Sushila Nayyar - Revision history

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			{{Infobox person
			\| image = Dr Sushila Nayyar, 1947.jpg
			\| caption = Nayyar in 1947
			\| birth_date = 26 December 1914
			\| birth_place = [[Kunjah]], British India
			\| death_date = 3 January 2001
			\| alma_mater = [[Lady Hardinge Medical College]], [[Johns Hopkins School of Public Health]]
			\| occupation = physician, politician and lifelong follower of [[Mahatma Gandhi]]
			\| relatives = [[Pyarelal Nayyar]] (brother)
			}}
	{{short description\|Indian politician and physician}}		{{short description\|Indian politician and physician}}
	{{Use dmy dates\|date=May 2018}}		{{Use dmy dates\|date=May 2018}}
	{{Use Indian English\|date=May 2018}}		{{Use Indian English\|date=May 2018}}
	{{more footnotes\|date=November 2012}}		{{more footnotes\|date=November 2012}}
	~~[[File:Dr Sushila Nayyar, 1947.jpg\|thumb\|Nayyar in 1947]]~~		'''Sushila Nayyar''', also spelt 'Nayar' (26 December 1914 – 3 January 2001), was an [[India\|Indian]] [[physician]], [[Gandhians\|Gandhian]] and [[politician]] who served as the [[Minister of State]] for [[Ministry of Health and Family Welfare\|Health and Family welfare]]. She played a leading role in public health, medical education and social and rural reconstruction in India.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book\|title=Understanding Gandhi: Gandhians in Conversation with Fred J Blum\|last1=Thakkar\|first1=Usha\|last2=Mehta\|first2=Jayshree\|date=2011\|location=New Delhi\|doi=10.4135/9788132106838\|isbn=9788132105572}}</ref> She became Gandhi's personal physician and an important member of his inner circle. Later, she wrote several books based on her experiences.<ref name=":0" /> Her brother, [[Pyarelal Nayyar]], was the personal secretary to Gandhi.
	'''Sushila Nayyar''', also ~~spelled~~ 'Nayar' (1914 – 2001), was an Indian physician, ~~veteran~~ Gandhian and politician. She played a leading role in ~~several programmes for~~ public health, medical education and social and rural reconstruction in ~~her country~~.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book\|title=Understanding Gandhi: Gandhians in Conversation with Fred J Blum\|~~last~~=Thakkar\|~~first~~=Usha\|last2=Mehta\|first2=Jayshree\|date=2011\|location=New Delhi\|doi=10.4135/9788132106838\|isbn=9788132105572}}</ref> ~~Her brother, [[Pyarelal Nayyar]], was the personal secretary to [[Mahatma Gandhi]]~~ She ~~herself acted as~~ Gandhi's personal physician and ~~became~~ an important member of his inner circle. Later, she wrote several books based on her experiences.<ref name=":0" /> ~~In post-Independent India~~, ~~she contested for political office and served as India's~~ [[~~Minister of Health and Family Welfare (India)\|health minister~~]].<ref>{{Cite web\|url=https://www.jhsph.edu/about/history/heroes-of-public-health/sushila-nayar.html\|title=Sushila Nayar\|last=Greer\|first=Spencer\|last2=Health\|first2=JH Bloomberg School of Public\|website=Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health\|language=en\|access-date=2019-03-30}}</ref>

