India has had several pioneering women who have held ministerial positions in the government. Here’s a list of some of the notable first women ministers in India:
- Rajkumari Amrit Kaur: She was India’s first woman Cabinet Minister. She held the portfolio of Health in Jawaharlal Nehru’s cabinet from 1947 to 1957.
- Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit: She was the first Indian woman to hold a cabinet post. She served as the Minister of Local Self-Government and Public Health in the United Provinces (now Uttar Pradesh) from 1937 to 1939.
- Sucheta Kripalani: She was the first woman Chief Minister of an Indian state. She served as the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh from 1963 to 1967.
- Nandini Satpathy: She was the first woman Chief Minister of Odisha (formerly Orissa). She served as the Chief Minister from 1972 to 1976.
- Sheila Dixit: She was the first woman Chief Minister of Delhi. She served as the Chief Minister of Delhi from 1998 to 2013.
- Pratibha Patil: She was the first woman Governor of the Indian state of Rajasthan and later became the first woman President of India, serving from 2007 to 2012.
- Mamata Banerjee: She became the first woman Chief Minister of West Bengal in 2011 and has held the position since then.
- Anandiben Patel: She became the first woman Chief Minister of Gujarat in 2014.
- Mehbooba Mufti: She became the first woman Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir in 2016.
- Nirmala Sitharaman is a prominent Indian economist, politician and a senior leader of the Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP). She made history by becoming the first full-time female Finance Minister of India, a position she assumed on 31st May 2019.
- Nirmala Sitharaman became the first full-time female defence minister of the country in 2017. Previously, Indira Gandhi held the position. While she was the Prime Minister of India, she served as the defence minister as well.
- Smriti Irani She is India’s first woman to hold office as Union minister for human resource development and as Union minister of textiles.
Please note that this list includes some of the pioneering women who held ministerial and chief ministerial positions in India. India has had many other women leaders who have made significant contributions to politics and governance at various levels.