SSC
Who was the first Health Minister of independent India?
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Answer: Option B — Rajkumari Amrit Kaur
Detailed Solution
Rajkumari Amrit Kaur (1889-1964) was the first Health Minister of independent India. She held this post in Jawaharlal Nehru's cabinet from 1947 to 1957. She was the only woman in India's first cabinet.
About Rajkumari Amrit Kaur:
She was born in Lucknow into the royal family of Kapurthala (Punjab). Her father, Raja Harnam Singh, had converted to Christianity.
She was educated in England.
She was a close follower of Mahatma Gandhi and worked as his secretary for about 16 years.
She took part in the Dandi March (Salt Satyagraha) in 1930 and the Quit India Movement in 1942, and was jailed.
She was a member of the Constituent Assembly.
She was a co-founder of the All India Women's Conference (AIWC), founded in 1927.
Her achievements as Health Minister:
She played the key role in founding the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, which was set up in 1956 by an Act of Parliament. She raised funds for it from countries such as New Zealand, Australia, West Germany, Sweden and the USA. She became the first President of AIIMS.
She founded the Indian Council for Child Welfare and the Tuberculosis Association of India.
She led campaigns against malaria and tuberculosis, and started the BCG vaccination programme in India.
In 1950, she became the President of the World Health Assembly (the governing body of the World Health Organization), the first woman and the first Asian to hold this post.
She was also the first President of the Indian Red Cross Society's managing body and served as the President of the League of Red Cross Societies' Board of Governors.
Time magazine included her in its list of "100 Women of the Year" in 2020, for the year 1947.
Why not the other options?
- ✗Sarojini Naidu was the first woman Governor of an Indian state (Uttar Pradesh).
- ✗Sushila Nayar was a later Health Minister and Gandhi's personal physician.
- ✗Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit was the first woman President of the UN General Assembly (1953).
Quick tip
Remember: First Health Minister = Rajkumari Amrit Kaur (1947-57), founded AIIMS (1956), first woman President of the World Health Assembly (1950).
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Firsts in India & World — Preparation
This question tests your understanding of Firsts in India & World, a key topic in the General Knowledge section. The detailed solution above uses a step-by-step approach to show the reasoning, and where available, a shortcut that helps you solve similar questions in under 90 seconds during the actual exam.
This topic covers the first persons and events in India and the world: the first Indian to win a Nobel Prize, the first woman to hold major offices, the first to climb Everest or reach space, and India's first institutions, newspapers, railways and satellites. It also covers the largest, longest, highest and smallest records in India and the world. These are pure memory questions, so revise them as short lists by theme: first women, first in sports, first in science and space, and first in governance. Be careful with the exact wording, such as 'first Indian' versus 'first person of Indian origin', or 'first woman President' versus 'first woman Prime Minister', since options are often designed to exploit this. Practise the firsts in India and the world questions below, written in the style of the general awareness sections of exams such as SSC, banking, railways, CUET GAT, MAH CET and CLAT. Each question comes with a detailed explanation that adds related facts, so every question helps you revise more than one point.