Annie Besant

School
Sub:-Social Science
Topic :-Indra Gandhi

Submitted To:
Jyoti Pandey

Submitted By:Saniya Kushwah

Class 9th B

INTRODUCTION
Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi(19 November

1917 31 October 1984) was the first

femalePrime Minister of India and central
figure of theIndian National Congressparty.
Indira Gandhi, who served from 1966 to 1977
and
then
again
from
1980
untilher
assassinationin 1984, is the second-longestserving Prime Minister of India and the only
woman to hold the office.

Family and Personal Life

A member of theNehru-Gandhi family, she was married

toFeroze Gandhiat the age of 25, in 1942. Their

marriage lasted for 18 years, until Feroze died after
aheart attack in 1960. They had two sons -Rajiv (b.
1944) andSanjay(b. 1946). Her younger son Sanjay had
initially been her chosen heir; but after his death in a
flying accident in June 1980, Gandhi persuaded her
reluctant elder son Rajiv to quit his job as a pilot and
enter politics in February 1981. Rajiv took office
asprime minister following his mother'sassassinationin
1984; he served until December 1989. Over a decade
later, Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated.

Awards
After leading India to victory against Pakistan

in the Bangladesh liberation war in 1971,

PresidentV. V. Giriawarded Mrs. Gandhi India's
highest civilian honour, theBharat Ratna.,In
2011,
theBanglades
Freedom
Honour(Bangladesh
Swadhinata
Sammanona ), Bangladesh's highest civilian
award, was posthumously conferred on Indira
Gandhi for her outstanding contributions to
Bangladesh's Liberation War.

Early Life and Careear

Indira Gandhi was born Indira Nehru in aKashmiri Pandit

family on 19 November 1917 inAllahabad.Her

father,Jawaharlal Nehru, was a leading figure in India's
politicalstruggle for independence fromBritish rule, and
became the first Prime Minister of theUnion(and
laterRepublic) of India.She was the only child (a younger
brother was born, but died young),and grew up with her
mother,Kamala Nehru, at theAnand Bhavan; a large family
estate in Allahabad.She had a lonely and unhappy
childhood.Her father was often away, directing political
activities or being incarcerated in prison, while her mother
was frequently bed-ridden with illness, and later suffered an
early death from tuberculosis.She had limited contact with
her father, mostly through letters.

First time Prime Minister

Following a poor showing in the1967 general

election, Indira Gandhi started progressively

moving to the left in the political spectrum. In
1969 to 1971, after falling out with senior
party leaders on a number of issues, the party
presidentS. Nijalingappaexpelled her from
the party.

State of Emergency
(1975-77)
Gandhi moved to restore order by ordering

the arrest of most of the opposition

participating in the unrest. Her Cabinet and
government
then
recommended
that
PresidentFakhruddin
Ali
Ahmeddeclare
astate of emergencybecause of the disorder
and lawlessness following the Allahabad High
Court decision. Accordingly, Ahmed declared a
State of Emergency caused by internal
disorder, based on the provisions of Article
352(1) of the Constitution, on 25 June 1975.

Operation Blue Star

In the 1977 elections, a coalition led by theSikh-

majorityAkali Dalcame to power in the northern

Indian state of Punjab. In an effort to split the Akali
Dal and gain popular support among the Sikhs,
Indira Gandhi's Congress helped bring the orthodox
religious leaderJarnail Singh Bhindranwaleto
prominence in Punjab politics.Later, Bhindranwale's
organisationDamdami Taksalbecame embroiled in
violence with another religious sect called theSant
Nirankari Mission, and he was accused of instigating
the murder of the Congress leaderJagat
Narain.After being arrested in this matter,

Speech
An ancient Sanskrit saying says, woman isthe home and the

home is the basis of society. It is as we build our homes that we

can build our country. If the home is inadequate -- either
inadequate in material goods and necessities or inadequate in the
sort of friendly, loving atmosphere that every child needs to grow
and develop -- then that country cannot have harm ony and no
country which does not have harmony can grow in any direction
at all.
That is why women's education is almost more important than
the education of boys andmen. We -- and by "we" I do not mean
only we in India but all the world -- have neglected women
education. It is fairly rece nt. Of course, not to you but when I was
a child, the story of early days of women's education in England,
for instance, was very current. Everybody remembered what had
happened in the early days.

Speech
I remember what used to happen here. I still remember the

days when living in old Delhi even as a small child of seven

or eight. I had to go ou t in a doli if I left the house. We just
did not walk. Girls did not walk in the streets. First, you had
your sari with which you covered your head, then you had
another shawl or something with which you covered your
hand and all the body, then you had a white shawl, with
which every thing was covered again although your face was
open fortunately. Then you were i n the doli, which again
was covered by another cloth. And this was in a family or
community which did not observe purdah of any kind at all.
In fact, all our social functions always were mixed functions
but this was the atmosphere of the city and of the country.

Indira Gandhi : Iron Lady of India

A new definition was bestowed upon the role

of South Asianwomenin the late 1960s, by

the emergence of eminent female political
figures from South Asia. These few remarkable
ladies revolutionized the global political arena,
pioneering the entry of women into world
politics. The world's first woman Prime
Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike and the
world's longest serving woman Prime Minister
Indira Gandhi were such elite world leaders
from South Asia.

Thank You