	==Biography==		==Biography==

	=== Early life and education ===		=== Early life and education ===
	She was born on 26 December 1914 in [[Kunjah]], a small town in the Gujarat district of [[Punjab (British India)\|Punjab]] (now in Pakistan).<ref>{{Cite journal\|last=Ganapati\|first=R.\|date=2004\|title=Epidemiology of Leprosy\|journal=International Journal of Leprosy and Other Mycobacterial Diseases\|volume=72\|issue=4\|pages=491\|doi=10.1489/1544-581x(2004)72<491b:eol>2.0.co;2\|issn=0148-916X}}</ref> She developed an early attraction to Gandhian ideals through her brother and had even met Gandhi as a young child in [[Lahore]].<ref name=":0" /> She came to [[New Delhi\|Delhi]] to study medicine at [[Lady Hardinge Medical College]], from where she earned her [[MBBS]] and [[Doctor of Medicine\|MD]]. Throughout her college days, she remained in close contact with the Gandhis.<ref name=":0" />		She was born on 26 December 1914 in [[Kunjah]], a small town in the Gujarat district of [[Punjab (British India)\|Punjab]] (now in Pakistan).<ref>{{Cite journal\|last=Ganapati\|first=R.\|date=2004\|title=Epidemiology of Leprosy\|journal=International Journal of Leprosy and Other Mycobacterial Diseases\|volume=72\|issue=4\|pages=491\|doi=10.1489/1544-581x(2004)72<491b:eol>2.0.co;2\|pmid=15755207 \|issn=0148-916X}}</ref> She developed an early attraction to Gandhian ideals through her brother and had even met Gandhi as a young child in [[Lahore]].<ref name=":0" /> She came to [[New Delhi\|Delhi]] to study medicine at [[Lady Hardinge Medical College]], from where she earned her [[MBBS]] and [[Doctor of Medicine\|MD]]. Throughout her college days, she remained in close contact with the Gandhis.<ref name=":0" />

	=== Association with Gandhi during India's freedom struggle ===		=== Association with Gandhi during India's freedom struggle ===
	In 1939 she came to [[Sevagram]] to join her brother, and quickly became a close associate of the ~~Gandhis~~. Shortly after her arrival, cholera broke out in [[Wardha]], and the young medical graduate tackled the outbreak almost singlehandedly. Gandhi praised her fortitude and dedication to service, and with the blessing of [[Bidhan Chandra Roy\|B.C. Roy]] appointed her as his personal physician. In 1942 she returned once more to Gandhi's side, to take part in the [[Quit India Movement]] that was sweeping the country. That year she was imprisoned along with other prominent Gandhians at the [[Aga Khan Palace]] in [[Pune\|Poona]]. In 1944 she set up a small dispensary at Sevagram, but this soon grew so large it disturbed the peace of the ashram, and she shifted it to a guesthouse donated by the [[Birlas]], in Wardha. In 1945 this little clinic formally became the [[Kasturba Hospital]] (now the [[Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences]]). This time was, however, highly fraught; [[Assassination of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi#Previous attempts\|several attempts were made on Gandhi's life]], including [[Nathuram Godse]], the man who ~~was~~ ultimately ~~to kill~~ him, and Sushila Nayyar testified on several occasions to the attacks. In 1948 she appeared before the [[Kapur Commission]] regarding the [[Assassination of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi#Second attempt\|incident in Panchgani]] in 1944 when Nathuram Godse allegedly tried to attack Gandhi with a dagger.		In 1939 she came to [[Sevagram]] to join her brother, and quickly became a close associate of the Gandhi's. Shortly after her arrival, cholera broke out in [[Wardha]], and the young medical graduate tackled the outbreak almost singlehandedly. Gandhi praised her fortitude and dedication to service, and with the blessing of [[Bidhan Chandra Roy\|B.C. Roy]] appointed her as his personal physician. In 1942 she returned once more to Gandhi's side, to take part in the [[Quit India Movement]] that was sweeping the country. That year she was imprisoned along with other prominent Gandhians at the [[Aga Khan Palace]] in [[Pune\|Poona]]. In 1944 she set up a small dispensary at Sevagram, but this soon grew so large it disturbed the peace of the ashram, and she shifted it to a guesthouse donated by the [[Birlas]], in Wardha. In 1945 this little clinic formally became the [[Kasturba Hospital]] (now the [[Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences]]). This time was, however, highly fraught; [[Assassination of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi#Previous attempts\|several attempts were made on Gandhi's life]], including [[Nathuram Godse]], the man who ultimately killed him, and Sushila Nayyar testified on several occasions to the attacks. In 1948 she appeared before the [[Kapur Commission]] regarding the [[Assassination of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi#Second attempt\|incident in Panchgani]] in 1944 when Nathuram Godse allegedly tried to attack Gandhi with a dagger.

