Maneka Gandhi

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maneka_Gandhi

Maneka Gandhi (born 26 August 1956 Maneka Anand) is an Indian politician, an ardent animal rights activist, environmentalist and former journalist. She has been a Minister in four governments, and has authored a number of books in the areas of etymology, law and animal welfare. Maneka Gandhi is an estranged member of the Nehru-Gandhi Family.

Early life
Gandhi was born in Delhi and educated at the prestigious Lawrence School, Sanawar and later at Lady Shriram College in New Delhi. She married Sanjay Gandhi, the son of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. A former model [1] and editor of Surya India magazine, Gandhi entered politics in 1982 after her husband's death in a plane crash. She had a public falling out with Indira Gandhi, "after [Maneka] signalled her intention to step into her late husband's shoes in the Congress"

Political career
Gandhi was the petitioner in the case of Maneka Gandhi v Union of India,[3] a 1979 case involving freedom of movement. "The case involved the refusal by the government to grant a passport to [Gandhi], which thus restrained her liberty to travel."[4] In its ruling in the case, the Supreme Court of India in a departure from its earlier stand taken in its ruling in A.K.Gopalan v. State of Madras (1950), expanded the scope and content of the right to life and liberty by introducing the concept of substantive due process to Indian law.[4] In writing that decision, the court found that "Democracy is based essentially on free debate and open discussion, for that is the only corrective of government action in a democratice [sic] setup."[5][6]

Gandhi formed the Sanjay Vichar Manch ("Platform for Sanjay's Thought") in 1983 and joined the Janata Dal in 1988. She was the general secretary of JD 1988-1989. She won her first election in 1989 and served as Minister of the Environment from 1989 to 1991 in the cabinet of V.P. Singh. In 1996 and 1998, she was reelected to the Lok Sabha as an independent member from Pilibhit in Uttar Pradesh and served in the BJP led governments as Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment, and Minister for Culture. She created the Department for Animal Welfare and served as its Minister along with her other portfolios. While she was Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment, she played a historic role in the Indian pension reforms effort, through the early phase of `Project OASIS'. OASIS is an acronym for Old Age Social and Income Security. Maneka Gandhi played a key role in the initiation and early thinking on these issues, going up to the point where it was transferred to the Ministry of Finance (where Yashwant Sinha was minister) for implementation. This went on to become the celebrated New Pension System (NPS) which was implemented for new recruits into the central government from 2004 onwards.

She stood for the 2004 Lok Sabha elections on the BJP ticket and is currently a Member of Parliament from Pilibhit. She has won every time she has contested from Pilibhit except once, even though she has changed parties often and contested on different tickets. This is considered to be an indicator of her personal popularity in the region, which has been attributed to her nurturing the constituency and her Punjabi origins.[7][8] Her son is Varun Gandhi.

Environmental activism
Gandhi is an environmentalist who brought to the mainstream the issue of animal rights in India. She was appointed chairwoman of the Committee for the Purpose of Control and Supervision of Experiments on Animals (CPCSEA) in 1995. Under her direction, unannounced inspections of laboratories where animals are used for scientific research were conducted, and abominable conditions and cruelty were documented and exposed. The CPCSEA imposed restrictions that brought some of the abuse to a stop. She started the organisation People for Animals in 1992 and it is the largest organisation for animal rights/welfare in India. She is a vegetarian or rather a vegan and has advocated this lifestyle on ethical and health grounds. She also anchored a weekly Television program named "Heads and Tails" highlighting sufferings meted out to animals due to their commercial exploitation. She has also authored a book under the same title. Her other books were about Indian people names. She runs an NGO, People For Animals, which has its shelters across India

Career in journalism
As a journalist, Maneka Gandhi is popular for her shocking publication in Surya Magazine of photos showing sexual intercourse between Suresh Ram (son of the then Defence Minister Babu Jagjivan Ram) and Sushma Chaudhury, a University of Delhi student.[10] Her daring publication of the photos ran the risk of violation of obscenity laws. The revealing pictures[11] were published apparently to discredit Jagjivan Ram, who defected from the Indira Gandhi government and helped bring Janata Party to power in 1977. He was one of the contenders for the post of Prime Minister of India