Sheila Kaul

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Sheila Kaul
Personal details

Born

February 7, 1915

Nationality

Indian

Political party Indian National Congress

Profession

politician, social worker, social reformer, educationist

Sheila Kaul (Hindi, Kashmiri: , Urdu, Kashmiri: ( ) born February 7, 1915) is a social
democratic leader of the Indian National Congress and a former union cabinet minister and
provincial Governor in India. She was also an educationist, social worker, andsocial reformer in the Indian state
of Uttar Pradesh, and an independence activist in British India. She is Jawaharlal Nehru's sister-in-law
and Indira Gandhi's maternal aunt.
Contents
[hide]

1 Personal life
2 Political career
o

2.1 Positions Held

3 See also
4 External links

[edit]Personal

life

Sheila Kaul belongs to a Kashmiri Pandit family. She has a degree in arts from the Lahore Women's College,
and a degree in teaching from Sir Ganga Ram Training College, Lahore, and was a State Badminton Champion

in the pre-partition Punjab. Kaul has lived inLucknow, Lahore, Multan, Kanpur, Srinagar, London, Sofia,
and New Delhi.
Prof. Kailas Nath Kaul, a renowned botanist, and formerly, a world authority on palms, was Sheila Kaul's
husband. He established theNational Botanical Research Institute (formerly the National Botanical Gardens) in
Lucknow, India. Gautam Kaul, a former Director General of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police and film critic, and
Vikram Kaul, an international sports administrator, President of theCommonwealth Youth Sports Development
Council, and former member of the Asian Cricket Council, are their sons. Deepa Kaul, asocial worker and
former Congress minister, is their daughter. Jawaharlal Nehru was Sheila Kaul's brother-in-law, Indira
Priyadarshini Gandhi was her niece, and Rajiv Gandhi was her grandnephew. Prem Adib, a
1940s Bollywood superstar, was Sheila Kaul's brother-in-law. Among Sheila Kaul's friends were Margaret
Thatcher, Todor Zhivkov, Princess Ileana of Romania, Isobel Hawking, and Adelaide Hawley Cumming.

[edit]Political

career

Sheila Kaul's prime electoral constituency was Lucknow, from where she was elected to the Lok Sabha in
1971, 1980 and 1984. She was, however, also elected in 1989 and 1991 as Member of Parliament from Rae
Bareli, a constituency election whereof has been traditionally contested by a Nehru-Gandhi Family member.
She served as Governor of Himachal Pradesh from November 1995 to April 1996.
A chargesheet based on a case of 1996 accused the former Union Urban Development Minister of entering into
a conspiracy with her two personal staff members and over forty other individuals for allegedly renting out
government shops for a consideration. The CBI, however, did not seize any assets disproportionate to her
income. An assessment of her assets showed no evidence of corruption.

[edit]Positions

Held

198289: Minister of State for Culture, Education and Social Welfare (Independent Charge)

1980s: President of the Indian National Commission for Cooperation with the UNESCO

199195: Union Minister for Urban Development

1995: Union Minister for Urban Affairs and Employment

199596: Governor of Himachal Pradesh

..