	Being a close associate of [[Mahatma Gandhi]], Sushila Nayyar was one of the women to take part in his ~~controversial~~ celibacy tests.<ref>{{cite book \|last1=Adams \|first1=Jad \|title=Gandhi: Naked Ambition \|publisher=Quercus \|isbn=9781849162104}}</ref>		Being a close associate of [[Mahatma Gandhi]], Sushila Nayyar was one of the women to take part in his celibacy tests.<ref>{{cite book \|last1=Adams \|first1=Jad \|title=Gandhi: Naked Ambition \|year=2010 \|publisher=Quercus \|isbn=9781849162104}}</ref>

	=== Further education and public service ===		=== Further education and public service ===
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	==Legacy==		==Legacy==
	Sushila Nayyar was deeply influenced by the [[Gandhian philosophy]] of hard work and abstinence. She was a follower of Gandhian thoughts. She felt strongly about the need for [[prohibition]] and linked this to the domestic concerns of poor women whose lives were often blighted by [[alcoholism]] in their husbands. She was also a staunch campaigner for family planning, once again seeing this as essential [[Empowerment#Women\|empowerment for women]], especially poor women. In her personal life she practiced strict discipline and expected this also of her followers, acolytes and students. She was one of the circle of young women who followed Gandhi and were deeply impressed by his charisma and magnetism, such that he became the central focus of their lives. She never married. In an age when it was extremely difficult for single young women to have careers, she managed by sheer grit and dedication to carve out a life for herself without concessions to her gender or status. She also believed like Gandhi that there was no such thing as a dirty job, and that medicine required hands-on involvement with patients and their ailments, regardless of feminine delicacy or [[Forward caste\|upper caste]] squeamishness. However, she could also be authoritarian and unforgiving about other people's foibles, and expected similar levels of sacrifice and ruthlessness from those around her.		Sushila Nayyar was deeply influenced by the [[Gandhian philosophy]] of hard work and abstinence. She was a follower of Gandhian thoughts. She felt strongly about the need for [[prohibition]] and linked this to the domestic concerns of poor women whose lives were often blighted by [[alcoholism]] in their husbands. She was also a staunch campaigner for family planning, once again seeing this as essential [[Empowerment#Women\|empowerment for women]], especially poor women. In her personal life, she practiced strict discipline and expected this also of her followers, acolytes and students. She was one of the circle of young women who followed Gandhi and were deeply impressed by his charisma and magnetism, such that he became the central focus of their lives. She never married. In an age when it was extremely difficult for single young women to have careers, she managed by sheer grit and dedication to carve out a life for herself without concessions to her gender or status. She also believed like Gandhi that there was no such thing as a dirty job, and that medicine required hands-on involvement with patients and their ailments, regardless of feminine delicacy or [[Forward caste\|upper caste]] squeamishness. However, she could also be authoritarian and unforgiving about other people's foibles, and expected similar levels of sacrifice and ruthlessness from those around her.

