Born: Aug. 18, 1900, Allahabad, India
Died: Dec. 1, 1990, Dehradun
Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit was an Indian diplomat, who was active in the Indian struggle for independence. She was born in Allahabad, the sister of the statesman Jawaharlal Nehru, and educated at the University of Allahabad. In 1921, she married the Indian lawyer and nationalist leader Ranjit Sitaram Pandit. In the early 1920s, as a strong partisan of Mohandas Gandhi, she joined the civil disobedience movement against British rule and subsequently served four terms in prison for her nationalist activities. In 1937, Pandit was elected to the provincial legislature of the United Provinces and designated minister of local self-government and public health. She held the latter post until 1939 and again from 1946 to 1947, the first woman in India to become a minister. She was Indian ambassador to the USSR (1947-49) and to the U.S. (1949-51). She also headed the Indian delegation to the United Nations (1946-48, 1952) and presided over the UN General Assembly (1953-54). A member of the Indian parliament (1952-54), she later served as Indian high commissioner (ambassador) to Britain and ambassador to Ireland (1955-61) and to Spain (1958-61). From 1962 to 1964, she was governor of Maharashtra State and then again won a seat in the Indian parliament (1964-68). In 1977 Pandit joined the Janata coalition party and campaigned against her niece, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
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