Following India’s independence from British rule in 1947, the Prime Minister’s sister entered the diplomatic service and became India’s ambassador to the Soviet Union from 1947 to 1949, the United States and Mexico from 1949 to 1951, Ireland & Britain from 1955 to 1961, and Spain from 1956 to 1961. Between 1946 and 1968, the lateral entrant headed the Indian delegation to the United Nations.

In 1953, she became the first woman President of the United Nations General Assembly (she was inducted as an honorary member of the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority in 1978 for this accomplishment). That same year she was a candidate for Secretary General of the United Nations. What a distinguished career.

~ Sanjeev Sanyal, writer, economist.