Margaret Alva

Margaret Alva Biography

Margaret Alva is the governor of the Indian state of Rajasthan at present. She is a senior leader of the Indian National Congress and was Secretary General of the All India Congress Committee. She was the governor of Uttarakhand before assuming the power of Rajasthan on 12 May 2012. She married Niranjan Alva on 24 May 1964 and her children Niret Alva and Nikhil Alva are the co-founders of Miditech, television Software Company. She is the daughter-in-law of Joachim Alva and Violet Alva, the first couple in the Indian Parliament. Noted Indian writer Anuja Chauhan is the daughter-in-law of Margaret Alva.

Margaret was born as Margaret Nazareth in Mangalore on 14 April 1942. Her parents were Pascal Ambrose Nazareth and Elizabeth Nazareth. She studied at Mt. Carmel College and Government Law College, Bangalore and she was a lawyer by profession before entering politics. She married Niranjan Alva, son of famous politic couple of Indian parliament, Niret Alva and Nikhil Alva in the year 1964.She has been a close adviser to the president of the Indian National Congress, Sonia Gandhi and served as the Secretary General of the All India Congress Committee. Following her allegations on the functioning of the party pertaining to the cash-for-votes scandal, she was removed from that position in 2008. From the period 1974 to 2004, she has been elected to parliament 5 times, as a congress candidate.

She has been appointed as advisor to the Bureau of Parliamentary Studies and Training. She is the founder president of NGO "Karuna” and has been the advocate of providing an open women's prison in Haldwani. She was conferred an honorary doctorate in literature by the University of Mysore, Karnataka.

Published: N/A

Updated: February 13, 2014