 Smt. Hansa Mehta - Eighteenth President of AIWC -by Dr. Bhavna Joshipura

Roshni  July - September 2021

Smt. Hansa Mehta - Eighteenth President of AIWC

By Dr. Bhavna Joshipura, Vice President, AIWC and President, Rajkot Branch

Smt. Hansa Mehta was born in 1897 at Surat in Gujarat. Smt. Hansaben Mehta, wife of Shri Jivraj Mehta (first chief minister of Gujarat) was an educationist, a prolific writer and the first woman to be appointed as Vice Chancellor of a coeducational University of India i.e. The Maharaja Sayajirao University of India.

Smt. Hansa Mehta's family background-as the daughter of Manubhai Mehta, the Dewan of Baroda state, her education in Baroda university, and London, and her list of accomplishments would have been out of place in any other period of Indian history. In the hallowed chambers of the Constituent Assembly, however, she fitted right in with the other women. This sisterhood of extraordinary women included Sarojini Naidu, who introduced her to Gandhiji and the Indian women’s freedom movement when the two met in London in early 1920.

She entered public life in her college days.She was one of the Founders and the President of ‘Bombay Presidency Student Association’ Baroda Branch, from which Dr. Mehta’s odyssey in social activities started mainstreaming. She was also the Founder and President of “Vidhyarthisamaj” at Baroda College with an aim to increase the principle of brotherhood and unity amongst the students there. In 1920 while studying at London, Dr. Mehta took part in the International Women’s Conference along with Sarojini Naidu as the representatives of colonial India under British Rule - and it seemed clear that at that very young age, Dr. Hansa Mehta was capable enough to think and represent the issues of women in India. Smt. Hansa Mehta came under the influence of Gandhiji while she was active in India's Independence movement. She organized picketing of shops selling foreign clothes as well as liquor shops and participated in other freedom movement activities. Inspired by the ideals of ‘satyagraha’ Smt. Hansaben in collaboration with Negoshiben and Perinben, both the Captain Sisters founded “Desh Sevika Sangh” to carry out boycotts, civil disobedience, picketing to combat liquor stores, shops selling Manchester fabrics, and other foreign goods. Due to the failure of the Cripps Mission, Smt. Hansa Mehta was imprisoned along with Smt. Sarojini Naidu at the Yerwada jail for a period of six months.

AIWC

Smt. Hansa Mehta was the eighteenth President of AIWC. During the tenure of Smt. Sarojini Naidu as President of AIWC, Smt. Hansa Mehta shouldered the responsibility of the reception committee in the Third Annual General Meeting. At the same time, it is noteworthy that a historic proclamation was made by Smt. Hansa Mehta-- "We have to stand above caste, creed, regionalism, language, gender and economical levels, including the urban and rural differences'. She categorically mentioned the AIWC's leading role in this particular movement. Not only that, but Dr. Hansa Mehta vehemently argued about the double standard of British

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Roshni  July - September 2021

Rule and the so-called democratic values of the English people. This resolution was supported and seconded by Smt. Laxmi Menon and other AIWC leaders.

As the emerging social leader of yesteryears, the AIWC, during her time as the President, started the Lady Irwin College in New Delhi, a women’s college for home science, educational research and teacher training. Hansa Mehta as part of the AIWC had passed laws including the Sarda Act that forbade child marriage, movements that ensured birth control instructions for women and more importantly education, both primary and higher education for all women. It is noteworthy to mention that in the year 1946, Hansa Mehta requested Maulana Azad, President of the Indian National Congress,to issue instructions to the Provinces regarding women representatives. The Premiers of the Provinces in which Congress ministries were functioning were asked to send women representatives to the Constituent Assembly. The Working Committee submitted a list of women candidates to the Provinces including Smt. Hansa Mehta from Bombay.

Referring the reference material which is available in the Maharaja Sayajirao University, she made a remarkable contribution in drafting the Indian Women’s Charter of Rights and Duties during the 18th AIWC session in Hyderabad in 1946. In her Presidential address at the All India Women's Conference convention held in Hyderabad, this Charter of Women's Rights known as ‘Indian Women’s Charter of Rights and Duties’ was presented. The Charter proved useful in clarifying women’s status and for pressing for suitable legislation regarding the same. The first such legislation that was taken up was the codification of Hindu Law.

Even before her stint in the Constituent Assembly, Hansa Mehta had made her mark as an educationist, writer, feminist and reformist. As an educator, she fought for continuing education for both boys and girls, set up home sciences as a university subject, and started a post graduate school of social work. Hansa Jivraj Mehta served in the Constituent Assembly from 1946-1949. She was a member of the Fundamental Rights Sub-committee, the Advisory Committee and the Provincial Constitutional Committee. On 15th August 1947, a few minutes after midnight, Hansa Mehta on behalf of the ‘Women of India’ had the honour of presenting the Indian National Flag to the Assembly. This was the first flag to fly over Independent India.

Her appointment to the Constituent Assembly came from Bombay, where she was a member of the Legislative Council. She had also started a two-year term at the SNDT University in Bombay, as the first woman Vice Chancellor in India. Internationally, in the same year, she was serving as a member of the United Nations Sub-Committee on the Status of Women, and Vice Chair, with Eleanor Roosevelt on the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights Committee. After the enactment of the Government of India Act, 1935 India conducted its first provincial elections in 1937. Hansa Mehta stood for the Bombay Legislative Council seat in the general category, after refusing to contest from a reserved seat. She won the election and served as a principal

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Roshni  July - September 2021

secretary. She was in the council from 19371939 and 1940-1949, from where she went on to represent Bombay in the Assembly.Hansa Mehta’s most significant contribution to the Constituent Assembly debates was in trying to make the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) a justiciable part of the Constitution. As part of the Fundamental Rights Subcommittee, she, along with Rajkumari Amrit Kaur, Dr. B. R. Ambedkar and Minoo Masani, saw the UCC as part of the ‘state’s responsibility” to establish a single Indian identity over multiple religious identities.

Smt. Hansa Mehta was also appointed to the United Nations Human Rights Council after then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru recommended her to the position. She successfully championed her cause changing the phrase in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, from “All men are born free and equal” to “All human beings are born free and equal.” Her role in the commission went on for six years during which time she pushed for the rights commission to better recognize the rights of women and to acknowledge the uniqueness of the Indian Constitution. Smt. Hansa Mehta also represented India on the United Nations Human Rights Commission that drafted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. She was a member of the Executive Board of UNESCO and led Indian delegations to several International Conferences. She was also conferred Honorary D.Litt by Allahabad University and The M S University of Baroda and an Honorary Doctorate by Leeds University, UK.

She worked indefatigably for education and women’s rights after her UN service. She went on to serve on the board of UNESCO and was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 1959. She also served as the First Lady of Gujarat, when her husband Jivraj Mehta became the first Chief Minister of the state in 1960. The M.S. University of Baroda, where she served as its first Vice Chancellor, has a library named in her honor. The legacy that Hansa Mehta has left behind is a testament to her indefatigable spirit and dedication to the simple idea that all humans should be equal, educated and empowered.

With her husband, Shri Jivraj Mehta

With S/Smt. Mithan Lam, Krishna Hutheesingh and Vijayalakshmi Pandit

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