	==Published works ==		==Published works ==
	* ''The Story of Bapu's Imprisonment'' (1944)		* ''The Story of Bapu's Imprisonment'' (1944)
			* ''Amaran Ba (Our Ba)'' written along with Vanamala Parikh (1945)
	* ''Kasturba, Wife of Gandhi'' (1948)		* ''Kasturba, Wife of Gandhi'' (1948)
	* ''Kasturba Gandhi: A Personal Reminiscence'' (1960)		* ''Kasturba Gandhi: A Personal Reminiscence'' (1960)
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	[[Category:Janata Party politicians]]		[[Category:Janata Party politicians]]
	[[Category:Bharatiya Lok Dal politicians]]		[[Category:Bharatiya Lok Dal politicians]]
	[[Category:~~Members of the~~ Delhi ~~Legislative Assembly~~]]		[[Category:Delhi MLAs 1952–1956]]
	[[Category:Speakers of the Delhi Legislative Assembly]]		[[Category:Speakers of the Delhi Legislative Assembly]]
	[[Category:20th-century Indian women politicians]]		[[Category:20th-century Indian women politicians]]
	~~[[Category:20th-century Indian politicians]]~~
	[[Category:20th-century Indian medical doctors]]		[[Category:20th-century Indian medical doctors]]
	~~[[Category:Indian women medical doctors]]~~
	[[Category:Indian independence activists from Uttar Pradesh]]		[[Category:Indian independence activists from Uttar Pradesh]]
	[[Category:Women Indian independence activists]]		[[Category:Women Indian independence activists]]
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	[[Category:Women scientists from Uttar Pradesh]]		[[Category:Women scientists from Uttar Pradesh]]
	[[Category:Women members of the Cabinet of India]]		[[Category:Women members of the Cabinet of India]]
	[[Category:~~2nd Lok Sabha members~~]]		[[Category:India MPs 1957–1962]]
	[[Category:~~3rd Lok Sabha members~~]]		[[Category:India MPs 1962–1967]]
	[[Category:~~4th Lok Sabha members~~]]		[[Category:India MPs 1967–1970]]
	[[Category:~~6th Lok Sabha members~~]]		[[Category:India MPs 1977–1979]]
	[[Category:People from Jhansi district]]		[[Category:People from Jhansi district]]
	[[Category:Medical doctors from Uttar Pradesh]]		[[Category:Medical doctors from Uttar Pradesh]]
	[[Category:20th-century women ~~physicians~~]]		[[Category:20th-century Indian women medical doctors]]

->APPU at 13:34, 3 November 2021

2021-11-03T13:34:55Z

New page

{{short description|Indian politician and physician}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2018}}
{{Use Indian English|date=May 2018}}
{{more footnotes|date=November 2012}}
[[File:Dr Sushila Nayyar, 1947.jpg|thumb|Nayyar in 1947]]
'''Sushila Nayyar''', also spelled 'Nayar' (1914 – 2001), was an Indian physician, veteran Gandhian and politician. She played a leading role in several programmes for public health, medical education and social and rural reconstruction in her country.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=Understanding Gandhi: Gandhians in Conversation with Fred J Blum|last=Thakkar|first=Usha|last2=Mehta|first2=Jayshree|date=2011|location=New Delhi|doi=10.4135/9788132106838|isbn=9788132105572}}</ref> Her brother, [[Pyarelal Nayyar]], was the personal secretary to [[Mahatma Gandhi]] She herself acted as Gandhi's personal physician and became an important member of his inner circle. Later, she wrote several books based on her experiences.<ref name=":0" /> In post-Independent India, she contested for political office and served as India's [[Minister of Health and Family Welfare (India)|health minister]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.jhsph.edu/about/history/heroes-of-public-health/sushila-nayar.html|title=Sushila Nayar|last=Greer|first=Spencer|last2=Health|first2=JH Bloomberg School of Public|website=Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health|language=en|access-date=2019-03-30}}</ref>

==Biography==

=== Early life and education ===
She was born on 26 December 1914 in [[Kunjah]], a small town in the Gujarat district of [[Punjab (British India)|Punjab]] (now in Pakistan).<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Ganapati|first=R.|date=2004|title=Epidemiology of Leprosy|journal=International Journal of Leprosy and Other Mycobacterial Diseases|volume=72|issue=4|pages=491|doi=10.1489/1544-581x(2004)72<491b:eol>2.0.co;2|issn=0148-916X}}</ref> She developed an early attraction to Gandhian ideals through her brother and had even met Gandhi as a young child in [[Lahore]].<ref name=":0" /> She came to [[New Delhi|Delhi]] to study medicine at [[Lady Hardinge Medical College]], from where she earned her [[MBBS]] and [[Doctor of Medicine|MD]]. Throughout her college days, she remained in close contact with the Gandhis.<ref name=":0" />

