Urmila Singh

Urmila Singh Biography

Urmila Singh was the former governor of Himachal Pradesh, who remained in office during 25 January 2010 – 24 January 2015 for a term of 5 years. She was a politician associated with the regional politics of Madhya Pradesh and has been elected to state assembly three times. She remained as MLA in office during the period, 1985 – 1990 and 1993 – 2003, representing Indian National Congress. Her birth place Raipur is now a part of Chhattisgarh. She got into politics after the sudden death of her husband.

Urmila Singh was born in Phingeshwar village in Raipur district, then a part of Madhya Pradesh. She was born on 6 August 1946. Her great-grandfather Raja Natwar Singh was a freedom fighter who was executed by the British rulers, and some of her family members have been deported to serve sentences in the Andaman and Nicobar islands for revolting against British. She was married to a raoyal family. Her husband Virendra Bahadur Singh was the Raja of Seraipally princely state in Chhattisgarh who got into politics as well. She was very young when she entered married life, and had one daughter and two sons.

She was a full-time homemaker before joining politics. Her husband has served as an MLA while her mother-in-law was a parliamentarian. When her husband’s death happened so expectedly, she stepped into politics during her mid-40s. She contested in the state assembly seat which her husband was representing before. Thus she turned an MLA in 1985. She got elected for the second time in 1993 state assembly elections and retained the seat in 1998 elections as well.  She served as a Minister of State for Dairy Development during 1993–95 and as Cabinet Minister for Social Welfare and Tribal Welfare during 1998–2003.

Published: February 27, 2019

Updated: February 27, 2019