Durgabai Deshmukh: A legacy beyond time

Vandya Bisaria

Durgabai Deshmukh: A legacy beyond time

India is a country built on courage, perseverance and patience. It is a country which struggled for years under the brutal British Raj and was threatened with the loss of its identity and culture. However, many revolutionaries were also born on this soil. They took the British by surprise and managed to push them out of their country. While some of them are publicly celebrated each year, there are others whom people do not know much about. Durgabai Deshmukh is one of them.

Caption: Durgabai Deshmukh ,Source: Times of India

An Indian freedom fighter, social worker, lawyer and politician, Durgabai Deshmukh was born on July 15, 1909, in a middle class family in Rajahmundry, Andhra Pradesh. Her parents got her married to her cousin, Subba Rao at the age of eight. However, determined and zealous from the very start, Durgabai left him to pursue her education. Her family supported her decision.

Most of the stories from our childhood tell us that we will eventually find our way in life. There will be a grandiose signal from the universe - like a spark of lightning or the excessively loud crashing of waves or maybe just falling leaves, which will guide us to our future. However, for Durgabai Deshmukh, the signs from the universe did not matter. From the naive age of twelve, she focused only on doing what she felt was right. Perhaps her story should serve as a lesson for all of us since her unhesitant courage culminated in an eternal legacy.

When the teachers in her school taught only in English and refused to speak in Hindi, Deshmukh, furious at their audacity, left the school in protest and refused to go back until Hindi was allowed. This was a goal she did not forget, and accomplished years later by establishing Balika Hindi Paathshaala to promote Hindi education for girls.

Deshmukh completed her BA and MA in Political science in the 1930s from Andhra University and went on to obtain a law degree from Madras University in 1942. Soon, she was practising as an advocate in the Madras High Court.

She was also a devoted follower of Mahatma Gandhi and helped his cause by setting up schools where women could learn spinning and weaving to support the boycotting of British goods.

Durgabai Deshmukh was the only female member of the Panel of Chairmen in the Constituent Assembly and a part of the Planning Commission of India. It was due to her insight and understanding of the underserved that she became the Chairperson of the Central Social Welfare Board in 1953 and of the National Council on Women’s Education in 1958. In 1963, she travelled to Washington DC to represent the Indian delegation at the World Food Congress. In her travels across the world, she brought back practices that she thought would be useful for a country like India. She was the one who suggested the need for Family Courts after studying the concept in China in 1953. For her exemplary achievement, Durgabai was awarded a Padma Vibhushan and the UNESCO Award for outstanding work in the field of literacy.

Durgabai Deshmukh breathed her last on May 9, 1981. Although her life was decorated with many accolades, it leaves one wondering whether such a passionate and driven woman would only be satisfied with some titles and awards. Society would say yes, surely it was an honour to receive recognition. The honour was great indeed. At the same time, what personalities like Durgabai Deshmukh demand from posterity is not just credit. Rather, they demand active participation in changing the state of the world for the better. The story of Durgabai Deshmukh should serve as a constant reminder to bring about social change. Are we doing enough?

In 1953, she married Chintaman Deshmukh, the first RBI Governor and Finance Minister in India’s central cabinet during 1950-1956. Chintaman was the man she fell ardently in love with and wrote about in detail in her autobiographical account “Chintaman and I.”

Deshmukh’s achievements in the social sphere were predicted by her resolve in the early years. From 1930 to 1933, she got arrested thrice for participating in the freedom movement. Andhra Pradesh was the state which contributed the largest numbers of women satyagrahis who helped saturate prison cells and Deshmukh was the driving force behind them. It was while talking to these women in prison that she realised that neither did they know about their own legal rights nor about how to use the resources around them. As a result, both the patriarchal society and the British government took advantage of them. Deshmukh played a central role in leading women empowerment in India, as she inspired women to be each other’s sturdiest support. This was an ideal she personified through her own example - she took care of her first husband’s widow Timmaiamma and arranged vocational training for her, despite having no obligations to do so. Deshmukh also set up the Andhra Mahila Sabha in 1937, an organisation which still inspires hundreds of women to go beyond the superstitions patriarchy tries to limit them with. She wished to go beyond caste and creed, with only one true instinct to follow - to aid those who cannot help themselves to stand on their own feet. To fulfil this goal, she became the President of the Blind Relief Association and set up a hostel where the blind could learn light engineering. The late prime minister Indira Gandhi honoured her with the title “Mother of Social Work in India” for her vigorous attempts to support girls and disabled children.