Sudha Murty nominated to Rajya Sabha on Women's Day
Prime Minister Narendra Modi lauded Sudha Murty for her philanthropy and said her presence in Rajya Sabha will be a "testament to Nari Shakthi".
On International Women's Day, President Draupadi Murmu nominated philanthropist, author, and former Infosys Foundation chairperson Sudha Murty to Rajya Sabha.
The nomination was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on X (formerly Twitter), calling it a "powerful testament to Nari Shakti". The Prime Minister also lauded her for her contributions to philanthropy, social work, and education.
The President nominates 12 members to the Rajya Sabha for a six-year tenure for their contributions to arts, literature, social services, and science.
Murty, who previously served as the chairperson of Infosys Foundation—the philanthropic and CSR arm of Infosys—received the Padma Shri in 2006 and the Padma Bhushan in 2023 for her social work.
In an earlier conversation with HerStory, Murty said that despite facing gender bias as a young woman, she kept an undeterred focus on her strengths during her engineering college days. Interestingly, she was the only female student in her class but said she never wanted to be treated differently. She was also the first female engineer at Tata Engineering and Locomotive Company.
Sudha Murthy
Murty had written a postcard to the company's chairman JRD Tata, complaining of the company having only male engineers, following which she was granted a special interview and hired immediately.
A milestone moment in Murthy's life came when 3,000 rehabilitated sex workers arranged a thanksgiving ceremony for her after she worked with them for 18 years to empower them.
“I went there on the stage, and the 3,000 of them, who were now leading normal lives, wanted to hear from me, and I was absolutely speechless. The tears started to flow, and I quoted a shloka from Ramayana: ‘God… don’t make me rich, don’t make me beautiful, don’t make me a queen. If at all you want to give me anything, give me a soft heart and a strong hand, so I can wipe the tears of others.’ At that moment, I realised why I was born, and it gave me a tremendous amount of peace,” Murthy told HerStory in an interview.
Since 1996, Murthy has led various initiatives of the Infosys Foundation to build hospitals, schools, orphanages, rehabilitation centres, as well as more than 14,000 toilets and over 60,000 libraries for the underprivileged sections of society.
Edited by Kanishk Singh
