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Constitution and human rights

Hansa Mehta

Her life

Born in Surat in 1897, Hansa Mehta studied philosophy and journalism and joined the freedom movement, going to jail for picketing foreign cloth.

She was one of the fifteen women in the Constituent Assembly that wrote India's Constitution. At the United Nations she pushed to change the Universal Declaration of Human Rights from "all men" to "all human beings". She later led the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda as Vice Chancellor and died in 1995.

Achievements

  • ✦Member of the Constituent Assembly that wrote India's Constitution
  • ✦Helped change the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to say "all human beings"

On the timeline

1947

Fifteen women help write the Constitution of independent India.

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