=== Association with Gandhi during India's freedom struggle ===
In 1939 she came to [[Sevagram]] to join her brother, and quickly became a close associate of the Gandhis. Shortly after her arrival, cholera broke out in [[Wardha]], and the young medical graduate tackled the outbreak almost singlehandedly. Gandhi praised her fortitude and dedication to service, and with the blessing of [[Bidhan Chandra Roy|B.C. Roy]] appointed her as his personal physician. In 1942 she returned once more to Gandhi's side, to take part in the [[Quit India Movement]] that was sweeping the country. That year she was imprisoned along with other prominent Gandhians at the [[Aga Khan Palace]] in [[Pune|Poona]]. In 1944 she set up a small dispensary at Sevagram, but this soon grew so large it disturbed the peace of the ashram, and she shifted it to a guesthouse donated by the [[Birlas]], in Wardha. In 1945 this little clinic formally became the [[Kasturba Hospital]] (now the [[Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences]]). This time was, however, highly fraught; [[Assassination of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi#Previous attempts|several attempts were made on Gandhi's life]], including [[Nathuram Godse]], the man who was ultimately to kill him, and Sushila Nayyar testified on several occasions to the attacks. In 1948 she appeared before the [[Kapur Commission]] regarding the [[Assassination of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi#Second attempt|incident in Panchgani]] in 1944 when Nathuram Godse allegedly tried to attack Gandhi with a dagger.

Being a close associate of [[Mahatma Gandhi]], Sushila Nayyar was one of the women to take part in his controversial celibacy tests.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Adams |first1=Jad |title=Gandhi: Naked Ambition |publisher=Quercus |isbn=9781849162104}}</ref>

=== Further education and public service ===
After Gandhi's assassination in 1948 in Delhi, Sushila Nayyar went to the United States, where she took two degrees in [[public health]] from the [[Johns Hopkins School of Public Health]]. Returning in 1950, she set up a [[tuberculosis]] [[sanatorium]] in [[Faridabad]], the model township on the outskirts of Delhi set up on cooperative lines by fellow Gandhian [[Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay]]. Nayyar also headed the Gandhi Memorial Leprosy Foundation.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2019-07-01|title=Sushila Nayar, Gandhi's Doctor Who Spent Her Life Giving Medical Care to the Poor|url=https://www.thebetterindia.com/187641/sushila-nayar-doctor-mahatma-gandhi-woman-health-minister-india/|access-date=2021-02-05|website=The Better India|language=en-US}}</ref>

=== Political career ===
In 1952 she entered politics and was elected to the [[Legislative Assembly of Delhi]]. From 1952 to 1955 she served as [[Health Minister]] in [[Jawaharlal Nehru|Nehru's]] cabinet. She was Speaker of the Delhi Vidhan Sabha (as the State Assembly had been renamed) from 1955 to 1956. In 1957, she was elected to the [[Lok Sabha]], from [[Jhansi (Lok Sabha constituency)|Jhansi]] Constituency, and served till 1971. She was Union Health Minister again from 1962 to 1967. During the congress regime, she fell out with Indira Gandhi and joined (Janata party). She was elected to Lok Sabha from Jhansi in 1977 when her new party was voted to power that created history by overthrowing Indira Gandhi's government. Thereafter she retired from politics to devote herself to the Gandhian ideal. She had set up the [[Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences]] in 1969, and remained committed to confine her energies to developing and extending it.

