Hansa Jivraj Mehta
Hansa Jivraj Mehta, 1897- , political worker and educationist. Born on 3 July 1897, in Surat, she is the daughter of Sir Manubhai Mehta, the Diwan of Baroda State. After a good university education in India, she went to London, in 1919, for higher studies where she came in contact with Sarojini Naidu and Rajkumari Amrit Kaur. In 1924, she was married to Jivaraj Mehta, a well known physician of Bombay, who became the Chief Minister of Gujarat. She joined the boycott against Simon Commission and also actively participated in the Civil Disobedience Movement, and was jailed in 1930 and 1932. She also played a significant role in women’s movement and represented India at the Women’s International Conference, in Geneva, in 1920. In 1931, she was elected to the Bombay Legislative Council, and was the first lady to be thus elected. After independence she became a member of the Constituent Assembly. In 1949 she became the Vice-Chancellor of the newly established Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, and was the first lady to be appointed as the vice-chancellor of an Indian University. She held the post till 1958, and developed this institution into one of the best in the country in a short time, and also established the first Faculty of Home Science in India, in that University.
