Mumbai: Independent India's first woman IAS official Anna Rajam Malhotra died in Mumbai on Monday. The Keralite was 92.
The Ernakulam native had cleared the civil services exam with high marks in 1950 and joined the civil services in 1951. She opted for the Madras cadre and had served under then chief minister C Rajagopalachari. She was first appointed as the subcollector of Hosur.
After completing her schooling and graduation in Kerala, she left for Tamil Nadu to pursue her masters in English literature at the University of Madras. After serving at Dindigal and Madras, she joined the central service. She also became the first woman secretary of a central government department.
She had also worked with then prime minister Rajiv Gandhi during the Asiad project in 1982. She was credited with building India's first computerised port, Nhavasheva, in Mumbai. For her exemplary work, the nation honoured her with Padma Bhushan in 1989.
'A woman like us'
Then the society viewed a woman in high position as someone extraordinary. What made the life of Anna Malhotra different was her fight against social prejudices.
The sight of a woman sub-collector arriving on horseback grabbed eyeballs in Hosur. A group of women walked around Anna as if they were seeing something new; they whispered among themselves. After a thorough scrutiny, the eldest among the group said -- a woman like us.
Hurdles all the way
Anna was inspired to eye the coveted civil services after seeing some of her classmates at Madras University preparing for it during their post-graduation. Her family members protested when they heard their daughter was preparing for civil services, then monopolised by men.
She was even warned by the civil services interview board that she will be terminated if she gets married. Anna confidently chose Madras as her cadre state. She chose to ignore the suggestion that foreign services or central services were better suited for women. Though she won the special appreciation from then prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru for being the first woman IAS official, she had to face opposition from then Tamil Nadu chief minister C Rajagopalachari during the initial period. A conservative, Rajaji was against women taking up civil services. But, later, when he showered praises on her, it became a historic moment.
She worked with seven chief ministers of Tamil Nadu. Anna also holds the record for being the first woman secretary in the Madras government, India's first woman sub-collector, and the first woman secretary in central government. She was also the chairman of the National Seeds Corporation.
After bringing electricity to Hosur, Anna, as a department secretary in the central government, accompanied Indira Gandhi on her tour of eight states when the country faced food scarcity. Despite an ankle injury, she joined Indira when then the food minister backed out fearing the feisty PM's wrath.
Belated matrimony
The daughter of Ottavelil O A George and Anna Paul, Anna Rajam George married R N Malhotra, Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (1985 to 1990).
Malhotra was her IAS batchmate. They had to wait till they were over 40 to tie the knot since Malhotra had to get his sisters married and discharge other family obligations. Malhotra, who was the finance secretary, married Anna when he was India's executive director in IMF. They have no children.
Malhotra succeeded Dr Manmohan Singh as the Governor of Reserve Bank of India. After the death of Malhotra, family friend and Leela Hotel founder Captain Krishnan Nair invited Anna to Mumbai. Since then, Anna lived next to their residence and hotel in Mumbai.
She breathed her last at her residence at Marol in Andheri Monday. The funeral was held in Mumbai.
Read more: Latest India news