=== Personal life and death ===
She remained unmarried throughout her life.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Sahgal|first=Kanav Narayan|date=2020-03-16|title=Sushila Nayar: The Public Health Hero We All Should Know About {{!}} #IndianWomenInHistory|url=https://feminisminindia.com/2020/03/16/sushila-nayar-the-public-health-hero-we-all-should-know-about-indianwomeninhistory/|access-date=2021-02-05|website=Feminism In India|language=en-GB}}</ref> On 3 January 2001, she died due to a [[cardiac arrest]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thehindu.com/thehindu/2001/01/04/stories/0204000c.htm|website=[[The Hindu]]|title=Sushila Nayyar dead|date=2001-01-04|access-date=2019-03-30}}{{dead link|date=April 2021|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>

==Legacy==
Sushila Nayyar was deeply influenced by the [[Gandhian philosophy]] of hard work and abstinence. She was a follower of Gandhian thoughts. She felt strongly about the need for [[prohibition]] and linked this to the domestic concerns of poor women whose lives were often blighted by [[alcoholism]] in their husbands. She was also a staunch campaigner for family planning, once again seeing this as essential [[Empowerment#Women|empowerment for women]], especially poor women. In her personal life she practiced strict discipline and expected this also of her followers, acolytes and students. She was one of the circle of young women who followed Gandhi and were deeply impressed by his charisma and magnetism, such that he became the central focus of their lives. She never married. In an age when it was extremely difficult for single young women to have careers, she managed by sheer grit and dedication to carve out a life for herself without concessions to her gender or status. She also believed like Gandhi that there was no such thing as a dirty job, and that medicine required hands-on involvement with patients and their ailments, regardless of feminine delicacy or [[Forward caste|upper caste]] squeamishness. However, she could also be authoritarian and unforgiving about other people's foibles, and expected similar levels of sacrifice and ruthlessness from those around her.

==Published works ==
* ''The Story of Bapu's Imprisonment'' (1944)
* ''Kasturba, Wife of Gandhi'' (1948)
* ''Kasturba Gandhi: A Personal Reminiscence'' (1960)
* ''Family Planning'' (1963)
* ''Role of Women in Prohibition'' (1977)
* ''Mahatma Gandhi: Satyagraha at Work (Vol. IV)'' (1951)
* ''Mahatma Gandhi: India Awakened, (Vol. V)''
* ''Mahatma Gandhi: Salt Satyagraha – The Watershed, (Vol. VI)''
* ''Mahatma Gandhi: Preparing For Swaraj, (Vol. VII)''
* ''Mahatma Gandhi: Final Fight For Freedom, (Vol. VIII)'' (c. 1990)
* ''Mahatma Gandhi: The Last Phase'' (completed for her brother Pyarelal, the tenth volume in his biography of Gandhi, published by the [[Navajivan Publishing House]].)

==References==
<references />

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nayyar, Sushila}}
[[Category:Gandhians]]
[[Category:1914 births]]
[[Category:2001 deaths]]
[[Category:Johns Hopkins University alumni]]
[[Category:Lok Sabha members from Uttar Pradesh]]
[[Category:Women in Uttar Pradesh politics]]
[[Category:Health ministers of India]]
[[Category:Indian National Congress politicians from Uttar Pradesh]]
[[Category:Janata Party politicians]]
[[Category:Bharatiya Lok Dal politicians]]
[[Category:Members of the Delhi Legislative Assembly]]
[[Category:Speakers of the Delhi Legislative Assembly]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian women politicians]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian politicians]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian medical doctors]]
[[Category:Indian women medical doctors]]
[[Category:Indian independence activists from Uttar Pradesh]]
[[Category:Women Indian independence activists]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian women scientists]]
[[Category:Women scientists from Uttar Pradesh]]
[[Category:Women members of the Cabinet of India]]
[[Category:2nd Lok Sabha members]]
[[Category:3rd Lok Sabha members]]
[[Category:4th Lok Sabha members]]
[[Category:6th Lok Sabha members]]
[[Category:People from Jhansi district]]
[[Category:Medical doctors from Uttar Pradesh]]
[[Category:20th-century women physicians]]