Facts about Sheila Dikshit

Sheila Dikshit, the former Chief Minister of Delhi passed away on July 20. She had been suffering from illness for a long period.

In this context, here are some facts about her:

• Sheila Dikshit represented India at the United Nations for five years, from 1984-1989.
• She had a doctorate in Philosophy from the University of Delhi.
• The former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi nominated her as a representative at the United Nations Commission after recognizing her administrative skills.
• She became a minister in 1984 in the government of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.
• Later, she served as a Union Minister from 1986 to 1989. In the beginning, she served as the Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs after that she became the Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office.
• She was a chairperson of the Young Women’s Association and she established two hostels for working women in Delhi.
• In 1990, she conducted a drive against violence on women for which she and her 82 colleagues were jailed for 23 days by the government.
• Sheila Dikshit was the longest-serving female Chief Minister of any Indian state. She served as a Delhi Chief Minister for 15 years from 1998 to 2013.
• A complaint was filed against her saying that she had misused ₹3.5 crore for giving political advertisements. She received that money from the Central government.
• An FIR was also filed against her on this matter for allegedly misusing the government funds before the assembly elections.
• Later in 2013 Delhi Legislative Assembly elections, Arvind Kejriwal’ s AAP defeated her party due to which she had to resign on December 8, 2013.
• Later, in 2014, she was appointed as the Governor of Kerala, however, she could not serve for more than five months as she was forced to resign.
• She was honoured with many awards like ‘Best Chief Minister of India’, ‘Politician of the Year’ etc.

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