Bhubaneswar: Six-time BJD MLA Pramilla Mallik, who represents Binjharpur constituency, was on Friday elected unopposed as Speaker of the Odisha Legislative Assembly, becoming the first woman to occupy the prestigious post.
While many see it as a well-calibrated move by 76-year-old Odisha CM and BJD president Naveen Patnaik coinciding with the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam and ahead of 2024 elections, the idea of a woman as speaker in Odisha existed and experimented way back in 1939.
According to available information, Sarala Devi was the first woman to be elected to the Odisha Legislative assembly in 1937, a year after the new province came into existence on linguistic basis during the British rule in India with Sir John Austen Hubbak as the first Governor on April 1, 1936. She chaired the Assembly for a day. On March 24, 1939, Sarala Devi presided over the House and directed transaction of business in Odia.
As a legislator, Sarala Devi initiated several bills beneficial to peasants and drew the attention of the government to their problems through her speeches.
Notably, Sarala Devi has many firsts to her credit. She is the first woman from Odisha to join the Congress. Apart from being the first woman MLA and first woman to chair the Odisha Legislative Assembly, she was elected as first woman director of the Cuttack Cooperative Bank and the first female Senate member of Utkal University. She was the only representative from Odisha on President Dr S Radhakrishnan’s Education Commission.
Sarala Devi also served as secretary of The Utkal Sahitya Samaj, Cuttack, from 1943 to 1946.
Not satisfied with the working style of the Congress, she joined the Praja Socialist Party after Independence. She led a active public life till her death in 1986.
