and is a member of the Indian National Congress political party. He is son of Haryana chief minister Chaudhary Bhupinder Singh Hooda.-References:...
(Member of Parliament), Sh. Naveen Jindal
Naveen Jindal
Naveen Jindal is an Indian politician and Member of Parliament from the Kurukshetra Lok Sabha constituency in the northern Indian state of Haryana. He is the Chairman and Managing Director of Jindal Steel and Power Limited, which is part of the $15 billion diversified O.P...
(Member of Parliament), Sh. Ajay Gupta and many other VIPs at Balyogi Hall, Parliament of India
Parliament of India
The Parliament of India is the supreme legislative body in India. Founded in 1919, the Parliament alone possesses legislative supremacy and thereby ultimate power over all political bodies in India. The Parliament of India comprises the President and the two Houses, Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha...
, New Delhi.
She was conferred the Sitara-i-Imtiaz
Sitara-i-Imtiaz
The Sitara-i-Imtiaz , is the third highest honour and civilian award in the State of Pakistan. It recognizes the individuals who made an "especially meritorious contribution to the security or national interests of Pakistan, world peace, cultural or other significant public endeavors"...
, one of Pakistan's third highest civilian honours, on Aug 13, 2009; the eve of Pakistan's Independence Day.