Saroj Nalini Dutt
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Saroj Nalini Dutt (née De) (Bengali: সরোজ নলিনী দত্ত) MBE, (9 October 1887 – 19 January 1925) (Bengali: ২৩ আশ্বিন, ১২৯৪ - ৬ মাঘ, ১৩৩১) was an Indian social reformer and feminist.
Saroj Nalini Dutt | |
|---|---|
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| Born | 9 October 1887 |
| Died | 19 January 1925 (aged 37) |
| Spouse(s) | Gurusaday Dutt (Bengali: গুরুসদয় দত্ত) |
| Children | Birendrasaday Dutt (Bengali: বীরেন্দ্রসদয় দত্ত) |
Background
She was born in Bandel, Hooghly in Bengal to Brajendranath De and Nagendranandini De. In 1905, she married Gurusaday Dutt. Her son, Birendrasaday Dutt, was born in 1909.[1][2]
Work
She was a social reformer and a pioneer of the movement for the uplifting of women in Bengal. She pioneered the formation of Mahila Samitis (women's institutes) in Bengal. She started the first Mahila Samiti in 1913 in Pabna district with the object of developing friendly cooperation there among the purdahnashin ladies. Subsequently, she started Mahila Samitis in Birbhum (1916), Sultanpur (1917), and Rampurhat (1918) districts respectively.
She was the secretary of the Indian Section of the Calcutta League of Women’s Workers (later Bengal Presidency Council of Women), member of the Council of the Nari Siksha Samiti (Women’s Educational League), and Member of the Calcutta Municipal Corporation’s committee which was to make suitable arrangements for allowing women to elect councillors. She was also the vice president of the Sylhet Union, an association set up for the promotion of female education in Sylhet district.
Awards
- Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE), 1918.
Legacy
After her death the Saroj Nalini Dutt Memorial Association was founded in 1925[3] and now a primary teachers training institute are named after her.[4] A girls high school, earlier named after its founder, Sir Augustus Rivers Thompson, was also renamed after her.[citation needed]
References
- ↑ Gurusaday Dutt, A Woman of India: Being the Life of Saroj Nalini (Founder of Women's Institute Movement in India (with a foreword by Rabindranath Tagore), (Himphrey Milford, Oxford University Press, 1941)
- ↑ Kundu, Rajib, (tr. & ed.), Saroj Nalini: Shankhipta Jibani, (Ababhash, Kolkata, 2014) (in Bengali), (translation of her husband Gurusaday Dutt's, A Woman of India: Being the Life of Saroj Nalini (Founder of Women's Institute Movement in India (with a foreword by Rabindranath Tagore), (Humphrey Milford, Oxford University Press, 1941)
- ↑ Saroj Nalini Dutt Memorial Association
- ↑ Saroj Nalini Primary Teachers Training Institute, Calcutta