Renuka Ray
Topic: Framing the Indian Constitution · NCERT: Class 12, Ch 4 "Framing the Constitution"
Meaning
Renuka Ray was a social worker and one of the fifteen women members of the Constituent Assembly. She represented West Bengal. She campaigned for women's legal rights, especially the right of daughters to inherit family property. After the Constitution came into force, she was a minister in West Bengal and later a member of Parliament.
Example
In the Assembly, Renuka Ray argued that women did not need special favours. What they needed was equal legal rights, such as an equal share in what their parents left behind. This is the same "justice, not privileges" line that Hansa Mehta also took.
Don't confuse with
- Hansa Mehta: a woman member from Bombay who is best known for her line "We have never asked for privileges" and for asking for social, economic and political justice. Renuka Ray came from West Bengal.
Related concepts
- Rajendra Prasad
- B.R. Ambedkar
- Drafting Committee of the Constituent Assembly
- K.M. Munshi
- Alladi Krishnaswamy Aiyar
- B.N. Rau
- S.N. Mukherjee
- Women in the Constituent Assembly
- Rajkumari Amrit Kaur
- Vijayalakshmi Pandit