Anandiben Patel

Anandiben Mafatbhai Patel (born 21 November 1941) is an Indian politician serving as the 20th and current Governor of Uttar Pradesh.

Anandiben Patel was born on 21 November 1941, in present-day Kharod village of Vijapur taluka of Mehsana district, Gujarat, where her father, Jethabhai, was a teacher.

She moved to N.M. High School for her high school studies which had only three girl students.

As a student she was an athlete and remained a district level champion for three consecutive years.

She joined college for studying BSc in 1960.

She has excelled throughout as a student in her studies.

She was awarded "Veer Bala" award in Mehsana for her outstanding achievement in athletics.

Patel joined M. G. Panchal Science College at Pilvai in 1960.

She completed a bachelor's degree in science in Visnagar.

She married Mafatlal in 1962.

Anandiben Patel was not keen on becoming a teacher.

She took the job of a teacher to support the family financially, responding to an advertisement in the newspaper.

In her interview as a teacher, she chose to teach the most difficult problem of Mathematics.

Patel worked as the teacher at Mohiniba Kanya Vidyalaya, Ahmedabad in 1967 or 1970, where she taught science and mathematics to higher secondary students.

Later, she became the school's principal.

She is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) since 1987.

Patel's entry into politics began with an accident during a school picnic in 1987, when she jumped in the Sardar Sarovar reservoir to save two girls who were drowning during a school picnic, for which she received a president's bravery award.

Impressed by Patel's heroism, BJP top cadre suggested Anandiben Patel to join the party.

At first, she was hesitant in joining the party, but on persuasion by Keshubhai Patel and Narendra Modi, she joined BJP as the Gujarat Pradesh Mahila Morcha President in 1987.

Patel's first notable work was during a spread of bird flu in the Viramgam district, where she spent weeks helping local citizens and appealing to government officials to take strong action.

In 1992, she participated in Ekta Yatra from Kanyakumari to Srinagar with BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi.

Patel was elected to Rajya Sabha from Gujarat in 1994.

As an MP, she participated in the Fourth World Women's Conference at Beijing (China) in 1994–95, representing India.

She also visited Bulgaria with the BJP Leader, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and speaker of the Lok Sabha, P. A. Sangma.

Patel resigned from Rajyasabha in 1998 and contested her first assembly election from MANDAL assembly constituency.

She won and became the cabinet minister for education under the Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel.

In her first term as Education Minister, Patel started "Lokdarbar" to address issues related to schools and education.

It was under her leadership that the state Government first launched "Shala Praveshotsav" to increase enrolment in schools, which is still the flagship program of the Education department.

Her efforts resulted in a 100% increase in enrolment.

In her first two years as an Education Minister, Patel initiated a campaign to recruit 26,000 teachers to fill positions that had been vacant for six years.

She is also credited for her work to reduce corruption in the transfer of teachers.

She established a school for handicapped children.

She was the Cabinet Minister for Education from 2002 to 2007.

Patel contested her second and third assembly elections in 2002 and 2007 from Patan assembly constituency and was elected.

She continued as a cabinet minister for education in her second term and was assigned to Roads & Building and Revenue in her third term.

She was the cabinet Minister of Road and Building, Revenue, Urban development and Urban Housing, Disaster Management and Capital Projects in the Government of Gujarat from 2007 to 2014.

She also served as 17th Governor of Madhya Pradesh and Governor of Chhattisgarh.

She has served as the first and to date, the only female Chief Minister of Gujarat.

She is also the second female Governor of Uttar Pradesh after Sarojini Naidu.

On 19 January 2018, she became the Governor of Madhya Pradesh replacing Om Prakash Kohli who was holding additional charge since September 2016.