Lakshmi N. Menon
Lakshmi N. Menon, 1899- , political and social worker. Born in Trivandrum, she was the daughter of the distinguished educationist, Rama Varma Thampan. She was married in 1930 to V. K. Nandan Menon, a professor at Lucknow University, who later became the Director of the Indian Institute of Public Administration, Delhi, and Vice-Chancellor of Patna and Travancore universities. She had a good academic education and started her career as a teacher in 1922, and also practised as a lawyer from 1933 to 1935. In 1952 she was .elected to Rajya Sabha, and worked as Parliamentary Secretary {1952-57) and as Deputy Minister (1957-62) and Minister of ‘State (1962-67) in the Ministry of External Affairs. In 1957, she was awarded Padmabhushan. On many occasions, she was a member of the Indian delegation to the U. N. General Assembly, and was also the chief of U. N. section on the status of women and children during 1949-50.
Lakshmi Menon retired from active politics’ in 1967 to devote herself to cultural and social work among women. She was the founder-member of the All-India Women’s Conference, and of the Federation of University Women. She is also the author of a book, Position of Women and of many articles and papers.
